Yemenite Hebrew (Hebrew: עִבְרִית תֵּימָנִיתʿĪvrīṯ Tēmŏnīṯ), also referred to as Temani Hebrew, is the pronunciation system for Hebrew traditionally used by Yemenite Jews. Yemenite Hebrew has been studied by language scholars, many of whom believe it to retain older phonetic and grammatical features lost elsewhere.[1] Yemenite speakers of Hebrew have garnered considerable praise from language purists because of their use of grammatical features from classical Hebrew. Tunisian rabbi and scholar, Rabbi Meir Mazuz, once said of Yemenites that they are good grammarians.[2]
It is believed by some scholars that its phonology was heavily influenced by spoken Yemeni Arabic.[citation needed] Other scholars and rabbis, including Rabbi Yosef Qafih and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, hold the view that Yemenite Hebrew was not influenced by Yemenite Arabic, as this type of Arabic was also spoken by Yemenite Jews and is distinct from the liturgical Hebrew and the conversational Hebrew of the communities.[3] Among other things, Rabbi Qafih notes that the Yemenite Jews spoke Arabic with a distinct Jewish flavor, inclusive of pronouncing many Arabic words with vowels foreign to the Arabic language, e.g., the Qamats (Hebrew: קָמַץ) and Tseri (Hebrew: צֵירִי).[4] He argues that the pronunciation of Yemenite Hebrew was not only uninfluenced by Arabic, but it influenced the pronunciation of Arabic by those Jews, despite the Jewish presence in Yemen for over a millennium.
^Judaeo-Yemenite Studies – Proceedings of the Second International Congress, Ephraim Isaac & Yosef Tobi (ed.), Introduction, Princeton University 1999, p. 15
^Responsa Yitzhak Yeranen, part iv, Bnei Barak 1991, page 80, by Rabbi Hayim Yitzhak Barda, who quotes R. Meir Mazuz, saying: "The Yemenites are very stringent and well-versed, and are punctilious in their [usage of the] language, and they support the enunciation of the Ashkenazim" (translated from the Hebrew).
^Rav Kook's Orah Mishpat question regarding Kiryat Sh'ma "וביחוד למי שמשנה ממבטא התימני המוחזק אצלם מדורות הראשונים שהוא המדויק שבמבטאים כמפורסם שבודאי אסור לעשות כן".
^Hebrew: "מסורות הגייה ושליטת העברית בקרב יהודי תימן" in Rabbi Yosef Qafih's Collected Papers, volume 2, pages 943–946 (Hebrew). Following is a relevant portion thereof: Hebrew: טענה זו אמנם אפשרית באופן תיאורי ואפשר להשליכה לא רק כאן אלא גם בכל מקום אחר, אלא שהיא מצד מהותה טענה מאוד תלוּשה וזקוּקה היא לבסיס כל שהוּא שתחול עליו, אחרת, הרי היא נשארת מרחפת ללא תנוחה ודינה להתנדף ולהעלם, כי כל ממש אין בה. כל שכן כאשר אנו מוצאים כדמות ראיה לאידך גיסא, כלומר, במצאנו בניב העברית של יהוּדי תימן דבר שאינו בשפת הסביבה, יש בכך משוּם הוכחה שמסורת זו שמרה על כלילוּתה וסגוּלותיה הייחוּדית.
ננסה להדגים בשני מישורים, במישור הסימניות, כלומר, האותות, ובמישור התנוּעות. האות פ הדגוּשה, הברה זו אינה מצוּיה בשפה הערבית ואין דוברי הערבית מסכּינים לבטאה, וכאשר מזדמנת להם אות זו במלים משפה זרה, מחליפים אותה באות ב. ואילוּ היהוּדים מבטאים אותה בקלוּת ומבחינים היטב בינה לבין כל הברה אחרת הדומה לה, כדרך שהם מבחינים היטב בשאר כל אותות בגד כפת הדגוּשות והרפוּיות. שניה לה האות ב הרפוּיה. גם הברה זו אינה מצוּיה בשפה הערבית ויהוּדי תימן מבטאים אותה בקלוּת וּללא כל מאמץ, ואילוּ הערבים כאשר מזוּמנת להם הברה זו בציטוט משפה זרה מבטאים אותה כאות פ הרפוּיה המצוּיה בלשונם — כי לא הסכּינוּ לה. שתי אלה ודומיהם שׂמים לאַל לדעתי את הטענה, כי הבחנת יהוּדי תימן בין ג רפוּיה ודגוּשה באה להם מן הערבית, למרות שבעלי טענה זו אין להם תחליף ייחוּדי להברות אלה, כי אילוּ היה ממש בטענת ההשפּעה הערבית, איכה נשתמרוּ להם ליהודי תימן הברות עבריות יחוּדיות אלה, אמור מעתה מציאוּתם של הברות בלעדיות כגון אלה מקשים ומכבידים על תחוּלתה של טענת ההשפּעה הזרה.
YemeniteHebrew (Hebrew: עִבְרִית תֵּימָנִית ʿĪvrīṯ Tēmŏnīṯ), also referred to as Temani Hebrew, is the pronunciation system for Hebrew traditionally...
Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from Hebrew: יהודי תימן, romanized: Yehude Teman; Arabic: اليهود اليمنيون), are those Jews who live...
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The Yemenite Children Affair (Hebrew: פרשת ילדי תימן, romanized: Parshat Yaldei Teiman) refers to the disappearance of mainly Yemenite Jewish babies and...
pronunciation it may be [ʌ]) in Ashkenazi Hebrew, as in Yemenite and Tiberian Hebrew, where it is [a] in Israeli Hebrew. (Compare Dovid (Lithuanian) or Duvid...
the exception of YemeniteHebrew. This pronunciation, in the form used by the Jerusalem Sephardic community, is the basis of the Hebrew phonology of Israeli...
convergence between the Sephardi and the local pronunciations of Hebrew. YemeniteHebrew is also considered quite separate, as it has a wholly different...
Anatolia, North Africa, and the Levant maintain the pharyngeal sound of YemeniteHebrew or Arabic of their regional coreligionists. /r/ is invariably alveolar...
There are different styles of payot among Haredi or Hasidic, Yemenite, and Chardal Jews. Yemenite Jews call their sidelocks simanim (סִימָנִים), literally...
was home to over 40,000 Yemeni refugees. Almost 435,000 Yemenite Jews live in Israel. Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that marks them out...
vocalization. However, contemporary YemeniteHebrew is thought to be the descendant of a variety of Babylonian Hebrew, as represented in the Babylonian...
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Hebrew as well, but it invariably has a modal (imperative, volitional, etc.) aspect in the main clause. Tiberian Hebrew (liturgical) YemeniteHebrew (liturgical)...
The Yemenite step (Hebrew: צעד תימני, Tza'ad Temani) is a dance step widely used in Jewish dancing and Israeli folk dancing. It originates from the dancing...
Hebrew kalanit, was formerly called in Hebrew shoshanat ha-melekh ('the king's flower'). For a simple comparison between the Sephardic and Yemenite versions...
of the Hebrew language, both past and present. Spoken dialects: Modern Hebrew Ashkenazi Hebrew Sephardi Hebrew Mizrahi HebrewYemeniteHebrew Tiberian...
from a separate Hebrew dialect, which always was there, and which for example the Masoretes did not use as reference. YemeniteHebrew, thought by Aaron...
only extant Hebrew pronunciation tradition to preserve and distinguish all begadkefat letters is YemeniteHebrew; however, in YemeniteHebrew the sound...
official language, the majority of the population spoke Arabic, and YemeniteHebrew. Of the country, 90% were Arabs, ~10% were Afro-Arabs, and a small...
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(Dalet without dagesh) is pronounced [d] as in Israeli Hebrew, not [ð] as in YemeniteHebrew. ה (He with mappiq) is often pronounced with a very short...
the YemeniteHebrew and the Yemenite Aramaic traditions. In 1966, Morag was awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish studies, for his book "The Hebrew Language...
and the sign sukun. Various oral traditions, especially Karaite and YemeniteHebrew, have both preserved old features that correspond to Tiberian tradition...
Simeon the Yemenite (Hebrew: שמעון התֵּימָנִי, translit: Shimon HaTeimani) or the variant Simeon of Timnah (Hebrew: שמעון התִּימְנִי, romanized: Shimon...
Mizrahi Hebrew used by Jews of the Middle East and North Africa YemeniteHebrew pronunciation (Temani Hebrew) used by Jews of Yemen Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation...
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