The guttural consonants א ʾ (ʾalef), ה h (he), ח ḥ (ḥet), and ע ʿ (ʿayin) have a number of distinctive properties in the medieval biblical pronunciation traditions, which are reflected by the various vocalization systems.

In the Tiberian reading tradition these consonants were clearly distinguished in pronunciation, א ʾ being a laryngeal stop, ה h a laryngeal fricative, ח ḥ an unvoiced pharyngeal fricative, and ע a voiced pharyngeal fricative. In the Karaite manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible in Arabic script they were transcribed by Arabic ʾalif, hāʾ, ḥāʾ, and ʿayn respectively (Transcrip…