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Lesson : VowelsVowelsare ndicated hroughcertainconsonantsswell assigns hat appear boveandbelow he etters.Therefore, omeconsonants ayserveeitheras a trueconsonant,r as hemarker f a vowel.Usuallywhenconsonantsreusedo markvowels, hevowels heyaremarkingare longvowels."But, notevery longvowel" is represented ith sucha consonant. onsonantshatmarkvowelshelpmake hepronunciation f aword moreobvious o areader nd hese onsonantsare, herefore, alledmatresectionis, atin or "mothers f reading."In order o distinguishrueconsonantsrom motres-consonants,t is helpful orepresenthematres-consonantsssuperscriptetters n transcription.Althoughhevowelsare abeled ither long"or "short," hisnomenclatureoesnot describehe ength f theirpronunciation.hevowelsn BiblicalAramaic renotdistinguishedy the engthof time t takeso pronouncehem,but rather ytheirdistinctsounds. hus,we will speak f a"short a/" and his describessounddistinct rom"long a/",but bothwouldhavehad he same uantity,.e., engthofpronunciation.LiketheAramaic onsonants,hevowelsmaybe ransliteratednto heRomanalphabet.ongvowelsaredistinguishedromshortvowelsby a macron,.e.,a lineover hem shortal : a;long al : a) .Part :Beloware hevowelsignsand heconsonalltshatsometimesccompanyhem. nthis ist, hevowelsignsa"reepresentedeneath r above he etterbeth; heirtransliteratedorms,and heirapproximate,onventionalronunciationollow.

I a marksshort al, conventionallyronouncedike thea in theEnglishword"mat."I A marks ong al, conventionally ronouncedike thea in the

English olloquialword"pa,"or "father."Sometimes,specially ttheendof a word, t is also epresenteds 'Tl or Nl (ban ba).Thesame vmbolalsomarksa short o/: seebelow.: e marks he short e/ sound, onventionally ronouncedike theein theEnglish ame Ed,"or n theword less."

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-l

r- l

e, e marks a shortor long /e/ sound. n eithercase,he vowel isconventionally ronouncedike theay in say,or like theey n convey.Sometimest is also epresenteds'l eY,EY; l e', e', and JJ eh,eh.Distinguishingbetween he shortand ong e is often difficult. For thebeginningstudent,t will be helpful to transliteratehis symbolwith euniversallyand subsequentlyo learn hoseplaceswhere he symbolrepresents .

-wo

marks heshort i/ sound, onventionally ronouncedike theI in"pit."markshe ong ii sound, onventionallyronouncedike thee inthename Pete,"or likethe in theword"latrine"and saline".Notetheextra odh.Thisconfirms hat he -vowel s long.marksheshort o/ vowel,conventionallyronouncedike theawof theword"paw."Note hat hisvowel s veryclose o thea. Whenthese owelsymbolswere nvented ndapplied o theconsonantaltext, heremightnothavebeena distinction etweenheo andasounds. ll the same,t is conventionalo distinguishwo vowels ntransliterationndpronunciation.earningwhere, representsandwhere t representsis noteasy. have ried o disambiguateefweenthe wo vowels n transliteration.markshe ong o/ vowel,conventionallyronouncedike theoaof "coat,"or ike heo of "rote." t is sometimeslsowrittenwithout hewawcomplement: : o.marksheshort u/ vowel,conventionallyronouncedike theooof "cook."markshe ong u/ vowel,conventionallyronouncedike theooof "noon,"or theu of "fune."This s the shewa ymbolandmarksa mufinured owel,conventionallyronouncedike thea in "above."Theshewa ymbolalsomarksheabsencef a vowel.Determining hichof these woalternativeshe shewa epresents ill sometimesrovedifficult.

l '

- J Ot

j u

- wu-'l

l - r- v

i 'r

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$FrNdNd

i r t: -

Thesehreesymbolsepresentltra-short owels,essentiallyike themunnured owel n nature, ut each avinga slightlydistinctquality.Typically hese owelsappear nderguttural onsonantsi.e.,N, J, JJ,and 'l; sometimeslsobeforeor after andp andsometimesefore),), andl). Unlike heshewa, hichonlysometimeshould epronounced,hese hreesymbols lways epresenthepresencef apronouncedowel.

ay Occasionally,ne indsavowelandconsonanthatarepronouncedtogether. hemostcommonn BiblicalAramaic s theshort a/+yodh,which spronouncedike theEnglishword"eye."Note hat nthiscase heshewa ymbolmarks heabsencef a vowel.

Note hatwhena kaphappearsast n aword t has his orm:-l , it is conventionalto write hiswith a shewa ymbol l), though hisshewa ymboldoesnotrepresent vowelsound.Also mportanto understandingow Armaicwordswerepronounced,sunderstandinghere hestressalls.Usually,t fallson he astsyllable f a word.Occasionallyt fallson thenext-to-lastyllable,n whichcase hestressedyllableis indicatedy anaccentmark . ): :lll-lfExercisea.Now,try transliteratinghe ollowingwords ncludingheirvowelsand ranslatingthewordsnot ranslatedor you.Determining hich etters re rueconsonantsndwhicharematre,s-consonantsill becomemuchclearer syoubegin o understandtheformsof nounsandverbs.-j?b --' melek "king")-'la: ("silver") Becauseheshewas the irst vowelof theword, t ispronounced.)Ftr-tl l -t t F tl r r JI r

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- F -J I I J- :1-j\ rJ- :

n)ul:. )tJ tn i'!'i?nj'f )Dn;il! :l! ):: 'i 'E')u1l ' t ; ]7 ; 'T'nn1?n] ' ' l7t;] ' ln:lI i " : : | - - : - : T 'Part2As mentionedbove, istinguishingetweenheshewahat epresentsmurmuredvowel,and heshewahat epresentshe absencef a vowel s sometimesatherdifficult. n general, hena short owel lal _ ,lel .. ,lil ., lol , , lul ... comesbefore shewa,heshewa epresentsheabsencef avowel;whena longvowel(/il , , l1l , hl ' . ,loll ,lil 1)comes efore shewa,heshewaepresentsmunnured owel.Forexample, ecause denotes short owel, heshewafollowing t in N!?D (",tl. king") epresentsheabsencef a vowel.Similarlywith theshortil in lt.-l:l ("hewrites").On he otherhand, n lIJ"li;1 ("he et youknow") he represents ongvoweland hus heshewaollowing t ispronounced.There reexceptions,ut his holds rue,by-andJargeor mostwords.)Exercise b.Distinguishheshewashat epresent urmured-vowelsrom hose hat epresenttheabsencef vowelsby transliteratinghesewords.N?Ol ("thesilver"):l|]'f n ("he etyouknow" or "hecausedou o know")lf n!|! ("you" for masculineluralentities)j'-lnS ("thosewho aresaying")The, symbolepresentshere.)'i]l! ("building")n]l? ("Theonewho s building") The, symbol epresentshere,asdoesl,.)

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Remember:Theultra-shortowels $ A, f d,S d) arealways ronounced.Exercise c.This s thebeginningf a etter, mbeddedn thebiblicalbookof Ena (a:11).Transcribet:'ni)! rn?u"TNf-t.i* ltD-lgT:"7i1?iTl-11! D;sT'Ju - N??D nluurnr_i-l$!'-'tN"ll;t] ":t R?)* N'lil) !'-1] nlJj:l"This(is)a copyof the etter hat heysent o him:'To: Artaxerxes,heking-- (From:)yourservants,hepeople f Avar-Naharah.Now, et it beknown o theking that heJews/Judaeansho . . ."'Part3: SyllabificationndVowelsEachsyllable eginswith a consonant. syllable everbeginswith a vowel.Thereare wokindsof syllables,hosehathaveonlya consonant avowel called"open"syllables)nd hose yllableshathavea consonant a vowel+ aconsonantcalled closed"syllables).In theword:j{l'f n (h6*-de-'ak) "he et youknow") he irst syllablesconsideredopen"becauset begins ith a consonant,utdoes othaveconsonantt ts end, athert endswith the ongd vowel.Thesecond yllablesalsoan opensyllable.However,he astsyllables a closed yllable ecausetbegins ndendswith a consonant.Short owels _, . . , . , . , and, [whent represents]) ypical ly ccurn onlytwoplaceswithin a word:1) n a closed yllable,ar 2) in anaccentedyllableeitherhe astsyllable f aword or in a syllablewith anaccentmark ' ): lfi!)Long owels' . . , ' , i , ' '1 , and, [whent represents] )most f ten ccurnopensyllables,ut canalsooccurn closed yllables,o matter heposition f thestress.This, ncidentally, istinguisheshevowelpatternsn Aramaic rom hosein BiblicalHebrew,whereongvowelsappear nly n opensyllables r in stressed

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closed yllables;.e., n Hebrew,ongvowelsdoNOT occur n closed, nstressedsyllables,ut heyDO in Aramaic.)Givena form ike:l{'1li'.T,t is impossibleor a beginning tudento knowwhetheror not he irst syllables closed r open,whethert should epronouncedsathree-syllable ord hd-de-'ak/ r asa two syllableword *hod-'-ak/. hecorrectpronunciations, n fact,difficult o knowwith certainty.t is easiestf beginningstudentsimplyassumehatall longvowelsare n opensyllables, nless therwiseindicated. hisassumptionesultsn the ransliterationo*de'ak.Thewords bove,t??B ,N??:, 'ilt ' i!13,and'i]!1,each eginwith a closedsyllable. achof these losed yllablesontains short owel.m r r - l t q iThewords JfTli1, T"''lF$,andN')l beginwith anopen yllable. ach f theseopensyllables ontains ongvowel.Thismeanshat he ollowingshewan eachword epresentsmurmured owel.Another haracteristicf Aramaic yllabifications thatwhen wo shewas ccurside-by-side,uchas n theword lln:l , the irst representsheabsencef avowelwhile hesecondepresentsmurmuredowel.RememberhatmanyAramaicwordshavea shewan their irst syllable.n almosteverycase,heshewahatappearsn the irst syllable f aword epresentsmurmured owelandshould epronounced.

Exercise d.Transliteratehe following passage asedonEzra(5:4):lin) r:F$NFi: il'tlrT:l?N:':l ;111l $illl nirFurftr DThen, hus, heyaskedhem:"Whatare henames f themenwho arebuilding hisbuilding lit., who hisbuildingarebuilding)."

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Exercisee.Transcribehe ollowing fromEna 5.5) ntoAramaicscript:wo'eYndldhdhdnhdwdtal SdbEvehu*dayc'wela'baltilu*himm6*"Theeyeof their Godwasover he elders f theJudaeansand hey i.e., heelders) idnotstop hem i.e., hebuilders)."

Vocabulary:Prepositions:2 :"to" or "for"TD "from"I - .)9_ "to" or "against" r "over"or "accordingo"Adverbs:N, : thisparticle egateserbstrllt: "also"Shortwords:]]llt

: "then"tit$ : "theres"Nl;'l : "he"Nti.T "she"'l : "and"or "but"!t'l] : "known"N]il? : "let it be" Qrlotehat he irstsyllable ontains short el vowelinanopensyllable. his s theexceptiono the ulepointed ut above. heultra-short owelbeneathheheh s secondarv:heolder ormof thewordwouldhavebeen leh-we' t . l

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