Regional and Historical Variation
Further information: Phonology of Biblical HebrewThe following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The apostrophe-looking symbol after some letters is not a yud but a geresh. It is used for loanwords with non-native Hebrew sounds and only in Israeli Hebrew. The dot in the middle of some of the letters, called a "dagesh kal", also modifies the sounds of the letters ב, כ and פ in modern Hebrew (in earlier forms of Hebrew it used to modify also the sounds of the letters ג, ד and ת; the "dagesh chazak" – orthographically indistinguishable from the "dagesh kal" – designates gemination, which today is realized only rarely – e.g. in biblical recitations or when using Arabic loanwords).
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Symbol Pronunciation Israeli Ashkenazi Sephardi Yemenite Tiberian Reconstructed Mishnaic Biblical א בּ ב גּ ג ג׳ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A דּ ד ד׳ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ה ו וּ ? ? ? וֹ ? ? ? (וו), ו׳ (non-standard) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ז ז׳ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ח ט י ִי ? ? ? ? כּ ךּ כ ך ל מ ם נ ן ס ע ע׳ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A פּ ףּ פ ף צ ץ צ׳ ץ׳ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ק , , ר ~ ~ ~ שׁ שׂ תּ ת ת׳ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
- velarized or pharyngealized
- pharyngealized
- sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized.
Read more about this topic: Modern Hebrew Phonology
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