QOF

ק

VOICELESS ADVANCED UVULAR UNASPIRATED PLOSIVE [q̟]

Tiberian Hebrew qof does not have a corresponding sound in English. It is a bit like Arabic qāf, but its place of articulation is slightly more forward in the mouth. It may help to think of where you pronounce gimal rafe גֿ [ʁ] and kaf rafe [χ], on one hand, and where you pronounce gimel with dagesh גּ [g] and kaf with dagesh [kʰ], on the other. Tiberian qof is pronounced right in between these two pairs of sounds as a hard plosive/stop sound. For those familiar with Arabic, it is pronounced similarly to the letter qāf (ق), but slightly further forward in the mouth.

[q̟]

Hidayat al-Qari

From the second of the places of articulation are heard גֿ and ךֿ rafe. This is the third of the tongue that is adjacent to the pharynx, opposite the (soft) palate. In fact this is not a primary place of articulation, but it functions like one. This is because when gimel and kaf have dagesh, their place of articulation is the middle of the tongue, in its wide part. The primary places of articulation are five in number. The third of the tongue that is the place of articulation of the two (aforementioned) letters with rafe, I mean גֿ and ךֿ, is secondary. So, the total number of places of articulation are six, five primary and one secondary. The middle of the tongue is the place of articulation of five letters, namely גיכרק.

Translation from Khan (TPTBH II.L.1.3.6)

EXAMPLE WORDS:

יֶ֥רֶק

[jεːʀ̟ɛq̟]

מָק֣וֹם

[mɔːˈq̟oːom]

וַיִּקְרָ֨א

[vaɟɟiq̟ˈʀ̟ɔː]

קָרָ֣א

[q̟ɔːˈʀ̟ɔː]

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

Khan, Geoffrey. 2020. The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew. Cambridge: Cambridge and Open Book Publishers. §I.1.19.