Begadkefat

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Begadkefat (also begedkefet) is the name given to a phenomenon of lenition affecting the non-emphatic stop consonants of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic when they are preceded by a vowel and not geminated. The name is also given to similar cases of spirantization of post-vocalic plosives in other languages; for instance, in the Berber language of Djerba. [1] Celtic languages have a similar system.

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The name of the phenomenon is made up of these six consonants, mixed with haphazard vowels for the sake of pronunciation: BeGaDKePaT. The Hebrew term בֶּגֶ״ד כֶּפֶ״ת (Modern Hebrew /ˌbeɡedˈkefet/) denotes the letters themselves (rather than the phenomenon of spirantization). If a beged-kephat is at the beginning of a word, and is preceded by a word ending in an open syllable, then there is no dagesh. Begedkefet spirantization developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic. [2] Its time of emergence can be found by noting that the Old Aramaic phonemes /θ/, /ð/ disappeared in the 7th century BC. [3] During this period all six plosive / fricative pairs were allophonic.

In Modern Hebrew, Sephardi Hebrew, and most forms of Mizrahi Hebrew, three of the six letters, ב (bet), כ (kaf) and פ (pe) each still denotes a stopfricative variant pair; however, in Modern Hebrew these variants are no longer purely allophonic (see below). Although orthographic variants of ג (gimel), ד (dalet) and ת (tav) still exist, these letters' pronunciation always remains acoustically and phonologically indistinguishable. [note 1]

In Ashkenazi Hebrew and in Yiddish borrowings from Ashkenazi Hebrew, ת without dagesh still denotes a fricative variant [ s ] (under the influence of Judeo-German, aka Yiddish) which diverged from Biblical/Mishnaic [ θ ].

The only extant Hebrew pronunciation tradition to preserve and distinguish all begadkefat letters is Yemenite Hebrew; however, in Yemenite Hebrew the sound of gimel with dagesh is a voiced palato-alveolar affricate [ d͡ʒ ] (under the influence of Judeo-Yemeni Arabic), which diverged from Biblical/Mishnaic [ ɡ ].

Orthography

The phenomenon is attributed to the following allophonic consonants:

PlosivesSpirantsHebrew Notes
HebrewSyriacHebrewSyriacBiblical,
Mishnaic
Standard
Israeli
Bet Letterבּܒ݁בܒ݂[β][v]
IPA[ b ][ β ]-
Gimel Letterגּܓ݁גܓ݂[ɣ][ɡ]
IPA[ ɡ ][ ɣ ]-
Dalet Letterדּܕ݁דܕ݂[ð][d]
IPA[ d ][ ð ]-
Kaph Letterכּܟ݁כܟ݂[x][ χ ]
IPA[ k ][ x ]-
Pe Letterפּܦ݁פܦ݂[ɸ][ f ]
IPA[ p ][ ɸ ]-
Taw Letterתּܬ݁תܬ݂[θ][t]
IPA[ t ][ θ ]-

In Hebrew writing with niqqud, a dot in the center of one of these letters, called dagesh ( ּ ), marks the plosive articulation:

A line (similar to a macron) placed above it, called "rafe" ( ֿ ), marks in Yiddish (and rarely in Hebrew) the fricative articulation.

In Modern Hebrew

As mentioned above, the fricative variants of [ ɡ ], [ d ] and [ t ] no longer exist in modern Hebrew. (However, Hebrew does have the guttural R consonant /ʁ/ which is the voiced counterpart of /χ/ and sounds similar to Mizrahi Hebrew's fricative variant of [ ɡ ] ḡimel as well as Arabic's غ ġayn, both of which are [ɣ~ʁ]. Modern Hebrew ר resh can still sporadically be found standing in for this phoneme, for example in the Hebrew rendering of Raleb (Ghaleb) Majadele's name.) The three remaining pairs /b/~/v/, /k/~/χ/, and /p/~/f/ still sometimes alternate, as demonstrated in inflections of many roots in which the roots' meaning is retained despite variation of begedkefet letters' manner of articulation, e.g.,

in verbs:
 בוא ← תבוא/bo//taˈvo/("come" (imperative) → "you will come"),
 שבר ← נשבר/ʃaˈvaʁ//niʃˈbaʁ/("broke" (transitive) → "broke" (intransitive),
 כתב ← יכתוב/kaˈtav//jiχˈtov/("he wrote" → "he will write"),
 זכר ← יזכור/zaˈχaʁ//jizˈkoʁ/("he remembered" → "he will remember"),
 פנית ← לפנות/paˈnit//lifˈnot/("you (f.) turned" → "to turn"),
 שפטת ← לשפוט/ʃaˈfatet//liʃˈpot/("you (f.) judged" → "to judge "),
or in nouns:
 ערב ← ערביים/ˈeʁev//aʁˈbajim/("evening" → "twilight"),
 מלך ← מלכה/ˈmeleχ//malˈka/("king" → "queen"),
 אלף ← אלפית/ˈelef//alˈpit/("a thousand" → "a thousandth"),

however, in Modern Hebrew, stop and fricative variants of ב , כ and פ are distinct phonemes, and there are minimal pairs:

 אִפֵּר – אִפֵר/iˈpeʁ//iˈfeʁ/("applied make up" – "tipped ash"),
 פִּסְפֵּס – פִסְפֵס/pisˈpes//fisˈfes/("striped" – "missed"),
 הִתְחַבֵּר – הִתְחַבֵר/hitχaˈbeʁ//hitχaˈveʁ/("connected" – "made friends (with)"),
 הִשְׁתַּבֵּץ – הִשְׁתַּבֵץ/hiʃtaˈbets//hiʃtaˈvets/("got integrated" – "was shocked"),

and consider, e.g.:

   לככב "to star", whose common pronunciation /lekχev/ preserves the manner of articulation of each kaf in the word it is derived from: כּוֹכָב/kχav/ "a star" (first stop, then fricative), as opposed to the prescribed pronunciation /leχkev/, which regards the variation in pronunciation of kaf /χ/ ←→ /k/ as allophonic and determines its manner of articulation according to historical phonological principles; or:
   similarly, לרכל "to gossip", whose prescribed pronunciation /leʁaˈkel/ is colloquially rejected, commonly pronounced /leʁaˈχel/, preserving the fricative manner of articulation in related nouns (e.g. רכילות/ʁeχiˈlut/ "gossip", רכלן/ʁaχˈlan/ "gossiper").

This phonemic divergence is due to a number of factors, amongst others:

 קפץ ← קיפץ/kaˈfats//kiˈpets/, historically /kipˈpets/("jumped" → "hopped"),
 שבר ← שיבר/ʃaˈvar//ʃiˈber/, historically /ʃibˈber/("broke" → "shattered"),
 שכן ← שיכן/ʃaˈχan//ʃiˈken/, historically /ʃikˈken/("resided" → "housed"),
 syllable-initial /f/ (e.g. פברק/fibˈʁek/ "fabricated"),
 non-syllable-initial /p/ (e.g. הפנט/hipˈnet/ "hypnotized")
 non-syllable-initial /b/ (e.g. פברק/fibˈʁek/ "fabricated"), ג׳וֹבּ /dʒob/ "job", קוּבּ/kub/ "cubic meter", פָּאבּ/pab/ "pub").

Even aside from borrowings or lost gemination, common Israeli pronunciation sometimes violates the original phonological principle "stop variant after a consonant; fricative after a vowel", although this principle is still prescribed as standard by the Academy of the Hebrew Language, e.g.:

Notes

  1. In modern Hebrew, the letter gimel modified by the diacritic gereshג׳ – is pronounced as the affricate [ ]; this, however, denotes a separate phoneme, not connected to the phenomenon of spirantization: compare e.g. גז/ɡez/ ("fleece") ←→ ג׳ז/ez/ ("jazz"); חג/χaɡ/ ("holiday") ←→ חג׳/χa/ ("the Hajj"). Conversely, dalet and tav with a geresh – ד׳ and ת׳ – respectively do denote the fricatives [ ð ] and [ θ ], however never as sounds in Hebrew words or even loanwords, but are rather used exclusively for the hebraization of foreign language texts or the transliteration of foreign names. Also these modern Hebrew variants have nothing to do with the phenomenon of spirantization.
  2. In Hebrew texts that are not modern, begedkefet letters at the beginning of a word preceded by a vowel are sometimes written without a dagesh and therefore pronounced as fricatives, e.g. "אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ פְרִי־עֵץ" (/aʃerbofriʕets/, Genesis 1, 29), but not always – e.g. "עֹשֶׂה פְּרִי" (/ʕosepri/, Genesis 1, 11 and 1, 12). [4] This is governed by the stress and cantillation mark of the preceding word, but the detailed rules are beyond the scope of this article.
  3. In modern Hebrew ktiv menuqad, the dagesh qal is marked also in the three begedkefet letters which can no longer denote a fricative variant – ג ([ ɡ ]), ד ([ d ]) and ת ([ t ]) – conserving the masoretic niqqud tradition.

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References

  1. See for instance: Werner Vycichl, "Begadkefat im Berberischen", in: James and Theodora Bynon (eds.), Hamito-Semitica, London 1975, pp. 315-317.
  2. Or perhaps Hurrian, but this is unlikely, c.f. Dolgoposky 1999, pp. 72-73.[ citation not found ]
  3. Dolgopolsky 1999, p. 72.[ citation not found ]
  4. Gen 1, Mechon Mamre.