Dagesh

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Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox grapheme

Dagesh in Hebrew. The red dot on the rightmost character (the letter dalet) is a dagesh.
The word Template:Lang in Hebrew. The red dot on the rightmost character (the letter dalet) is a dagesh.

The dagesh (Template:Langx) is a diacritic that is used in the Hebrew alphabet. It takes the form of a dot placed inside a consonant. A dagesh can either indicate a "hard" plosive version of the consonant (known as Template:Lang, literally 'light dot') or that the consonant is geminated (known as Template:Lang, literally 'hard dot'), although the latter is rarely used in Modern Hebrew.

The dagesh was added to Hebrew orthography at the same time as the Masoretic system of niqqud (vowel points).

Two other diacritics with different functions, the mappiq and the shuruq dot, are visually identical to the dagesh but are only used with vowel letters.

The dagesh and mappiq symbols are often omitted when writing niqqud (e.g. Template:Script/Hebrew is written as Template:Script/Hebrew). In these cases, dagesh may be added to help readers resolve the ambiguity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The use or omission of such marks is usually consistent throughout any given context.

Dagesh qal

A Template:Lang or Template:Lang (Template:Lang, or Template:Lang, also Template:Lang lene, weak/light dagesh) may be placed inside the consonants Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang and Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang. They each have two sounds, the original hard plosive sound (which originally contained no Template:Lang as it was the only pronunciation), and a soft fricative version produced as such for speech efficiency because of the position in which the mouth is left immediately after a vowel has been produced.

Prior to the Babylonian captivity, the soft sounds of these letters did not exist in Hebrew, but they were later differentiated in Hebrew writing as a result of the Aramaic-influenced pronunciation of Hebrew.Template:Citation needed The Aramaic languages, including Jewish versions of Aramaic, have these same allophonic pronunciations of the letters.

The letters take on their hard sounds when they have no vowel sound before them, and take their soft sounds when a vowel immediately precedes them. In Biblical Hebrew this was the case within a word and also across word boundaries, though in Modern Hebrew there are no longer across word boundaries, since the soft and hard sounds are no longer allophones of each other, but regarded as distinct phonemes.

When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called Template:Lang, while the soft sounds lack the mark. In Modern Hebrew, however, the Template:Lang only changes the pronunciation of Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, and Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang. Traditional Ashkenazic pronunciation also varies the pronunciation of Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang, as does Yemenite pronunciation. Some traditional Middle Eastern pronunciationsTemplate:Which carry alternate forms for Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang.

With dagesh Without dagesh
Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example in English Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example in English
Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang b Template:IPAslink bun Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang v Template:IPAslink van
Template:Script/HebrewTemplate:Efn Template:Lang k Template:IPAslink kangaroo Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang kh/ch/ḵ Template:IPAslink loch
Template:Script/HebrewTemplate:Efn Template:Lang p Template:IPAslink pass Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Lang f/ph Template:IPAslink find

In Ashkenazi pronunciation, Template:Lang without a Template:Lang is pronounced Template:IPAblink, while in other traditionsTemplate:Which it is assumed to have been pronounced Template:IPAblink at the time Template:Lang was introduced. In Modern Hebrew, it is always pronounced Template:IPAblink.

The letters Template:Lang (Template:Script/Hebrew) and Template:Lang (Template:Script/Hebrew) may also contain a Template:Lang. This indicates an allophonic variation of the phonemes Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink, a variation which no longer exists in modern Hebrew pronunciation. The variations are believed to have been: Template:Script/Hebrew pronounced as Template:IPAblink, Template:Script/Hebrew as Template:IPAblink, Template:Script/Hebrew as Template:IPAblink, and Template:Script/Hebrew as Template:IPAblink. The Hebrew spoken by the Jews of Yemen (Yemenite Hebrew) still preserves unique phonemes for these letters with and without a dagesh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Pronunciation

Among Modern Hebrew speakers, the pronunciation of some of the above letters has become the same as others:

Letter Pronounced like Letter
Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang 		(without Template:Lang) like Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang
Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang 		(without Template:Lang) like Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang
Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang 		(with Template:Lang) like Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang
Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang 		(with and without Template:Lang) like Template:Script/Hebrew
Template:Lang

Dagesh hazaq

Template:Lang or Template:Lang (Template:Lang, Template:Lit, i.e. 'gemination Template:Lang', or Template:Lang, also 'Template:Lang forte') may be placed in almost any letter, indicating a gemination (doubling) of that consonant in the pronunciation of pre-modern Hebrew. This gemination is not adhered to in modern Hebrew and is only used in careful pronunciation, such as the reading of scripture in a synagogue service, recitation of biblical or traditional texts or on ceremonial occasions, and only by very precise readers.

The following letters, the gutturals, almost never have a Template:Lang: Template:Lang Template:Script/Hebrew, Template:Lang Template:Script/Hebrew, Template:Lang Template:Script/Hebrew, Template:Lang Template:Script/Hebrew, and Template:Lang Template:Script/Hebrew. A few instances of Template:Lang with Template:Lang are recorded in the Masoretic Text, as well as a few cases of Template:Lang with Template:Lang, such as in Leviticus 23:17.

The presence of a Template:Lang or consonant-doubling in a word may be entirely morphological, or, as is often the case, is a lengthening to compensate for a deleted consonant. A Template:Lang may be placed in letters for one of the following reasons:

Rafe

In Masoretic manuscripts the opposite of a Template:Lang would be indicated by a Template:Lang, a small line on top of the letter. This is no longer found in Hebrew, but may still sometimes be seen in Yiddish and Ladino.

Unicode encodings

In computer typography there are two ways to use a Template:Lang with Hebrew text. The following examples give the Unicode and numeric character references:

Some fonts, character sets, encodings, and operating systems may support neither, one, or both methods.

See also

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

Template:Hebrew language

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