Kamatz

Kamatz or qamatz (Modern Hebrew: קָמָץ, IPA: [kaˈmats]; alternatively קָמֶץ qāmeṣ) is a Hebrew niqqud (vowel) sign represented by two perpendicular lines (looking like an uppercase T) ⟨ ָ ‎ ⟩ underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, it usually indicates the phoneme /a/ which is the "a" sound in the word spa and is transliterated as a. In these cases, its sound is identical to the sound of pataḥ in modern Hebrew. In a minority of cases it indicates the phoneme /o/, equal to the sound of ḥolam. In traditional Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, qamatz is pronounced as the phoneme /ɔ/, which becomes /u/ in some contexts in southern Ashkenazi dialects.