Begadkefat (also begedkefet) is the phenomenon of lenition affecting the non-emphatic stop consonantsofBiblical 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 languageofDjerba.[1] Celtic languages have a similar system.
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.
InModern 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 stop–fricative 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]
InAshkenazi 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].
The phenomenon is attributed to the following allophonic consonants:
Plosives
Spirants
Hebrew Notes
Hebrew
Syriac
Hebrew
Syriac
Biblical,
Mishnaic
Standard
Israeli
Letter
בּ
ܒ݁
ב
ܒ݂
[β]
[v]
IPA
[b]
[β]
-
Letter
גּ
ܓ݁
ג
ܓ݂
[ɣ]
[ɡ]
IPA
[ɡ]
[ɣ]
-
Letter
דּ
ܕ݁
ד
ܕ݂
[ð]
[d]
IPA
[d]
[ð]
-
Letter
כּ
ܟ݁
כ
ܟ݂
[x]
[χ]
IPA
[k]
[x]
-
Letter
פּ
ܦ݁
פ
ܦ݂
[ɸ]
[f]
IPA
[p]
[ɸ]
-
Letter
תּ
ܬ݁
ת
ܬ݂
[θ]
[t]
IPA
[t]
[θ]
-
InHebrew 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.
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.,
inverbs:
• 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 /lekaˈχev/ preserves the manner of articulation of each kaf in the word it is derived from: כּוֹכָב /koˈχav/ "a star" (first stop, then fricative), as opposed to the prescribed pronunciation /leχaˈkev/, 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/iscolloquially 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"),
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.:
