KEY TO PRONUNCIATION OF HEBREW TERMS

Consonants (when not "doubled"):1

Alef = ' (silent in Israeli Hebrew)
Bet = b or v
Gimel = g
Dalet = d
He = h
Vav = v
Zayin = z
Het = underlined h (like ch as in BACH)
Tet = t
Yod = y
Kaf = k or kh (kh = ch as in BACH)
Lamed = l (as in LIGHT)
Mem = m
Nun = n
Çamekh = ç, with cedilla (like English s)
`Ayin = ` (gutteral or silent in Israeli Hebrew)
Pe = p or f
Tsade = ts (as in CATS)
Kof = k
Resh = r (rolled as in French or Spanish)
Schin = sch (like English sh)
Sin = s
Tav = t

Vowels (simplified):2

a = a as in FATHER
e = e as in ITEM
é = a as in FATE
ê = ay as in SAY
i, î = i as in MACHINE
o = o as in BONE
ou = u as in NUDE

FOOTNOTES

1. Capitalized consonants (such as T or Sch) are pronounced more forcefully (as if doubled). Haïk-Vantoura's transliteration is based on simplified Israeli Hebrew rather than Biblical Hebrew pronunciation; its orthography is also based on French rather than English usage, which may at first prove confusing to the English reader. Nevertheless, since we cite Haïk-Vantoura's scores so extensively here, we have elected to follow her spelling conventions. Note that in our own text, we capitalize y when it begins the name YehaVe (the y not being "doubled" -- see below).
2. Israeli Hebrew does not make the distinctions between vowels that biblical Hebrew does. Haïk-Vantoura's transliteration is simpler still; it transcribes the vowel-points çégol and tséré the same way (using é with an acute accent), and uses ou where English speakers would use u. We have have elected to follow her spelling conventions. We also capitalize vowels if they begin Divine proper names (as in ha'Elohim); vowels are not thereby "doubled".

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