Cantillation

Cantillation (Hebrew: ta`amei ha-mikra or just te`amim; Yiddish trope is also commonly used in English) comprises special signs or marks in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh) which complement the letters and vowel points. Some of these signs were also sometimes used in medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Yiddish - Masoretic text - Hebrew Bible - Tanakh - Mishnah

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A primary purpose of the cantillation signs is to guide the chanting of the sacred texts during public worship. Very roughly speaking, each word of text has a cantillation mark at its primary accent and associated with that mark is a musical phrase that tells how to sing that word. The reality is more complex, with some words having two or no marks and the musical meaning of some marks dependent upon context. There are different sets of musical phrases associated with different sections of the Bible. The music varies with different Jewish traditions and individual cantorial styles.

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The cantillation signs also provide information on the syntactical structure of the text and some say they are a commentary on the text itself, highlighting important ideas musically.

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The current system of cantillation notes has its historical roots in the Tiberian mesorah. The cantillation signs are included in Unicode as characters 0591 through 05AF in the Hebrew alphabet block.

Related Topics:
Mesorah - Unicode - Hebrew alphabet

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