Hudío Phonology

Pronunciation table

אַ	בּ	ב	דּ	ד	אֶ	אְ	גּ	ג	ה	אִ	י	כּ	כ	ל	מ	נ	אָ	פּ	פ	ר	ס	ש	תּ	ת	אֻ	ו	צ	ז	ע
a	b	v	ḋ	d	e	ė	ġ	g	h	i	j	k	j	l	m	n	o	p	f	r	s	ṡ	ṭ	t	ţ	u	w	z	'
/ä/	/b/	/β/	/d/	/ð/	/e/~/ɛ/	/ə/	/g/	/ʝ/	/h/	/i/~/ɪ/	/j/	/k/	/ç/	/l/	/m/	/n/	/o/	/p/	/φ/	/ɾ/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/	/θ/	/u/	/w/	/ʦ/	/z/	/ʔ/

Notes

• The alphabetic order is a modified Latin order, keeping the begadkepat consonants (b, d, g, k, p, t) together.
  • /d/-/ð/, /t/-/θ/, and /g/-/ʝ/ are differenced with a dot on the voiced consonant, like the Hebrew dagesh kal.
  • /b/-/β/, /k/-/ç/, and /p/-/φ/ make use of the Latin letters.
• The begadkepat consonants lenite into their corresponding fricatives when they follow a vowel, either between two vowels (דַּבַר davar, word) or between a vowel and a consonant (מִדבַּר midbar, desert). This lenition even occurs across word boundaries, e.g.,

בַּנֻ בַיִת banu vayit, they build a house.

• • This lenition does not occur in some borrowed words, e.g., hurikan הֻרִכַּך.
  • The addition of the definite article הַ ha does not lenite a following consonant.
• <ë> for /ə/ is borrowed from the Albanian (and other) alphabet.
• <ţ> for /ʦ/ and <ş> for /ʃ/ are borrowed from the Romanian alphabet.

Phonology

Consonant chart

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Glottal
Nasal	<m> /m/ מ/ם	<n> /n/ נ/ן
Voiceless Stop	<p> /p/ פּ	<ṭ> /t/ תּ1		<k> /k/ כּ2		<'> /ʔ/ ע3
Voiced Stop	<b> /b/ בּ	<ḍ> /d/ דּ		<ġ> /g/ גּ
Sibilant Affricate			<ţ> /ʦ/ צ/ץ
Voiceless Sibilant Fricative		<s> /s/ ס		<ş> /ʃ/ ש4		<h> /h/ ה5
Voiced Sibilant Fricative		<z> /z/ ז
Voiceless Non-sibilant Fricative	<f> /φ/ פ/ף	<t> /θ/ ת		<j> /ç/ כ/ך6
Voiced Non-sibilant Fricative	<v> /β/ ב	<d> /ð/ ד		<g> /ɣ/ ג
Approximant	<w> /w/ ו				<y> /j/ י
Trill			<r> /ɾ/ ר
Lateral approximant		<l> /l/ ל

Notes

• ¹ ט (Tet) /t/ has been deleted from the alphabet and replaced in all instances by תּ (Taf) /t/.
• ² ק (Quf) has been deleted from the alphabet and replaced in all instances by כּ (Ka).
• ³ The glottal stop (Ayin) <ע> /ʔ/ is used only to separate the same contiguous vowels, e.g., נַ֜עַר, ná'ar, boy, or the glottal stop and a vowel, e.g., סְעׇרַ, së'ora, barley.
• ⁴ שׂ (Sin) /s/ has been deleted from the alphabet and replaced in all instances by ס (Sámex). Thus the dot is not needed for Shin.
• ⁵ ה (He) has been deleted when syllable final.
• ⁶ ח (Heth) has been deleted from the alphabet and replaced in all instances by כ (Ka).
• Use of the five final forms is optional.
• There are no geminate consonants.

Vowel chart

	Front	Near Front	Cental	Back
Close	i /i/~/ɪ/1 אִ			u /u/ אֻ
Close-mid	e /e/~/ɛ/2 אֶ			o אׇ
Mid			ë3 <ə> אְ
Open		a אַ

Notes

• ¹ The two phonemes are allophonic. /i/ tends to be used in open syllables and /ɪ/ in closed syllables, e.g., גִּבַ giva, hill /giβa/; אִש iš, man /ɪʃ/. However, /i/ is retained in the plural suffix -im /im/.
• ² The two phonemes are allophonic. /e/ tends to be used in open syllables and /ɛ/ in closed syllables, e.g., מֶ֜לֶכ mélej /melɛç/, king; מֶלכִּם melkim /mɛlkim/, kings.
• All vowels are of equal length.

Grammar