Aramaic Annotations: Pt.

6
© 2010, T. Michael W. Halcomb | www.MichaelHalcomb.com

1. Letters: So far, we have looked at both the consonants of the Aramaic alphabet
and the “vowel points”. We have also looked at matres lectionis and shewas, as
well as some tips on beginning the transliteration process. We have also looked at
pronunciation. Here we are going to look at Aramaic “Syllabification”.
2. Syllabification: Aramaic is an interesting language when it comes to
identifying syllables. We refer to two types of syllables in Aramaic: Open &
Closed. Unlike English, we don not start with the first syllable and then move
forward through the word, counting the rest of the syllables, in order to determine
how many total syllables there are. Instead, we start at the end of the word and
work backwards.
3. Open & Closed: There are basically four things to remember when
determining open and closed syllables:
1. Each syllable begins with a conversation
2. A syllable never begins with a vowel
3. An open syllable = consonant + vowel
4. A closed syllable = consonant + vowel + consonant

4. Finding Syllables: Here are some examples of how to find the syllables of
an Aramaic word:
V
C

‫עֲלוֹהִי‬
C C
V
C C V
Notice in this example that we start at the end of the word with
the vowel hireq-yodh (all vowels are marked with “v” and all
consonants with “c”). Then we move to the preceding
consonant, heh. This gives us our first syllable, which is CV
and therefore, open.
Then, we move to the next letter, the vowel point holem and
then the waw below. We know that the lamed cannot be
connected to these because there is no VCC combination. So,
we have an open syllable here, CV. (See above rules.)
C
‫ַמ ְלכָא‬ C
C
V V
Notice in this example that we start at the end of the word
with the consonant aleph. Then we move to the preceding
vowel, qamets and the above consonant kaph. This gives us
our first syllable, which is CVC and therefore, closed.
Then, we move to the next letter, the vowel point shewa.
However, we actually end up ignoring this vowel point
because the vowel point that precedes it is a patah, which is a
“short” vowel in terms of pronunciation. Thus, the rule: A
shewa preceded by a short vowel is left unpronounced.

Next, we look at the lamed consonant, and then move to the So, we start with the consonant lamed. Then, we move to
hataf patah vowel point. Above that is the ayin consonant. the vowel before it, patah. The consonant before that is
Thus, we have a closed syllable here, CVC. mem. Thus, we have a CVC syllable.

Now, going from right-to-left, the syllabification pattern of this
word is: Closed, Open, Open. Breaking the word down in 2
directions can be difficult, I know.
Note how this follows the above rules!!!
Now, going from right-to-left, this means that the above
syllable pattern is: Closed, Closed.
Notice how this not only follows the above rules but also
takes into consideration other grammatical rules as well.