Shva

Shva
Ö°
IPA	/e/, Ø
Transliteration	e, nothing
English example	men
Example
The word shva in Hebrew. The first vowel (marked with red) is a shva itself.
Other Niqqud
Shva Â· Hiriq Â· Zeire Â· Segol Â· Patach Â· Kamatz Â· Holam Â· Dagesh Â· Mappiq Â· Shuruk Â· Kubutz Â· Rafe Â· Sin/Shin Dot

Shva (Hebrew: שְׁוָא‎) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign represented by two vertical dots "ְ" underneath a letter. In Modern Hebrew, it indicates either the phoneme /e/ or the complete absence of a vowel (Ø), whereas in Hebrew prescriptive linguistics, four grammatical entities are differentiated: resting (naḥ / נָח), moving (na / נָע), floating (meraḥef / מְרַחֵף) and "bleating" or "bellowing" (ga'ya / גַּעְיָה). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable, but the two variants resulting from Modern Hebrew phonology no longer conform to the traditional classification, e.g. the (first) Shva Nach in the word קִמַּטְתְ (fem. "you crumpled") is pronounced /e/ (/kiˈmatet/) instead of being mute, whereas the Shva Na in זְמַן ("time") is mute (/zman/).

A shva sign in combination with the vowel diacritics patáẖ, segól and kamáts katán produces a "ẖatáf": a diacritic for a "tnuʿá ẖatufá" (a "fleeting" or "furtive" vowel).

Contents 1 Pronunciation in Modern Hebrew 2 Traditional classification 2.1 Shva Na 2.2 Shva Naḥ 2.3 Shva Meraḥef 2.4 Shva Ga'ya 3 Tnuʿá ẖatufá ("fleeting" or "furtive" vowel) 3.1 Comparison table 4 Unicode encoding 5 Notes 6 See also 7 Bibliography 8 References

[edit] Pronunciation in Modern Hebrew

In Modern Hebrew, shva is pronounced either /e/ or Ø, regardless of its traditional classification as shva naḥ (שְׁוָא נָח) or shva na (שְׁוָא נָע), see following table for examples. It is transliterated as ə, e, ', or nothing (however, transliterating modern Hebrew shva with ə or ' might be misleading, since it is never actually pronounced [ə] – the vowel [ə] does not exist in modern Hebrew).

In Modern Hebrew, a shva is pronounced /e/ under the following conditions:^[1]

Condition for /e/ pronunciation of shva in Israeli Hebrew	Examples			Examples for silent shva (since condition does not apply)
	In Hebrew	IPA	translation	In Hebrew	IPA	translation
1. When under the first of two letters, both representing the same consonant or consonants with identical place and manner of articulation:	שָׁכְחוּ	/ʃaχeˈχu/	they forgot	מָכְרוּ	/maχˈru/	they sold
	שָׁדַדְתְּ	/ʃaˈdadet/	you (f.) robbed	שָׁלַלְתְּ	/ʃaˈlalt/	you (feminine) negated
2. When under the first letter of a word, if this letter is י (/j/), ל (/l/), מ (/m/), נ (/n/) or ר (/r/)[*]:	נְמָלִים	/nemaˈlim/	ants	גְּמָלִים	/ɡmaˈlim/	camels
	מְנִיָּה	/meniˈja/	counting	בְּנִיָּה	/bniˈja/	building
3. When under the first letter of a word, if the second letter is א (/ʔ/), ה (/h/) or ע (/ʕ/ or /ʔ/):	תְּאָרִים	/teaˈrim/	titles	מִתְאָרִים	/mitʔaˈrim/	outlines
				תְּמָרִים	/tmaˈrim/	dates
4. When under the first letter of a word, if this letter represents one of the prefix-morphemes ב (/be/) = amongst others "in", ו (/ve/) = "and", כ (/ke/) = amongst others "as" or "approximately", ל (/le/) = amongst others "to", dative marker and verb prefix in infinitive, ת (/te/) as future tense verb prefix:	בְּרֵיחָהּ	/berejˈχa/	in her scent	בְּרֵיכָה	/brejˈχa/	pool
	בְּחִישָׁה	/beχiˈʃa/	in sensing	בְּחִישָׁה	/bχiˈʃa/	stirring
	וְרוֹדִים	/veroˈdim/	and (they) tyrannize	וְרוּדִים	/vruˈdim/	pink (m.p.)
	כְּרָזָה	/keraˈza/	as a thin person	כְּרָזָה	/kraˈza/	poster
	לְפָּרִיז	/lepaˈriz/	to Paris
	תְּבַלּוּ	/tevaˈlu/	you (m. p.) will have a good time	תְּבַלּוּל	/tvaˈlul/	cataract
5. (In non standard language usage) if one of the morphemes mentioned above (ב /be/, ו /ve/, כ /ke/, ל /le/ or ת /te/) or one of the morphemes מ /mi/ ("from") or ש /ʃe/ ("that") is added as a prefix to a word, which without this prefix begins with a letter marked with a shva pronounced /e/ under the above conditions, this shva will retain its /e/-pronunciation also with the prefix:	מִצְּעָדִים	/miʦeaˈdim/	from steps	מִצְּמָדִים	/miʦmaˈdim/	from pairs
				מִצְעָדִים	/miʦʔaˈdim/	parades
	מִרְוָחִים	/mirevaˈχim/	from blanks	מִרְוָחִים	/mirvaˈχim/	intervals
	standard: מֵרְוָחִים –/merevaˈχim/
	לְאֲרָיוֹת וְלְנְמֵרִים יֵשׁ פַּרְוָה	/learaˈjot velenemerim…/	Lions and tigers have fur	standard: וְלִנְמֵרִים /…velinmeˈrim…/
	וְכְּיְלָדִים שִׂחַקְנוּ בַּחוּץ	/vekejelaˈdim…/	And as children we played outside	standard: וְכִילָדִים – /veχilaˈdim…/
6. (Usually – see Counterexamples[**]) when under a medial letter, before whose pronunciation a consonant was pronounced:	אִשְׁפְּזוּ	/iʃpeˈzu/	they hospitalized	אִישׁ פְּזוּר דַּעַת	/iʃ pzur ˈda.at/	an absentminded man

Counterexamples

*^ One exception to rule 2 seems to be מְלַאי /mlaj/ "inventory"; the absence of a vowel after the מ (/m/) might be attributable to the high sonority of the subsequent liquid ל (/l/), however compare with מְלִית (/meˈlit/, not /*mlit/) "filling (in cuisine)".

**^ Exceptions to rule 6 include פְּסַנְתְּרָן (/psantˈran/, not */psanteˈran/ – "pianist"), אַנְגְּלִית (/aŋˈɡlit/, not */aŋɡeˈlit/ – "English"), נַשְׁפְּרִיץ[1] (/naʃˈprit͡s/, not */naʃpeˈrit͡s/ – "we will sprinkle"), several inflections of quinqueliteral roots – e.g.: סִנְכְּרֵן[2] (/sinˈkren/, not */sinkeˈren/ – "he synchronized"); חִנְטְרֵשׁ[3] (/χinˈtreʃ/, not */χinteˈreʃ/ – "he did stupid things"); הִתְפְלַרְטֵט[4] (/hitflarˈtet/, not */hitfelartet/ – "he had a flirt") – and several loanwords, e.g. מַנְטְרַה (/ˈmantra/, not */mantera/ – "mantra").

[edit] Traditional classification

In traditional Hebrew grammar, shvas are in most cases classified as either "shva na" (Heb. שווא נע) or as "shva naḥ" (Heb. שווא נח); in a few cases as "shva meraḥef" (Heb. שווא מרחף), and when discussing Tiberian pronunciation (ca. from the 8^th until the 15^th century) some shvas are classified as "shva ga'ya" (Heb. שווא געיה).

A shva is categorized according to several attributes of its grammatical context. The three categories of shva relevant to standard grammar of Modern Hebrew are "shva na", "shva naḥ" and "shva meraḥef"; the following table summarizes four distinguishing attributes which determine these categories:

• Does the shva supersede a vowel or no vowel in the word's non inflected form?
• Is the preceding letter pointed with a "short" or a "long" niqqud-variant?
• Is the following letter, when בג״ד כפ״ת, pointed with a dagesh qal or not?
• Is the letter which is pointed with shva assigned to the preceding or to the following syllable?

To help illustrate the first criterion (existence or non-existence of a vowel in the word's non inflected form), the "location" of the shva, i.e., the place within the word where the lack of vowel is indicated by it, is marked within the phonemic transcription with an orange linguistic zero: Ø; if existing, the corresponding vowel in the basic (non inflected) form of the example is also marked in orange.

type of shva		example				non inflected form of example				standard syllabification		attributes:
												vowel / no vowel?	short / long?	dagesh / no dagesh?	preceding / following?
na		עֵרְבוֹנוֹת	/erØvoˈnot/	(deposits)		עֵרָבוֹן	/eraˈvon/	(deposit)		עֵ—רְבוֹ—נוֹת		vowel	long	without	following
naḥ		עֶלְבּוֹנוֹת	/elØboˈnot/	(insults)		עֶלְבּוֹן	/elØˈbon/	(insult)		עֶלְ—בּוֹ—נוֹת		no vowel	short	with	preceding
meraḥef		יֶאֶרְכוּ	/je.erØˈχu/	(they will last)		יֶאֱרַךְ	/je.eˈraχ/	(it will last)		יֶ—אֶרְ—כוּ		vowel	short	without	preceding

[edit] Shva Na

In most cases, traditional Hebrew grammar considers shva na to be an entity that supersedes a vowel that exists in the basic form of a word but not after this word underwent inflection or declension. Additionally, any shva marked under an initial letter is classified shva na.

Merely identifying a given shva as being a "shva na" offers no indication as to its pronunciation in Modern Hebrew; it is however relevant to the application of standard niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a shva na may not be marked with a dagesh qal (Modern Hebrew phonology sometimes disagrees with this linguistic prescription, as in זִפְּזְפּוּ – "they zapped" – in which the second pe is pointed with a dagesh qal although preceeded by a shva na), or: the vowel preceding a letter marked with a shva na must be represented by the "long" niqqud-variant for that vowel: qamats and not pataḥ, tsere and not segol etc.^[↑]. Furthermore, in standard syllabification, the letter under which a shva na is marked is grouped with the following syllable.

The Academy of the Hebrew Language's transliteration guidelines^[2]