Babylonian system

Babylonian Biblical manuscripts through the Geonic period include not any cantillation marks in the current sense, however little Hebrew letters are employed to indicate important divisions within a verse. Up to eight diverse characters are generally found, depending upon the importance of the break and where it takes place within the verse: these match approximately to the disjunctives of the Tiberian system. For example, in some manuscripts the letter tav, for tevir (break), does work for both Tiberian tevir and zaqef.

In general there are no representations for the conjunctives, although a few late manuscripts make use of the Tiberian signs for these. There is also no equal for low-grade disjunctives like as telishah gedolah: these are generally replaced by the similar of zaqef or revia. Absolutely nothing is identified of the musical realization associated with these signs, however it appears most likely that, when just about any of these types of signs had been connected with a musical theme, the particular motif has been utilized not necessarily to the specific word but to the entire phrase concluding with that break. (A somewhat comparable system is employed in manuscripts of the Qur'an, in order to guide the reader in fitting the chant to the verse, see Qur'an reading.)

This system is actually reflected in the cantillation methods of the Yemenite Jews, who now make use of the Tiberian symbols, but have a tendency to get musical motifs only for the disjunctives and render the conjunctives in a monotone. It is significant that the Yemenites possess just eight disjunctive motifs, thus obviously reflecting the Babylonian notation. The same is true of the Karaite mode with regard to the haftarah; whilst in the Sephardi haftarah modes different disjunctives frequently possess the same or closely similar motifs, decreasing the total number of efficient motifs to something like the exact same quantity.