Balearic Hebrew
Phonology
Consonants
Balearic Hebrew has 19 consonantal phonemes.
| Labial | Dental | Denti-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emphatic | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||
| Stop | voiceless | t | tˤ | k | ʔ | ||||
| voiced | b | d | g | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sˤ2 | ʃ | ħ | h | ||
| voiced | ð1 | ||||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | j | |||||||
1 In Balearic Hebrew, /ð/ is considered a phoneme despite having a confusing allophonic relationship with /d/ and /r/.
2The emphatic fricative has various pronunciations due to Iberian influence. Besides the pharyngealized pronunciation, it is most often pronounced as a denti-alveolar voiceless affricate /ts/, as in Modern Hebrew.
Various consonants characteristic of the Biblical era have been lost.
One of the most notable changes in the consonantal system is the complete loss of the /p/ phoneme. Likely due to Berber influence, the stops /b g d p t/ lenite to the fricatives /β γ ð f θ/ intervocalically. /p/ lenited in all positions to /f/, as it was in Proto-Arabic.
Historical sound changes
Balearic Hebrew has undergone various sound changes because of Berber, Punic, and Latin influence. It differs radically from Biblical Hebrew, and Mishnaic Hebrew in terms of pronunciation.
- Like in Levantine Hebrew, the ancient dual pronounciations of het and ayin merged into two possible phonemes: /ħ/ and /ʕ/ respectively.
- As in Samaritan Hebrew, the phoneme /ɬ/ merged with /ʃ/ instead of /s/, as in Tiberian Hebrew.
- BH qoph /q/ merged with either /g/ or /ʔ/.
- BH ayin /ʕ/ merged with /g/ or /h/.
- BH waw /w/ merged with /b/ always. /b/ is also in free variation with /v/ or /β/, a phenomenon known as betacism common in Iberian Romance languages.
- BH zayin /z/ devoiced to /s/.
- BH resh became /r/. Like in Spanish, /r/ is pronounced as a tap within the word, but as a trill beginning one.
- Final /h/ is lost and never pronounced in Balearic Hebrew.
Historical Spirantization and Allophony
Similar to the Hebrew dialects spoken in the Levant, the stops /p t b d g/ underwent spirantization in Balearic Hebrew. /k/ is never spirantized, unlike the Aramaic-influenced speech of the Levant.
| Letter | Stop | Allophone |
|---|---|---|
| pe | p | ɸ ~ f |
| taw | t | θ |
| bet | b | β ~ v |
| dalet | d | ð |
| gimel | g | ɣ ~ ŋ |
While previously allophonic in pronunciation, the /p/ phoneme has completely lenited into /f/. The rest of the stops, /t b d g/ are essentially in free variation with their allophones. The non-stop pronunciation is more typical between vowels, but speakers do not distinguish these sounds from their stop pairings.
Additionally, the /r/ sound can be pronounced /ð/ between vowels, though this is an archaic pronunciation. Generally it is a tap intervocalically, but many speakers confuse the sounds.
Vowels
The vowel system of Balearic Hebrew is much more conservative compared to modern Hebrew pronunciations. Nevertheless, there are significant differences that contrast Balearic Hebrew from its ancestor, Biblical Hebrew.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɪ | u |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
Balearic Hebrew nouns and adjectives are declined according to gender, number, and sometimes state. Due to Latin influence, many nouns in Balearic Hebrew are not of Semitic origin. Thus, the emphasis of roots on noun derivations is much less than in Biblical Hebrew.
Nouns and Adjectives
Nouns are marked for gender (masculine or feminine), number (singular, plural, and dual), and state (absolute or construct), and also definiteness.
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Absolute | ∅ | -e | -(h)ī |
| Construct | -(h)e | |||
| Feminine | Absolute | -ū | -(h)ot | |
| Construct | -at |
In nouns that end in a vowel in the singular, the plural form inserts an /h/ for prosodic reasons.
Adjectives match the noun they modify in terms of gender and number (if a noun is dual, the adjective declines for the plural number), Adjectives can also stand alone and function as a noun rather than only describe a noun.
Number
The singular form refers to a single item. Masculine singular nounds have no suffixes. Feminine nouns do. For example, the word sū is the masculine singular form for horse (stallion), while sūhū is the feminine form (mare).
The plural form of a term refers to two or more of that item. In Balearic Hebrew, the plural form generally refers to multiple people or objects. However, idiomatic uses of the plural form of a word express different meanings about a single entity. Balearic Hebrew has only regular plurals (i.e, no broken plurals).
The common plural expresses more than one of a person or thing. In the case of words such as ʔilohī, "god," Balearic Hebrew utilizes a majestic plural. This plural use is likely related to the abstract plural also common in Balearic Hebrew. These nouns, while plural grammatically, are translated as singular. In English, these nouns have endings like -ness, -hood, or -ship. One example is "blindness," which in Balearic Hebrew is bahanbirī. No singular form exists. Adjectives that modify these nouns are often singular, matching the implied number rather than the apparent form.
The Dual
The dual form is usable on most nouns. On nouns which come in pairs, such as body parts (two legs) or expressions with time or numbers (twice: two times), the dual is required. While in Biblical Hebrew the dual might cause some vowel changes, it has been reduced to a suffix in Balearic Hebrew. Dual nouns agree with the plural form of a verb.
While in Biblical Hebrew a "pseudo-dual" developed with body parts that come in pairs (such as eyes), Balearic Hebrew has reanalyzed this number agreement. Therefore, while in Biblical Hebrew a spider might be described as having eight eyes, "eyes" not being plural but "pseudo-dual," speakers of Balearic Hebrew would describe the spider as having four pairs of eyes, using the dual and the cardinal number "four."
Sound changes have made the dual absolute indistinguishable from the dual construct.
Gender
Gender is often visible from the noun. Most nouns without a specific suffix are likely masculine, and these nouns with no unique ending are the standard dictionary ending of a form. The most common feminine endings are -ū and -t. Nouns agree with verbs in gender as well as in number.
Certain nouns, while appearing masculine or feminine, are actually the other gender. As a general rule, feminine nouns deal with the following topics: place names, cities, directions, instruments, tools, body parts, elements, powers, forces, abstract nouns, and women. Animate nouns, such as those referring to people or animals, have the grammatical gender corresponding to their natural gender. For example, the noun sū is a male horse (a stallion), while a female horse is sūhū, or a male horse with the feminine ending -hū.
State
Nouns can appear in either the absolute state or the construct state. The absolute state is the standard form of a noun. Adjectives, participles, and infinitives, while in Biblical Hebrew could be in either state, can only be in the absolute state in Balearic Hebrew.
The construct state is used when a word takes a suffix to connect to another term in a construct chain. These chains indicate a unique grammatical link, but do not indicate possession. These links have to do with familial relations (the son of), materials (pot of gold), unique items (the king of kings), and loaned compound nouns. For example, the feminine words kehū (cheese) and hūgū (cake) compounded together form hūgat kehū or "cheescake." A gloss for this construct chain is cake-of cheese.
Often, the absolute noun that has the linked relationship with the construct noun has a definite article.
Definiteness
Unmarked nouns are in the indefinite state. There are three main ways to define a noun: one, with the definite article ha prefixing the noun, two, with a pronominal suffix possessing a noun, and three, with a demonstrative pronoun.
While in Biblical Hebrew the definite prefix /ha-/ caused gemination of the initial consonant of the noun, no such process occurs in Balearic Hebrew. However, after prepositions and conjunctions, the initial consonant /h/ drops, just as in Biblical Hebrew.
For nouns which start with /ʔ/ or /h/, the definite article causes this consonant to drop. For example, the word ʔabū, meaning "father", becomes labū, meaning "the father." Also visible is the insertion of /l/, an import from Latin demonstratives or the Arabic definite article.
Like in Spanish, nouns taken in a generic sense require definition. It is ungrammatical in Balearic Hebrew to say "milk is good" with no definite article, as one would say it in English. However, poetic Balearic Hebrew makes little use of the definite article, and so this rule has an exception.
Additionally, proper names are often introduced with the definite article, untranslateable in English but common in languages such as Catalan. For example, "Moses," would be hamoši in Balearic Hebrew.
Attributive adjectives are linked to nouns through the definite article, so that both the noun and its modifier have the definite article. This rule applies to participles as well.
Nominal word order
Adjectives and modifying nouns function either attributively or as a predicate. Generally, the attributive adjectives will immediately follow the noun it modifies and decline like the preceding noun. The only exception to this positioning is number adjectives, which can come before the noun.
Predicative adjectives describe nouns using an implied linking verb. Predicative nouns can also precede the noun the modify. Unlike attributive adjectives, a predicative adjective can be indefinite even if it describes a definite noun. To distinguish between an attributive and predicative adjective, here are two phrases.
- ha-domno nūgīn = "the landlord is good"
- ha-domno ha-nūgīn= "the good landlord"
Conjunctions
The most common conjunctions are be "and," ʔo "or," kī "because," and ʔīn "if." These words connect two different words, phrases, or clauses. The difference between a particle and a conjunction is not very clearly defined.
Uses of be
The most common and versatile conjunction is be, a prefixing conjunction. When it attaches to a noun with the definite article ha, be becomes e. For example, hadomno ebet means "the landlord and the house."
The general translation for be is and. It connects two ideas together. When attached to two different verbs, it indicates that they occur at the same time or are otherwise related in meaning.
Two instances of be is equivalent to the English correlative "either...or." When connected to verbs that are negated, it can have the meaning "neither...nor." For example, al katab beʔal ʔakal means "neither write nor eat." The second negative particle is not required.
Uses of kī
The word kī is very versatile. Most generally, it expresses a causal relationship between two ideas, similar to English "because" or "for." For example, kī kūtabta lūkūtabtī-kū, means "because you wrote, I am blessing you."
With the subjunctive in the clause introduced after kī, the conjunction expresses purpose or a goal. In this context, it is translated as "so that" or "in order to."
Additionally, kī can introduce a clause stating the surrounding events at the time of the action in the main clause. This is called a circumstantial clause, and kī is followed by a verb in the subjunctive.
Uses of ʔīn
ʔīn is most common in conditional clauses. Therefore, its primary translation is "if." Different conditions are expressed depending on if the verb is in the indicative or subjunctive, base on complete factual implications, future conditions, or counterfactual conditions.
The subordinating conjunction
The subordinative clause that has no nominal antecedent uses the conjunction ʔašir. It is translated as English "that." Typically, this word introduces a subjunctive verb in the subordinate clause.
Additionally, ʔašir can stand alone and form a jussive or cohortative meaning with the subjunctive form. For example, ʔašir nīktūb means "let us write."
Particles
Honorific particles
These particles are used in commands or requests when speaking to someone older or of higher social standing, or to God. They roughly translate to "please," "oh," or "pray!" They indicate high expression of emotion, and at times desperation.
In order of weaker to strongest emotive force, nūg is less strong than ʔūnūg. Paired together, they mean something similar to "I beseech!" This is the strongest use of these particles.
The particle bī is similar to those exhortative particles, but has a slightly different meaning. It is used to make a polite request to a superior, and precedes the person addressed. For example, bī domnoyī, natan lī hadīnūryo meaning "please, my landlord, give me the money." bī is also used preceding second person plural pronouns to refer to a singular person of higher social standing, similar to the French use of the plural pronoun vous. Using an Iberian Spanish translation:
- ʔati = vosotros (you all)
- bī ʔati = usted (you, formal)
In this way, Balearic Hebrew has developed a T-V distinction parallel to Romance languages spoken in the region.
Negation
There are two negative particles in Balearic Hebrew.
The first, lo, is the most common and is used to negate verbs in the indicative, as well as non-finite verbs. For example, lo kūtabtī means "I did not write." Additionally, lo is used in verbless clauses to negate them, with an implied linking verb. For example, the phrase si lo bikamfo means "he is not on the battlefield."
The second, ʔal, is used to negate verbs in the imperative or subjunctive. For example, al kītbū means "do not write."
Prepositions
Some prepositions are always prefixed to nouns, modifying, if present, the definite article. Other noun phrases act as prepositions, but are not as widely used. The prefixing prepositions do not stem from the triconsonantal roots.
The four prepositions
These prepositions are the most commonly used prepositions and are a single consonant and a vowel.
- bi = in, at, with, by
- li = towards, to, for
- mi = from, out of, concerning, about, of
These prepositions are very versatile and attach to the beginning of the noun they relate to. For example, bibet means "in a house."
Uses of bi
The most common use of bi is for spatial phrases indicating place where. Words such as “in," “on," “under," “with," “beside," and "at," all are valid translations of the preposition bi. Unlike English, bi meaning "in" cannot mean "into." That would be a translation of li.
Instrumental words such as "by," "with," or "using," are equivalent to the preposition bi.
Temporal constructions in Balearic Hebrew are most often used with the preposition bi. Bi describes when an action happened, and common English translations include "in," "during," "at," "while." Circumstantial clauses with the infinitive are usually introduced with bi. For example, the phrase "while talking" is the translation of Balearic Hebrew bi-dabbir. Other temporal clauses that do not have this "when" meaning are formed with other prepositions.
Uses of li
One of the most common uses of li is to indicate the indirect object of a verb. For example, in the Biblical verse "God called the light 'day'" (Genesis 1:5), the word "light" would be prefixed with li to indicate that it is the secondary recipient of the main verb's action.
The direction towards something is always expressed with the preposition li. This meaning is categorized in two different ways: one, the direction toward an object, and two, the reaching of or attaining to it. In this way, it is very semantically similar to the Latin preposition ad.
Li is also the preposition used to create the construction for the agent of a passive verb. This preposition attaches to the enclitic personal pronoun, or a noun, to show who is causing the passive action to happen to the patient
Uses of mi
Mi denotes the going out, departure, or separation of an object or person from any fixed point. In this way, it both means "from" as in a literal directional sense, and "about," as a figurative line from one idea to another.
Mi is also very commonly used to indicate possession. This use is likely an innovation paralleled with the Latin preposition dē, which became a marker of possession in Romance. For example, habet madomno means "the landlord's house," literally, "the house from the landlord."
With the definite article
These three prepositions lose the <i> when the noun or adjective they modify is definite. Instead, the <i> is exchanged for /a/. Therefore:
| Word | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bet | house |
| Noun + Preposition | bibet | in a house |
| Noun + Definite Article | habet | the house |
| Noun + Both | babet | in the house |
Other prepositions
Other non-prefixing prepositions also exist in Balearic Hebrew. Of these, the most common are:
- kimo = "like," "as," "than"
- hal = "over," "above," "upon"
- ben = "between," "among"
- hīm = "accompanying," "with"
Of these, kimo is the most versatile. It is used in comparative phrases with adjectives, or for correlatives.
Definite object preposition
The definite object preposition ʔit indicates the direct object of some verb. It does this by directly preceding the noun or phrase that functions as the direct object of a verb (either finite or non-finite). It is only used if the object is definite, in the case of an indefinite direct object, no preposition is used to mark it. For example, in the sentence "God created the sun," būratta ʔilohī ʔit hašimiš, the particle is on view before hašimiš, "the sun."
Conjunctions such as be, "and" can attach to this particle if there are two direct objects.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Balearic Hebrew has 10 distinct forms for the personal pronouns. The 1st person has no gender distinction.
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ʔūnokī | ʔanaħnū | |
| 2nd | Masculine | ʔatū | ʔati |
| Feminine | ʔat | ʔatinū | |
| 3rd | Masculine | si | ʔilī |
| Feminine | sot | ʔilot | |
The 3rd person pronouns are identical to the medial demonstrative pronouns.
Since verbs already indicate their subject through inflection, the subject pronoun is optional but is added for emphasis.
Enclitic Pronouns
These are suffixes that can be attached to nouns, verbs, particles, or prepositions.
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -(y)ī | -anū | |
| 2nd | Masculine | -kū | -akī |
| Feminine | -ak | -akin | |
| 3rd | Masculine | -o | -ahi |
| Feminine | -ha | -ahin | |
When attached to a noun, the noun must be in the construct state. This forms a construction equivalent to possessive pronouns in English. Therefore, "my horse," would be sūyī, and "my horses" would be sūheyī.
For prosodic reasons, if a word ends in a vowel, then a /h/ is inserted before the enclitic pronoun, unless it is the first person singular, in which case a <y> is.
If the direct object of a verb is a personal pronoun, no direct object particle is used with the non-enclitic forms. Instead, the enclitic is attached to the end of the verb. For example, "he judges you" is the translation of lūšūpaṭ-kū. However, for emphasis, the enclitic form can actually attach to the end of the direct object particle, causing a vowel change. Instead of usual ʔit, the particle becomes ʔot.
The formal second person pronouns use the plural pronoun suffixes with the particle bī immediately following.
Pronouns with prepositions
The three prefixing prepositions take the enclitic pronoun as the object of said preposition. This causes their <i> vowel to lengthen to <ī>. Thus, "to you," is lī-kū. The first person singular enclitic adds no epenthetic /h/.
In addition to the three prefixing prepositions, all the other non-phrasal prepositions also take the enclitic pronoun. For example, "upon them" is hal-ahi, not *hal ʔilī.
Demonstratives
Balearic Hebrew has three kinds of demonstratives, whose use depends on the distance (physical or figurative) between the speaker and the modified noun. This is similar to Spanish or Old English, and an innovation from Biblical Hebrew
| Demonstratives | Proximal | Medial | Distal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine singular | pe | si | hīhi |
| Masculine plural | polī | ʔilī | hīnilī |
| Feminine singular | pot | sot | hīhot |
| Feminine plural | polot | ʔilot | hīnilot |
The proximal demonstratives evolve from a combination of the word po, meaning "here," and the Biblical demonstrative set. The distal combine the archaic particle hīni with the demonstrative set, creating a three-fold system unlike any other Semitic language.
These demonstratives can function either as pronouns or as attributive adjectives.
Additionally, to introduce a personal relative clause, the medial demonstratives are used, not necessarily requiring an antecedent. For example, ʔūkal hakesū sot tūrattī means "he ate the cheese which I surrendered," with sot serving as the introduction to that relative clause.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to a person or thing, but not anything specific. English translations of the two pronouns would be "whoever" and "whatever."
Balearic Hebrew has mī referring to people ("whoever") and mū for objects ("whatever"). These are also two interrogative pronouns ("who?" and "what?", respectively). For example, mī mūtat can mean "he who died," "whoever died," or "who died?"
Interrogative Pronouns
Besides the pronouns mī and mū that also function as question words, Balearic Hebrew has many others. These pronouns also function as adjectives.
| Meaning | Word |
|---|---|
| Who? | mī |
| What? | mū |
| How? | kimo |
| How long? | hammmūte |
| How much? | hammū |
| Where? | ʔe |
| When? | bimūte |
| Why | lūmū |
The interrogative prefix of Biblical Hebrew is lost, instead, word order is flipped to convey a question. However, with these interrogatives, word order does not need to change and often does not.
Numerals
Numerals tend to be irregular adjectives, though they follow a pattern very similar to the general adjective. Of the cardinal numbers from 1-10, 1 is an adjective, 2 is a noun in the dual number, and the rest are nouns that do not change according to number, but that distinguish gender. Balearic Hebrew distinguishes cardinal and ordinal numbers.
Cardinal Numbers
Like Classical Arabic, Balearic Hebrew exhibits gender polarity in numeral agreement, but only for numbers after 20. Multiples of 10 do not decline according to the gender of the counted noun.
| One | Two | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | ʔaħūd | šne |
| Feminine | ʔaħat | šte |
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | šūloš | šilošū |
| 4 | ʔarban | ʔarbūgū |
| 5 | ħūmiš | ħamīšū |
| 6 | šiš | šīšū |
| 7 | šivan | šīvnū |
| 8 | šimoni | šimonū |
| 9 | tišan | tišnū |
| 10 | hišir | hašūrū |
The numbers 11-19 are formed by writing the number 10 followed by the number 1-9. In this way, Hebrew reverses English "seven-ten" with something more similar to Spanish "diez-y-siete." However, the masculine form of 10 is hūšūr, and the feminine is hišri. Therefore, "seventeen" would be hūšūr šivan for 17 masculine nouns, and hišri šīvnū for 17 feminine nouns.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 20 | hišre |
| 30 | šlošī |
| 40 | ʔarbūgī |
| 50 | ħamīšī |
| 60 | šīšī |
| 70 | šīvnī |
| 80 | šmonī |
| 90 | tīšnī |
These numbers are applicable to nouns of either gender.
Multiples of 10 plus units are written with the same rules as the number 11-19. For example, "thirty three" is written as šlošī bišūloš, or "thirty and-three." The only thing notable about these numbers is that they exhibit gender polarity, so šlošī bišūloš refers to 33 feminine nouns, because šūloš is the masculine form of the numeral 3.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 100 | miʔū |
| 200 | mūte |
| 1,000 | ʔilif |
| 2,000 | ʔalfe |
Multiples of 100 are expressed with the cardinal number 3-9 and the word miʔū. For example, 934 is tišan miʔū šlošī biʔarban. Since it ends with "34," this number describes 930 feminine nouns, still exhibiting gender polarity.
Ordinal Numbers and Demonyms
Ordinal numbers express a rank or order of items in a series, or a fraction.
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | raʔšon | raʔšonū |
| 2nd | šinī | šinīū |
Only 1st and 2nd decline for gender. Other ordinal numbers apply to either gender, and are formed by adding the suffix -ī to the end of a masculine cardinal number 3-10. For numbers larger than 10, cardinal numbers are used.
The ordinal form of a numeral is identical to the form used to describe the part of a whole, so "third," šūlošī, also means 1/3.
The same suffix used to form ordinal numbers, -ī for masculine singular and plural, -īt for feminine singular, and -ūt for the plural, is used to form demonyms for peoples or languages. The word for the language spoken in Canaan, "Hebrew," is kīnaganīt.