The Sephardi Hebrew language is an offshoot of Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Sephardi Jewish practice. Its phonology was influenced by contact languages such as Ladino, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish and Arabic.

When Eliezer ben Yehuda drafted his Standard Hebrew language, he based it on Sephardi Hebrew, believing it to be most beautiful of the Hebrew dialects. However, the phonology of Modern Hebrew is further constrained to that of Ashkenazi Hebrew, including the elimination of pharyngeal articulation and the conversion of /r/ from an alveolar flap to a voiced uvular fricative.