Yemenite Hebrew

Yemenite Hebrew (Hebrew: עִבְֿרִיתֿ תֵּימָנִיתֿ), (Arabic: العبرية اليمنية), also referred to as Temani Hebrew, is the pronunciation system for Biblical and liturgical Hebrew traditionally used by Yemenite Jews. Yemenite Jews brought their language to Israel through immigration. Their first organized immigration to the region began in 1882.

It is believed by some scholars that its phonology was heavily influenced by spoken Yemeni Arabic. Yet, according to other scholars as well as Yemenite Rabbis such as Rabbi Yosef Qafih, and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook Temani 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.

Among the dialects of Hebrew preserved into modern times, Yemenite Hebrew is regarded as one of the forms closest to Hebrew as used in ancient times, particularly Tiberian Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew. This is evidenced in part by the fact that Yemenite Hebrew preserves a separate sound for every consonant - except for ס sāmeḵ and שׂ śîn, which are both pronounced /s/, but which had already merged in ancient times, as evident in the spelling variants in the Dead Sea Scrolls.