Distinguish sh'va na from sh'va nach

[akivajgordon]

Currently, there is no visual distinction between sh'va na and sh'va nach, each of which takes on a different pronunciation. As the general rules for determining which is which are too complex for the average reader, it would be nice if there was some visual distinction between them.

Prior art

Modern tikkunim tend to make the sh'va na bolder in order to differentiate them. I've also seen siddurim that use 'HEBREW POINT RAFE' (U+05BF)

Challenges

1. The source text that the app uses does not contain information that can be used to determine whether or not a sh'va should be nach or na.
2. There is no Unicode symbol for sh'va na.

Possible solutions to challenges

As for the lack of information in the source text, some options are:

1. manually mark each na as appropriate
2. mark each na programmatically by using the rules – they are complex, and might have some exceptions, so I'm not sure how far that can go
3. find a different source text

As for the lack of a Unicode symbol:

1. wait for this proposal to be implemented into the Unicode standard
2. use a different mark (like the Rafe mentioned above)
3. do some trickery that puts a larger sh'va right behind the actual one to make it appear bigger. This seems very challenging.

Additional resources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shva#Shva_Na

keywords: sheva, שוא, נח, נע,

[JackYoungblood]

This would be a great addition. Might I suggest that you do the same type of visual differentiation between a regular qamatz and a qamatz-katan?

[akivajgordon]

@nizdobs – Yes! I plan to do that as well. I'll write the issue tonight for tracking purposes. It has the same challenge in that the source text doesn't differentiate, but at least there is already a Unicode symbol available (and it is supported by the current font), so it should be significantly easier to tackle.

[CarlSayres]

Just adding my vote to this feature. Showing sh'va nah would be incredibly useful!