Ktiv hasar niqqud (Hebrew pronunciation:[ktivχaˈsaʁniˈkud];Hebrew:כתיב חסר ניקוד, literally "spelling lacking niqqud"),colloquially known asktiv maleh (IPA:[ktivmaˈle];כתיב מלא, literally "full spelling"), are the rules for writingHebrew withoutvowel points(niqqud), often replacing them withmatres lectionis (ו andי). To avoid confusion,consonantalו ([v]) andי ([j]) are doubled in the middle of words. In general use,niqqud are rarely used, except in specialized texts such as dictionaries, poetry, or texts for children or for new immigrants.
From aHebrew translation of"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe (translated by Eliyahu Tsifer):
| Ktiv male | Withniqqud |
|---|---|
וילון של משי ארגמן, ספק רשרוש, מסך מוכמן, | וִילוֹן שֶׁל מֶשִׁי אַרְגָּמָן, סָפֵק רִשְׁרוּשׁ, מָסָךְ מֻכְמָן, |
| Added letters highlighted and respective phonemes | |
|---|---|
| viˈlonʃelˈmeʃiʔarɡaˈman,saˈfekriʃˈruʃ,maˈsaχmuχˈman | וילון של משי ארגמן, ספק רשרוש, מסך מוכמן, |
| hifħiˈduni,biʕaˈtuni,ħaʃaˈʃotʔejˈmaʔuˈslod | הפחידוני, ביעתוני, חששות אימה וסלוד, |
| paʕaˈmejliˈbimaˈkevet,bimˈʔotsveˈɡambeˈʃevet, | פעמי לבי מקבת, במאוץ וגם בשבת, |
| haʔuʃˈpizbeˈʃotvaˈʃevet,ʔetdalˈtiheˈzizbimˈnod, | האושפיז בשוט ושבט, את דלתי הזיז במנוד, |
| ʔetdalˈtiheˈzizheˈniaʕ,ˈketevliʃkaˈtijaˈʃod, | את דלתי הזיז הניע, קטב לשכתי ישוד, |
| ʔalmoˈnihuhaʔoˈreaħ,ʔalmoˈnihuveloʕod | אלמוני הוא האורח, אלמוני הוא ולא עוד! |
| ʃalvaˈtiparˈsaknaˈfajim,hisuˈsajʔafˈsuʔaˈpajim, | שלוותי פרשה כנפיים, היסוסי אפסו אפיים, |
| ʔaˈdonuɡˈveret,beχeˈnutʔafˈtsirʔesˈɡod, | אדון וגברת, בכנות אפציר אסגוד, |
| kenʕuvˈdahi,ʃʕatɡloʃ,uveˈroχjadˈχataˈkoʃ, | כן עובדה היא, שעת גלוש, וברוך ידך תקוש, |
| medoˈriaˈzajnaˈloʃ,ʕetheˈnadetaˈʃadod, | מדורי אזי נלוש, עת הנדת שדוד, |
| lirvaˈħadalˈtipaˈrasti,kinoˈʕadetilisˈrod, | לרווחה דלתי פרשתי, כי נועדתי לשרוד, |
| veˈʃur,haˈbet,rakʃħor,loʕod | ושור! הבט! רק שחור, לא עוד! |
| Note: In Modern Hebrew, the letterח is commonly pronounced[χ] (not[ħ]), and the letterע is[ʔ] (not[ʕ]) if at all; i.e., often neitherא norע is pronounced. The consonants/ħ/ and/ʕ/ are pronounced daily onlydialectally; sometimes however they are also pronounced in festive or theatrical contexts: inpoetry readings, where a more distinct articulation than usual of theא as/ʔ/ would be common; thus the proposed transcription could be representative of a literary reading of this text, not representative of everyday Israeli speech. Similarly, the consonantalי in thedual formsכנפיים/knaˈfajim/ andאפיים/ʔaˈpajim/ is distinctly pronounced[j] only dialectically or in festive or theatrical contexts and is otherwise not pronounced, resulting in thehiatus/ˈa.i/. | |
Ktiv haser (כתיב חסר) is writing whose consonants match those generally used in voweled text, but without the actual niqqud. For example, the wordsשֻׁלְחָן andדִּבֵּר written in ktiv haser areשלחן andדבר. In vowelled text, the niqqud indicate the correctvowels, but when the niqqud is missing, the text is difficult to read, and the reader must make use of the context of each word to know the correct reading.
A typical example of a Hebrew text written in ktiv haser is theTorah, read insynagogues (simply called theTorah reading). For assistance, readers often use aTikkun, a book where the text of the Torah appears in two side-by-side versions, one identical to the text which appears in the Torah, and one with niqqud andcantillation.
Due to the difficulty of reading unvowelled text, theVa'ad ha-lashon introduced the Rules for the Spelling-Without-Niqqud (כללי הכתיב חסר הניקוד), which in reality dictates ktiv male. This system mostly involved the addition ofו andי to mark the different vowels. Later on, these rules were adopted by theAcademy of the Hebrew Language, which continued to revise them, and they were mostly accepted by the public, mainly for official writing.
Ktiv haser became obsolete in Modern Hebrew, and ktiv male has already been dominant for decades in unvowelled texts: all of thenewspapers andbooks published in Hebrew are written in ktiv male. Additionally, it is common for children's books or texts for those with special needs to contain niqqud, but ktiv haser without niqqud is rare.
Despite the Academy's standardization of the rules for ktiv male, there is a substantial absence of unity in writing, partly because of a lack of grammatical knowledge, partly because of the historical layers of the language, and partly because of a number of linguistic categories in which the Academy's decisions are not popular. As a result, book publishers and newspaper editors make their own judgments.
As is the norm for linguistic rules, the rules for spelling without niqqud are not entirely static. Changes occur from time to time, based on amassed experience. For example, originally the rules for spelling without niqqud dictated thatאשהisha ("woman") should be written without a yodי (to distinguish it fromאישהishah – "her husband"), but currently the exception has been removed, and now, the Academy prefersאישה. The last substantial change to the rules for spelling without niqqud was made in 1993 updated in 1996. The following is the summary of the current rules:[1]
These are the most basic rules. Each one has exceptions which is described in the handbook "כללי הכתיב חסר הניקוד" (spelling rules without niqqud) that the Academy publishes in Hebrew.