Amina A. Matar By King Saud University College of Languages & Translation Language Unit December 2009

A phonological process or a kind of ease of articulation process where there is a change of one sound into another because of a neighboring one. A segment takes on features from an adjacent or a nearby one. A consonant may pick up from a vowel, a vowel from a consonant, one consonant may influence another, or one vowel have an effect on another. E.g. Does she? Sit down. هو ظاهرة عالمية يقصد بها تغير صوت ما الى صوت آخر بسب أصوات مجاورة ،أو اكتساب صوت ما خصائص صوت آخر كاكتساب حرف صامت خصائص حرف صائت والعكس صحيح أو تأثير حرف صامت على صامت أو صائت على صائت مما يؤدي سهولة أكبر في النطق

- Regressive (رجعي): a sound causes changes to one that precedes it. e.g. that person /p/ good girl /g/ – Progressive (تقدمي): a sound causes changes to one that follows it. A final consonant becomes like the preceding one as in voicing. e.g. cats /s/ dogs /z/ opened /d/ kicked /t/

–Reciprocal تبادلي)) : a change results in a segment with features of both affected segments. -Complete تام)): the insertion of one sound into a neighboring one in two separate words without keeping any traits of the inserted one. -Incomplete ناقص)): the insertion of one sound into a neighboring one in two separate words but with keeping some traits of the inserted one as nasalization. -Contiguous متجاور)): the affected sounds are adjacent either in one word or in two separate words -Incontiguous غير متجاور)): the affected sounds are not neighbors.

In Attajweed Science ( the phonology of the Qur’an), three main phonological processes are found having assimilation. The common feature of the three processes is the presence of the alveolar nasal /n/ of the consonantal ‘silent n’ or the inflectional nunation ‘attanween’. Regressive assimilation is more applicable than progressive one.

Assimilation In the Recitation of Qur’an Iqlab Reciprocal Assimilation Idgham Regressive assimilation Ikhfaa Partial Regressive Assimilation

It is the alveolar nasal /n/ consonant whose sound undergoes certain phonological changes when it occurs silent in the final position of the last syllable of a word whether a noun, verb or preposition e.g. منْ / عنْ It is silent when it is unexploded or unreleased by any Arabic inflection: known as : 1. fatha 2. kasra 3. Dama written as : / / / / / ’ / pronounced : /a/ / i / / u /

It is inflectional sounds added to the last syllable of words especially nouns to indicate their grammatical cases. It has three different notational but not consonantal forms depending on the grammatical case it shows. Each notation consists of one of the short vowels: /a/, /u/, /i/ plus the final silent /n/: /an/ = ( ً ) عزيزاً /un/ = ( ٌ ) عزيزٌ /in/ = (ٍ ) عزيزٍ

The consonantal or the notational silent /n/ will change to the nasal semi-bilabial /m/ if followed by the bilabial stop /b/ in a word-initial position (in two words) or within a word. It occurs as a result of the anticipatory co-articulation of /b/. There is a change in the place of articulation; the alveolar ridge position of /n/ becomes nearly bilabial. There is a change of manner; the lips are not tightly closed to produce the nasal /m/, nor neutral for the nasal /n/ but it takes a mid- position to produce the semi-bilabial /m/ allowing some air to pass through the nasal cavity and some through the oral tract.

Idgham is the deletion of the alveolar nasal sound of the silent /n/ (consonantal) or tanween (notational) whenever it occurs in final position and followed by one of the six following sounds: /m/, /n/, /y/, /r/, /w/, and /l/. As a result, these sounds will be geminated (tashdeed). No assimilation will take place within a word.

There are four types of idgham here depending on the way and degree of assimilation: 1. with nasalization 2. without nasalization 3. complete 4. incomplete

The insertion of the final non-inflected (silent) /n/ into an initial inflected sound. The silent /n/ will disappear completely and nothing stays of its previous traits. The inflected sound will be geminated. The initial inflected sounds are: /l/, /r/, /m/, /n/ Examples: منْ لدنه مالاً لبدا منْ ربهمفي عيشةٍ راضية منْ معينماءٍ مهين منْ نصيرصابراً نعم العبد

It takes place when any one of these four sounds (/m/, /n/, /w/, /y/) comes initially in a word preceded by a final consonantal alveolar nasal /n/ as in the silent /n/ or non-consonantal as in attanween. The two neighboring sounds found in two separate words are assimilated into the second sound which in turn will be geminated. Nasalization will stay as a trait of the disappeared /n/. Examples: منْ نعمة منْ يعمل منْ وال قبضاً يسيرا

When the final silent alveolar nasal /n/ (consonantal or non- consonantal) is followed by the alveolar lateral /l/ or the alveolar trilling liquid /r/ as an initial sound, the /n/ sound will disappear completely. No nasalization will take place. /l/ and /r/ will be geminated ( tashdeed). No traits of the deleted sound remains. There is a regressive assimilation with complete merge of the final sound into the initial one. Examples: منْ ربك أنْ لو ويلٌ لكل غفوراً رحيما

It is the merging of two neighboring sounds within words boundaries which results in the deletion of the final sound and the preservation of the second one. Nasalization is a marker of the deleted sound. The final sound is the silent consonantal and non-consonantal /n/. The initial sounds are the bilabial glide /w/, and the palatal glide /y/. Examples: منْ يؤمنخيراً يره منْ وراءمالٍ و بنين

It takes place whenever the alveolar nasal /n/ of the consonantal ‘silent n’ occurs either within a word or across word boundaries and followed by one of the 15 ‘faint sounds’. It also happens whenever the alveolar nasal /n/ of the non- consonantal ‘tanween’ occurs across only word boundaries not within a word and followed by one of the 15 ‘faint sounds’. The /n/ will change its place of articulation to be nearer to that of the following sound, then it will stay in a neutral position opposite to the new place for sometime enough to produce the nasalization as a feature of the hidden /n/. Then the tongue will rest in its new position. Partial regressive assimilation takes place because the affected /n/ exists, not deleted, but it is not pronounced explicitly.

These consonants include all Arabic stops except /b/ and / ؟/. These are classified as: The stops: / t / = /ت / / d / = / د / / k / = / ك / / s/ = / س/ /z/ = / ز / / f / = / ف/ / θ / = / ث/ / ð / = / ذ / / š / = / ش / The fricatives:

The affricate: / j / = / ج/ The emphatics: / ѕ̣ / = / ص / / ḍ / = / ض / / ṭ / = / ط / / ð̣ / = / ظ / / q / = / ق /

Assimilation is a universal phonological rule found to be systematically applied in the recitation of Qur’an it is realized in three forms : ‘iqlab’ ‘ idgham’ and ‘ ikhfaa’. Each has its own environment of occurrence and conditions of articulations. Mastering these rules and few others is of extreme importance and will hopefully help the non-native readers in reciting Qur’an the way God intends it to be, and the way Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, and his followers did. Moreover, the application of attajweed rules were reciting Qur’an has a great reward from God. Prophet Mohammad said : (( الماهر بالقرآن مع السفرة البررة والذي يقرأ القرآن ويتعتع فيه وهو عليه شاق له أجران )) رواه البخاري ومسلم This saying (hadeeth) means that any excellent reader of the Qur’an will be with angels in the Hereafter whereas the one who reads it with difficulty will be reward it twice over.