Editing Mater lectionis (section)

==Overview==
Because the scripts used to write some Semitic languages lack vowel letters, unambiguous reading of a text might be difficult.  Therefore, to indicate vowels (mostly long), consonant letters are used.  For example, in the Hebrew [[Construct state|construct-state]] form ''bēt'', meaning "the house of", the middle letter {{lang|he|[[י]]}} in the spelling {{lang|he|בית}} acts as a vowel, but in the corresponding absolute-state form ''bayit'' ("house"), which is spelled the same, the same letter represents a genuine consonant.  ''Matres lectionis'' are extensively employed only in Hebrew, [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and [[Arabic]], but the phenomenon is also found in the [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]], [[Moabite language|Moabite]], [[South Arabian alphabet|South Arabian]] and [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] alphabets.