Editing Mater lectionis (section)

==Usage in different languages==

===Hebrew===
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2025}}
{{further|Hebrew spelling}}
The earliest method of indicating some vowels in Hebrew writing was to use the consonant letters ''yod'' {{lang|he|י}}, ''waw'' {{lang|he|ו}}, ''he'' {{lang|he|ה}}, and ''aleph'' {{lang|he|א}} of the Hebrew alphabet to also write long [[vowels]] in some cases. Originally, {{lang|he|א}} and {{lang|he|ה}} were only used as matres lectiones at the end of words, and {{lang|he|י}} and {{lang|he|ו}} were used mainly to write the original [[diphthongs]] {{IPA|/aw/}} and {{IPA|/aj/}} as well as {{IPA|/VjV/}} sequences ({{IPA|/j/}} surrounded by two vowels, which sometimes simplified to plain long vowels). Gradually, as it was found to be insufficient for differentiating between similar nouns, {{lang|he|י}} and {{lang|he|ו}} were also inserted to mark some long vowels of non-diphthongal origin.

If words can be written with or without ''matres lectionis'', spellings that include the letters are called ''malē'' (Hebrew) or ''plene'' (Latin), meaning "full", and spellings without them are called ''ḥaser'' or ''defective''. In some verb forms, ''matres lectionis'' are almost always used. Around the 9th century CE it was decided that the system of ''matres lectionis'' did not suffice to indicate the vowels precisely enough for purposes of liturgical recitation of Biblical texts so a supplemental [[Niqqud|vowel pointing system]] (''niqqud'', diacritic symbols indicating vowel pronunciation and other important phonological features not written by the traditional basic consonantal orthography) joined ''matres lectionis'' as part of the Hebrew writing system.

In some words in Hebrew, there is a choice of whether to use a ''mater lectionis'' or not, and in modern printed texts ''matres lectionis'' are sometimes used even for short vowels, which is considered to be grammatically incorrect according to traditional norms, though instances are found as far back as [[Talmud]]ic times. Such texts from Judaea and Galilee were noticeably more inclined to ''malē'' spellings than texts from [[Babylonia]]. Similarly, in the [[Middle Ages]], [[Ashkenazi Jews]] tended to use ''malē'' spellings under the influence of [[Languages of Europe|European languages]], but [[Sephardi Jews]] tended to use ''ḥaser'' spellings under the influence of Arabic.

Most commonly, ''yod'' {{lang|he|י}} indicates ''i'' or ''e'', while ''waw'' {{lang|he|ו}} indicates ''o'' or ''u''. ''Aleph'' {{lang|he|א}} was not systematically developed as a ''mater lectionis'' in Hebrew (unlike in Aramaic and Arabic), but it is occasionally used to indicate an ''a'' vowel. (However, a silent {{lang|he|א}}, indicating an original [[glottal stop]] consonant sound that has become silent in some contexts in Hebrew pronunciation, can occur after almost any vowel.) At the end of a word, ''he'' {{lang|he|ה}} can also be used to indicate that the vowel ''a'' or ''e'' should be pronounced.

Examples:
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=2 | Symbol
! colspan=2 |  Name
! rowspan=2 |  Vowel formation
! rowspan=2 |  Vowel quality
! colspan=2 |  Example
|-
! [[Biblical Hebrew|Biblical]]
! [[Modern Hebrew|Modern]]
! Hebrew
! [[Transliteration]]
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%" | {{lang|he|י}}
| style="text-align: center;" | Yod
|style="text-align: center;"  | Yud
|  î, ê, ệ
| ī, ē or ǣ
| {{lang|he|אמיר}}
| [[Amir (name)|Amir]]
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%" | {{lang|he|א}}
| colspan=2 style="text-align: center;" | Alef
|  ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
| mostly ā
| {{lang|he|פארן}}
| [[Desert of Paran|Paran]]
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman; font-size:200%" rowspan=2| {{lang|he|ו}}
| rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" | Waw
| rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" | Vav
| rowspan=2 |  ô, û
| rowspan=2 | ō or ū
| {{lang|he|יואל}}
| [[Joel (prophet)|Yo'el]]
|-
| {{lang|he|ברוך}}
| [[Baruch (given name)|Baruch]]

|-
| style="text-align: center; font-family:SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL SR, Ezra SIL, Cardo, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Arial Unicode MS, Narkisim, Times New Roman;font-size:200%" rowspan=2 | {{lang|he|ה}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 style="text-align: center;"  | He
| rowspan=2 | ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
| rowspan=2 |mostly ā or e
| {{lang|he|לאה}}
| [[Leah]]
|-
| {{lang|he|משה}}
| [[Moshe]]
|}

===Arabic===
In Arabic, there is no choice, and the almost invariable rule is that a long vowel is written with a ''mater lectionis'' and a short vowel with a diacritic symbol, but the [[Uthman]]ic orthography, the one in which the [[Quran]] is traditionally written and printed, has some differences, which are not always consistent. Also, under influence from orthography of European languages, transliterating of vowels in borrowed words into Arabic is usually done using ''matres lectionis'' in place of diacritics, even when the vowel transliterated is short or when words from another Semitic language, such as Hebrew, are transliterated. That phenomenon is augmented by the neglect of diacritics in most printed forms since the beginning of mechanical printing.

The name given to the three ''matres lectionis'' by traditional Arabic grammar is {{Transliteration|ar|ḥurūf al-līn wa-l-madd}} ({{lang|ar|حروف اللين والمدّ}}, 'consonants of softness and lengthening'), or {{Transliteration|ar|ḥurūf al-ʿilla}} ({{lang|ar|حروف العلّة}}, 'causal consonants' or 'consonants of infirmity', because as in Greek grammar, words with 'accidents' were deemed to be afflicted, ill, in opposition to 'healthy' words without accidents).<ref>''Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics'', Brill, 2006, 2.308ff.</ref>

Informal orthographies of spoken varieties of Arabic also use ''[[He (letter)#Arabic hāʾ|hāʾ]]'' {{lang|he|ه}} to indicate a shorter version of ''[[Aleph#Arabic|alif]]'' {{lang|he|ا}} in final position, a usage augmented by the ambiguity of the use of {{lang|he|ه}} and ''[[tāʾ marbūṭah]]'' {{lang|he|ة}} in formal Arabic orthography. It is a formal orthography in other languages that use Arabic script, such as [[Kurdish alphabets]].

===Syriac===
Syriac-Aramaic vowels are classified into three groups: the ''alap'' ({{lang|syr|ܐ}}), the ''waw'' ({{lang|syr|ܘ}}), and the ''yod'' ({{lang|syr|ܝ}}).  The ''mater lectionis'' was developed as early as the 6th century to represent long vowels, which were earlier denoted by a dot under the line. The most frequent ones are the ''yod'' and the ''waw'', while the ''alap'' is mostly restricted to some transliterated words.<ref>{{cite book|last=B. J.|first=Segal|author-link=Judah Segal|title=The Diacritical Point and the Accents in Syriac|year=2004|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=978-1-59333-125-2|pages=20–21}}</ref>

===Mandaic===
In the [[Mandaic alphabet]], vowels are usually written out in full. The first letter, ''a'' (corresponding to ''alaph''), is used to represent a range of open vowels. The sixth letter, ''wa'', is used for close back vowels (''u'' and ''o''), and the tenth letter, ''ya'' is used for close front vowels (''i'' and ''e''). These last two can also serve as the consonants ''w/v'' and ''y''. The eighth letter corresponds to the Semitic ''[[heth]]'', and is called ''eh''; it is pronounced as a long ''i''-vowel but is used only as a suffix for the [[Grammatical person|third person singular]]. The sixteenth letter, ''e'' (Aramaic ''[[Ayin|ayn]]''), usually represents ''e'' at the beginning of a word or, when followed by ''wa'' or ''ya'', represents initial ''u'' or ''i'' respectively.