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Chapter
Hebrew
GENERAL INFORMATION
Number of speakers: 5.3 million native speakers
Writing system: Hebrew alphabet, 22 letters (5 of the letters have a different orthography
when they are the final consonant); written from right to left
o Derived from ancient Phoenician script called abjad. Only consonants are
represented.
o Nikud, or pointing, was introduced around 1000 years ago to indicate vowel
values by means of dots placed underneath and to the side of the consonant
letter. Dots inside certain letters distinguish stops from spirants or represent
historical doubling (Coulmas, 2003; Shimrom, 1993). By second or third grade,
children can read without the use of Nikud.
Language Family: Afro‐Asiatic—Semitic—Central Semitic—Northwest Semitic—
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Canaanite
Official language in: Israel
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