One reason for the lesser use of niqqud is that it no longer reflects the current pronunciation. In modern Hebrew, "tzere" is pronounced the same as "segol", although they were distinct in Tiberian Hebrew, and "pataḥ" the same as "qamatz". To the younger generation of native Hebrew speakers, these distinctions seem arbitrary and meaningless; on the other hand, Hebrew language purists have rejected out of hand the idea of changing the basics of niqqud and fitting them to the current pronunciation – with the result that in practice niqqud is increasingly going out of use.