Tiberian vocalization

Tiberian vocalization marks vowels and stress, distinguishes consonant quality and length, and serves as punctuation.

It has long since eclipsed the comparatively rudimentary Babylonian and Palestinian vocalization systems for writing Biblical Hebrew.

[2][3] The phoneme /ă/ had a number of allophones; /ă/ had to be written with shva rather than hataf patah when it was not pronounced as [ă].

[5] That is referenced specifically by medieval grammarians: If one argues that the dalet of 'Mordecai' (and other letters in other words) has hatef qames, tell him, 'but this sign is only a device used by some scribes to warn that the consonants should be pronounced fully, and not slurred over'.The names of the vowel diacritics are iconic and show some variation: The names of the vowels are mostly taken from the form and action of the mouth in producing the various sounds, as פַּ֫תַח‎ opening; צֵ֫רֵי‎ a wide parting (of the mouth), also שֶׁ֫בֶר‎ (=ĭ) breaking, parting (cf.

Moreover the names were mostly so formed (but only later), that the sound of each vowel is heard in the first syllable (קָמֶץ‎ for קֹמֶץ‎,‎ פַּתַח‎ for פֶּתַח‎,‎ צֵרִי‎ for צְרִי‎); in order to carry this out consistently some even write Sägôl, Qomeṣ-ḥatûf, Qübbûṣ.Cantillation signs mark stress and punctuation.