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Arabic Connected Speech: What Gets Assimilated? Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Apr 20, 2017
When people speak, it is common that certain sounds get assimilated, dropped, or blended. In English, for example, “does she” is pronounced as “dushee” in connected speech. In Arabic, the most common assimilation and/or dropping occurs with the definite article ال and with the alif of imperative tri-consonantal verbs (i.e. verbs that have a root…
Special Arabic Occasions: What they are, What to Do and Say in them? Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Apr 15, 2017
Certain linguistic expressions are associated with specific cultural and religious occasions. For example, “Happy Easter!”, “Joyeuses Pâques!”, and “Frohe Ostern!” are expressions said in special occasions in English; French; and German, respectively. Among the most culturally celebrated, congratulation-invoking, and religiously observed occasions among Arabs (and Muslims) are Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-AdhHa, Ramadhan, and Friday of…
Arabic Definiteness: Formation, Meaning, and Assimilation Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Mar 30, 2017
Typically, nouns and adjectives in most languages are made definite by articles. ‘the’; ‘le, la, les’; ‘die, der, des’ are the definite articles in English, French, and German, respectively. In Arabic, nouns and adjectives are made definite using ال which is appended to the beginning of the word, as in these examples: مَدِينَةٌ جَامِعَةً حِذَاءً…
Tanween [Nunation] in Arabic: Types, Meanings, and Assignment Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Mar 23, 2017
In an earlier post, we learned that basic Arabic diacritical marks have linguistic values. So does the Arabic nunation, i.e. tanween تَنْوِيْن. Besides its distinct pronunciation, it has both grammar- and meaning-related values. There are three types of tanween: fatH ( ً ), denoted by double fatHah kasr ( ٍ ), denoted by double kasrah…
Arabic Diacritics: Important But Neglected Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Mar 15, 2017
Generally, diacritics are marks that are added to letters and have pronunciation- and/or meaning-related values as well as grammatical values. In Arabic, diacritical marks are: the fatHah َ , a semi-flat hyphen-like added on top of the letter, the kasrah ِ , similar to fatHah, but put below the letter, the Dhammah ُ, a mark…