Major Classical Texts Transmitted
- Bible
- Written traditions of the Bible include the consonantal text established by the 1st c. BCE, and vowel signs and cantillation marks codified around the 7th-8th c.
- Therefore oral traditions involve only phonology, i.e., how vowel signs are realized phonoligically
- Mishna
- Written traditions of the Mishna include only the consonantal text established in ca. 210 CE, but no vowel signs and cantillation marks.
- Therefore oral traditions involve both phonology and morphology
Historical Forerunners in the Gaonic Period
The three traditions reflect oral traditions prevalent in the Gaonic period in Babylonia, southern Palestine and northern Palestine respectively. The necessary and sufficient criterion for differenciating traditions of Hebrew, whether written or oral, is the vowel system. The Babylonian and Palestinian are continued only orally after the Gaonic period, while the Tiberian tradtion has no continuation orally in any Jewish community but is the only written tradition accepted in all the Jewish communities.
- Babylonian
- Palestinian
- Tiberian
Vowels in the three traditions
| Babylonian | i | e | ä | å | o | u | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palestinian | i | e | a | o | u | ||
| Tiberian | i | e | æ | a | å | o | u |
| חיריק | צירה | סגול | פתח | קמץ | חולם | שורוק / קובוץ | |
Current Heirs
- Yemenite: heir to the Babylonian tradition
- Central
- Northern
- Southwestern
- Aden
- Eastern
- Sephardic: heir to the Palestinian tradition
- Aramaic
- Arabic
- Persian
- Georgean
- Italian
- Judezmo
- Dutch-Portuguese
- Ashkenazic: heir to the Palestinian tradition until the 13th c.; the seeming correspondence to the Tiberian tradition is due to the phonological development in Yiddish after the 13th c.
- Northeastern (corresponding to Northeastern Yiddish)
- Mideastern (corresponding to Mideastern Yiddish)
- Southeastern (corresponding to Southeastrn Yiddish)
- Vowels in the three traditions
Tiberian חיריק צירי סגול פתח קמץ חולם שורוק / קובוץ i e æ a å o u NE i ej e a o ej u ME i aj ej/e a u/o oj i SE i ej ej/e a u/o ou i