letter pronunciation Consonants Vowels Phonology Consonants Samaritan Hebrew shows the following consonantal differences from Biblical Hebrew: The original phonemes do not have spirantized allophones, though at least some did originally in Samaritan Hebrew (evidenced in the preposition "in" ב- or ). has shifted to (except occasionally > ). has shifted to everywhere except in the conjunction ו- 'and' where it is pronounced as . has merged with , unlike in all other contemporary Hebrew traditions in which it is pronounced . The laryngeals have become or null everywhere, except before where sometimes become . is sometimes pronounced as , though not in Pentateuch reading, as a result of influence from Samaritan Arabic. may also be pronounced as , but this occurs only rarely and in fluent reading. Vowels Phonemic length is contrastive, e.g. רב 'great' vs. רחב 'wide'. Long vowels are usually the result of the elision of guttural consonants. and are both realized as in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. בית 'house' הבית 'the house' גר הגר. In other cases, stressed shifts to when that syllable is no longer stressed, e.g. דברתי but דברתמה . and only contrast in open post-tonic syllables, e.g. ידו 'his hand' ידיו 'his hands', where stems from a contracted diphthong. In other environments, appears in closed syllables and in open syllables, e.g. דור דורות . Stress Stress generally differs from other traditions, being found usually on the penultimate and sometimes on the ultimate. Grammar Pronouns Personal Demonstrative Relative Who, which: éšar. Interrogative Who? = mi. What? = ma. Noun When suffixes are added, ê and ô in the last syllable may become î and û: bôr (Judean bohr) "pit" > búrôt "pits". Note also af "anger" > éppa "her anger". Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: beţen "stomach" > báţnek "your stomach", ke′seph "silver" > ke′sefánu (Judean Hebrew kaspe′nu) "our silver", dérek > dirkakimma "your (m. pl.) road" but áreş (in Judean Hebrew: e'rets) "earth" > árşak (Judean Hebrew arts-ekha) "your earth". Article The definite article is a- or e-, and causes gemination of the following consonant, unless it is a guttural; it is written with a he, but as usual, the h is silent. Thus, for example: énnar / ánnar = "the youth"; ellêm = "the meat"; a'émor = "the donkey". Number Regular plural suffixes are masc: -êm (Judean Hebrew -im) eyyamêm "the days" fem: -ôt (Judean Hebrew: -oth.) elamôt