Looking for the Sephardic way of pronouncing a mapiq in a heh at the end of the word.
Either:
- it's a "h" sound as if it was in the middle of the word ("virishta h")
- it takes the sound of the previous sound. ("virishta ha")
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related judaism.stackexchange.com/q/77325/759– Double AA ♦Nov 15, 2016 at 4:51
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2 Answers
When a ה has no marked vowel on it, a Mappiq is used to tell you that the ה is still a consonant and therefore functions as the coda of the syllable (as opposed to being a mater lectionis and thereby functioning as part of the nucleus of the syllable). In the case of a furtive patach, the patach is technically before the ה so a Mappiq is still conventionally used.
So it would be vi-rish-'tah.
answered Sep 8, 2014 at 2:53
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2That's the way I think of mappiq also (though I'm Ashkenazi, and the questioner asked for Sephardic pronunciation) ....how do you know this to be the case? Is it simply mesorah, or did you find this written somewhere?– MTLSep 8, 2014 at 3:00
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@Double AA Thats what I thought but between the question and your answer I was left wondering if I missed something.– user6591Oct 8, 2014 at 20:32
I have heard it pronounced as a barely audible exhalation of air, like the English "h" with no vowel following it.
The mapik heh is at the end of the word and often, signifies the feminine possessive. In certain words this pronunciation is extremely important, as without it, it may be thought that you are saying an incorrect, but similar word. Typical example - "isha" (written aleph shin heh) means "woman". "Ishah" (aleph yud shin mapik heh) means "her husband". Even though it is written differently, you can see that without the pronunciation of the mapik heh, the two would sound the same.
FYI - I am not Sefardi, but as a Ba'al Kri'ah, I am careful to pronounce the mapik where it belongs. In one of the 1st Psukim of parshat parah / Chukat, there are, I think, 4, mapik heh's in the same pasuk - "orotah, b'sarah, damah, pirshah."
