Yemenite Jews

Yemenite Jews (תֵּימָנִי, Standard Hebrew Temani, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānî; plural תֵּימָנִים, Standard Hebrew Temanim, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānîm) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (תֵּימָן "far south", Standard Hebrew Teman, Tiberian Hebrew Têmān), on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. They are sometimes considered to be Mizrahi.

Form of Hebrew

There are two main pronunciations of Yemenite Hebrew, considered by many scholars to be the most accurate form of Biblical Hebrew. Although there are technically five in total that relate to the regions of Yemen. In the Yemenite dialect, all Hebrew letters have a distinct sound, except for the letters ס sāmekh and ש śîn. The Sanaani Hebrew pronunciation (used by the majority) has been indirectly critiqued by Saadia Gaon since it contains the Hebrew letters jimmel and guf, which he rules is incorrect.

Related Topics:
Yemenite Hebrew - Hebrew letters - Sanaani Hebrew - Saadia Gaon

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The following site gives a list of notes on Yemenite pronunciation of Hebrew http://www.chayas.com/pronounceparchi.htm.

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Rabbi Mazuz postulates this hypothesis through the Jerban (Tunisia) Jewish dialect's use of gimmel & quf, switching to jimmel & guf when talking with Gentiles in the Gentile dialect of Jerba. Some feel that the Shar'abi pronunciation of Yemen is more accurate & similar to the Babylonian dialect since they both use a gimmel and quf instead of the jimmel and guf.

Related Topics:
Tunisia - Babylon

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