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# Phonology and orthography of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic

Script and inherited consonants: [Script and phonology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/arc/script-phonology/). JPA texts differ from Biblical and targumic Aramaic in three ways: **gutturals are weak**, spelling is **very plene**, and endings are written in **more than one way** (־ה / ־א, ־ן / ־ם). Vowels below follow Dalman 1905, Fassberg 1991 and Sokoloff 2002b, and the Guggenheimer vocalisation of the Yerushalmi on Sefaria (CC BY); they are reconstructions.

## 1. Gutturals

Galilean speech weakened the gutturals, and the writing shows it (Kutscher 1976, ch. on phonology; Sokoloff 2002b, introduction):

| process | example | meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ʾ lost at the end of a syllable, and often between vowels | רֵישׁ "head" (BA רֵאשׁ) |  |
| ʾ (from ʾe-) lost at the start of common names | לִיעֶזֶר for אֱלִיעֶזֶר (y. Yevamot 12:2: דרבי ליעזר) |  |
| ʿ and ḥ confused with ʾ and h | manuscript spellings that interchange ע and א, ח and ה in the same word (Kutscher 1976 lists them; Sokoloff 2002b gives the variants under each headword) |  |

The rabbis themselves joked about it. b. Eruvin 53b tells of a Galilean in the market asking for **אמר**, and being answered: "Foolish Galilean, do you want *ḥamār* (an ass) to ride, *ḥamr* (wine) to drink, *ʿamar* (wool) to wear, or *ʾimmar* (a lamb) to slaughter?" — because he pronounced ḥ, ʿ and ʾ alike. The anecdote is Babylonian and comic, but it agrees with the spellings in Galilean texts.

## 2. Plene spelling

JPA manuscripts and inscriptions write vowels with ו and י more fully than any other Jewish Aramaic:

| vowel | example | meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| short i written י | אִית, לֵית, דִּיהוּדָאֵי | there is, there is not, of the Jews |
| short u written ו | קוֹמֵי "before" (Yerushalmi; targum קֳדָם) |  |
| ō, ū written ו | כְּדוֹן "now"; תּוּבָן "again, still" |  |
| final -ē written י | מוֹדֵיי "agree (pl.)" (y. Bava Metzia 2:5) |  |

## 3. Variable endings

| ending | variants | example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| determined -ā | ־א and ־ה | Yerushalmi and inscriptions both; Neofiti mostly ־א |
| m. pl. absolute | ־ין, and Hebrew-like ־ים in some words |  |
| 3 m. sg. suffix | ־יה, ־ה, ־יי | לֵיהּ, לֵה |
| final -n / -m | 3 m. pl. ־הון, 2 m. pl. ־כון; ־הום, ־כום only in the Palestinian targums |  |
| "the Rabbi" | רִבִּי (Palestinian vocalisation, vs Babylonian רַבִּי) | (Guggenheimer: רִבִּי throughout) |

Checked 2026-10-18 in part: Stevenson 1924 §4, p. 16 (the 3 m. sg. suffix ־יה, the 3 m. pl. ־הוֹן and ־וֹן).

Second pass 2026-10-18: the rows of §§ 1–3 and 5 against Dalman 1905 §§ 10–15, pp. 56–105, read from the OCR prose and the page images.

- Gutturals: Dalman §15.1aβ, p. 96: inside a word ʾ always loses its consonantal value at the end of a syllable (ריש "head", Jeb. 11b) and often after a vowelless consonant before a long vowel; corrected: the first row said only "between vowels". §15.1aδ, p. 97: initial ʾ with its vowel falls in Galilean names (לעזר for אלעזר, ליעזר for אליעזר) and in common words (נשא "man", חורי "other"). §10.1, pp. 57–60, and §15.1c–d, pp. 98–99: ḥ, ʿ, h and ʾ are confused in Galilean spellings; Dalman tells the b. Eruvin 53b story (the Galilean asking for אמר) and the Berakhot baraita about Haifa, Beth-Shean and Tivon. Agree.
- Plene spelling: Dalman §12.1a, pp. 70–72: in the Palestinian Talmud and Midrash ו marks *u, o, ū, ō* and י marks *i, e*, also in closed syllables (איתעביד "was made"); final yod is often doubled. Agree, with one correction: תּוּבָן is "again, still" (from תוב + ־ָן, Dalman §15.3dε, p. 102; *Anhang* II.1, p. 397), not "straw", and its vowel is *ū*; the row now says ō and ū.
- Endings: Dalman §12.1aα, p. 70: final *ā* is written with ה or א, and the preference for ה is typical of the Palestinian Talmud: agrees. §15.3dδ, p. 102: Galilean also drops the final n of the absolute plural (־י for ־ין), so the masculine plural absolute has a third spelling. §15.3dζ, p. 102: ־הום and the like are forms of the Jerusalem targums; corrected the final -n / -m row accordingly (the Yerushalmi has להון 75, לכון 76 and no להום, לכום; counted 2026-10-18). The 3 m. sg. suffix variants and רִבִּי were not compared (unchecked).
- §5: Dalman §§ 13.5, 14.7, pp. 87–90: *au* has almost always become *ō*, but *ai* is kept inside the word **more** often in Galilean than in the targums (עיינא "eye", חיילא, זייתין), while Onkelos mostly contracts it; corrected the diphthong line, which said the opposite. §15.3dα, p. 101, and §66.1, p. 291: assimilation of n is the rule in the imperfect and infinitive peal and in the aphel, but not regular elsewhere; it is kept before ה and ע (איתתא "woman" beside the rarer אנתתא). §15.3dε, p. 102: the Galilean liking for final ן explains the 3 m. pl. perfect in ־ון. Agree. Spirantisation and pretonic reduction were not compared.

The spelling רִבִּי against Babylonian רַבִּי, and names in short forms (לִיעֶזֶר, לָעְזָר for אֱלִיעֶזֶר, אֶלְעָזָר; יוּדָן for יְהוּדָה; יוֹסֵה for יוֹסֵי), are typical of the Yerushalmi.

## 4. Inscriptions

Synagogue mosaics and inscriptions of the 4th–7th c. (Hammat Gader, En Gedi, Rehov, Ḥuseifa, Beth Alpha) are the only JPA texts that come down to us **without copying**. They show: determined ־ה and ־א side by side, the formula דְּכִיר לְטַב "remembered for good" (donor formulas), plene spellings, Greek names and words, and occasional loss of gutturals. Standard edition: Naveh 1978, *On Stone and Mosaic: The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues* (Hebrew); for the long halakhic inscription of Rehov, Sussmann 1974. We do not quote these texts here; their editions are in copyright, and the stones themselves are public monuments ([Jewish Palestinian Aramaic texts, annotated](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/jpa/texts/) §5).

## 5. Phonology in brief

- **Spirantisation**: as in all Aramaic of the period; not marked in most texts.
- **Pretonic reduction**: as in other Aramaic ([Script and phonology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/arc/script-phonology/) §3).
- **Diphthongs**: *au* becomes *ō*, but *ai* is often kept inside the word, more than in the targums (Galilean עַיְינָא beside עֵינָא; Dalman 1905 §14.7b, p. 90). The construct בֵּית is contracted, as everywhere.
- **Assimilation of n**: as elsewhere (יִפּוֹק); but the t of the t-stems often stays: אִתְקְטִיל, and the prefix is spelled אִית־ / אִת־ (Fassberg 1991).
- **Final unstressed vowels** stay in writing more than in JBA (e.g. the perfect 3 m. pl. ־ון keeps its n).

The Elamur team

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