LESSON IV

• Accents - have three functions

• The mark the tone or accented syllable of the word.

• Note the words accented on any syllable other than the final syllable are marked with a munah ()

• Regulate the chanting of biblical texts in the synagogues

• Serve as marks of punctuation, showing how sentence structure was perceived at the time. There are either disjunctive (separating) or conjunctive (joining).
  

• Some accent marks

• atnah () the verse divider

• A word marked by either an atnah or silluq is said to be in "pause" that means in the accented or tone syllable the vowel becomes lengthened.

• silluq () at the end of a sentence

• sof passuq () at the end of a sentence

• A word marked by either an atnah or a silluq as well as certain other strong disjunctive accents is said to be "in pause."
  

• The meteg () serves four purposes

• It sometimes marks long vowels that stand two or more syllables before the tone syllable of a word.

• It is often used with short vowels that stand immediately before compound shevas.

• It may also be used with either long or short vowels that stand immediately before simple (vocal) shevas.

• It may also be used with unchangeably long vowels that stand before a maqqef.
  

• Weak letters -- ) and h function as regular consonants at the beginning of syllables but become quiescent (become silent and are not pronounced).
  

• Mappiq (qyiPam) is a dot in the final h (H) to enable it to retain its consonantal value. The H, x, and ( are strong gutturals that close the syllable in which it stands.
  
  
• Syllables

• General Rules

• Every syllable begins with a consonant

• Every syllable contains one full vowel

• There are as many syllables in a word as there are full vowels.

• Hebrew syllables are either opened or closed

• An open syllable ends in a vowel

• A closed syllable ends in a consonant (a word that ends in a h is considered an open syllable)

• More general rules concerning syllables

• There are as many syllables as there are vowels

• An open unaccented syllable requires a long vowel

• A closed unaccented syllable requires a short vowel

• If accented, a syllable may have a long or short vowel
  

• More about shevas

• A sheva is vocal . . .

• When it begins a syllable

• After a long vowel in an open syllable

• A compound sheva is always vocal

• A sheva is silent . . .

• When it ends a syllable

• After a short vowel in a closed syllable

• Two consecutive shevas - The first sheva is silent, the second is vocal. "When two shevas go walking together, the second does the talking."