Ashkenazi Hebrew
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The Ashkenazi Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Ashkenazi Jewish practice. Its phonology was influenced by languages with which it came into contact, such as Yiddish and various Slavic languages. It survives today as a separate religious dialect even alongside Modern Hebrew in Israel.
As it is used parallel with Modern Hebrew, its phonological differences are clearly recognized:
- א ʾālep̄ and ע ʿáyin are completely silent at all times in most forms of Ashkenazi Hebrew, where they are frequently both pronounced as a glottal stop in Ashkenazi-style modern Hebrew. (Compare Yisroeil vs. Yisra'el.) A special case is Dutch (and historically also Frankfurt a.M.) Hebrew, where ‘ayin is traditionally pronounced as a velar nasal (ŋ).
- ת ṯāw is pronounced /s/ in Ashkenazi Hebrew, unless there is a Dagesh in the ת, where it would be pronounced /t/. It would be always pronounced /t/ in Modern Hebrew, (Compare Shabbos vs. Shabbat.)
- The vowel ṣērê (/ē/) is always pronounced /ei/ in Ashkenazi Hebrew, where it would in some cases be pronounced /e/ in Modern Hebrew. (Compare Omein vs. Amen.)
- The vowel qāmeṣ gāḏôl (/ā/) is pronounced /o/ in Ashkenazi Hebrew, where it is /a/ in Modern Hebrew. (Compare Dovid vs. David.)
- The vowel ḥôlem (/ō/) is, depending on the subdialect, sometimes pronounced oi/,ou/ or ey/ in Ashkenazi Hebrew, where it is /o/ in Modern Hebrew. (Compare Moishe vs. Moshe.)
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