In Syriac the initial vowel varies among ā, a, and e without any obvious semantic difference; elsewhere apparently always short /a/.

In compounds and common expressions, the construct state often appears without final taw, a situation which may reflect either a dialectal difference and/or a incompletely carried out distinction between simple adjective/substantival ideas based on this abstract noun (tending to use palgū) and complete abstract idea. Compare, for example, plgw myt adj. with plgwt mwtˀ n.