Editing Classical Arabic (section)

==Phonology==
=== Consonants ===
{{See also|Arabic phonology}}
Like Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Arabic had 28 consonant phonemes:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Classical Arabic consonant phonemes{{sfn|Watson|2002|p=13}}
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="2" |[[Denti-alveolar consonant|Denti-alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! style="font-size: 80%;" |plain
! style="font-size: 80%;" |[[Velarization|emphatic]]
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align: left;" |[[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}} {{lang|ar|م}}
|
|{{IPA link|n}} {{lang|ar|ن}}
|  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
! rowspan="2" style="text-align: left;" |[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! style="text-align: left; font-size: 80%;" |[[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|t}} {{lang|ar|ت}}
|{{IPA link|ˁ|tˁ}}{{ref|d|1}} {{lang|ar|ط}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}} {{lang|ar|ك}}
|{{IPA link|q|q}}{{ref|g|2}} {{lang|ar|ق}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʔ}} {{lang|ar|[[hamza|ء]]}}
|-
! style="text-align: left; font-size: 80%;" |[[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
|{{IPA link|b}} {{lang|ar|ب}}
|
|{{IPA link|d}} {{lang|ar|د}}
|{{IPA link|ɮ}}{{IPA link|ˁ}}{{ref|d|5}} ~ {{IPA link|dˤ}} {{lang|ar|ض}}
|{{IPA link|ɟ}}{{ref|j|3}} {{lang|ar|ج}}
|
|
|  ||
|-
! rowspan="2" style="text-align: left;" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! style="text-align: left; font-size: 80%;" |[[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]
|{{IPA link|f}} {{lang|ar|ف}}
|{{IPA link|θ}} {{lang|ar|ث}}
|{{IPA link|s}} {{lang|ar|س}}
|{{IPA link|ˁ|sˁ}} {{lang|ar|ص}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}} {{lang|ar|ش}}
|  ||{{IPA link|χ|χ}} {{lang|ar|خ}}
|{{IPA link|ħ}} {{lang|ar|ح}}
|{{IPA link|h}} {{lang|ar|ه}}
|-
! style="text-align: left; font-size: 80%;" |[[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
|
|{{IPA link|ð}} {{lang|ar|ذ}}
|{{IPA link|z}} {{lang|ar|ز}}
|{{IPA link|ˁ|ðˁ}} {{lang|ar|ظ}}
|  ||
|{{IPA link|ʁ|ʁ}} {{lang|ar|غ}}
|{{IPA link|ʕ}} {{lang|ar|ع}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align: left;" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]] / [[Tap consonant|Tap]]
| ||
|{{IPA link|r}}{{ref|r|7}} {{lang|ar|ر}}
| || || || || ||
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align: left;" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| || ||  {{IPA link|l}} {{lang|ar|ل}}||({{IPA link|ɫ|lˁ}})<sup>{{ref|l|6}}</sup> {{lang|ar|ل}}
|{{IPA link|j}} {{lang|ar|[[yāʼ#Arabic yāʼ|ي]]}}
|{{IPA link|w}} {{lang|ar|[[Waw (letter)#Arabic wāw|و]]}}
|  ||  ||
|}
Notes:

:{{note|d|1}}[[Sibawayh]] described the consonant {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ط}}}} as voiced ({{IPA|/dˁ/}}), but some modern linguists cast doubt upon this testimony.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |last1=Danecki |first1=Janusz |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |volume=III |page=124 |chapter=Majhūra/Mahmūsa}}</ref> It is likely that the word used to describe it did not mean voiced but rather unaspirated.
:{{note|g|2}}The 14th century historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] described the pronunciation of {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ق}}}} as a voiced velar {{IPAslink|ɡ}} and that it might have been the old Arabic pronunciation of the letter, he even describes that the [[Muhammad|prophet Muhammad]] may have used the {{IPAslink|ɡ}} pronunciation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heinrichs |first=Wolfhart |title=Ibn Khaldūn as a Historical Linguist with an Excursus on the Question of Ancient gāf |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8F_PW9P6dqlcWc1OUpBcFpLZTA/view |journal=Harvard University}}</ref>
:{{note|j|3}}As it derives from [[Proto-Semitic]] *g, {{IPAslink|ɟ}} may have been a palatalized velar: {{IPAslink|ɡʲ}}.

:{{note|d|5}}This is retrospectively reconstructed based on ancient texts describing the proper pronunciation and discouraging the use of any other pronunciation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kinberg |first=Naphtali |url=https://archive.org/details/studieslinguisti00kinb |title=Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |isbn=9004117652 |editor-last=Kinberg |editor-first=Leah |location=Leiden; Boston; Koln |pages=[https://archive.org/details/studieslinguisti00kinb/page/n207 197]-267 |chapter=Treatise on the Pronunciation of the Dad |editor-last2=Versteegh |editor-first2=Kees |url-access=limited}}</ref>

:{{note|l|6}}{{IPAslink|ɫ|lˁ}} is a marginal phoneme that only appears in {{IPA|/(ʔa)lːˁɑːh/}}, the name of God, [[Allah]],{{sfn|Watson|2002|p=16}} except after {{IPA|/i/}} or {{IPA|/iː/}} when it becomes unemphatic {{IPA|/l/}}: ''{{Transliteration|ar|bismi&nbsp;l–lāhi}}'' {{IPA|/bismi‿lːaːhi/}} ('in the name of God').

:{{note|r|7}}{{IPAslink|rˁ}} is emphatic except before {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/j/}} when it becomes unemphatic {{IPAblink|r}}.

===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+[[Monophthong]] phonemes
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Short
! colspan="2" | Long
|-
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
| {{IPA link|iː}}
| {{IPA link|uː}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|
|
|{{IPA|(eː)}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Studies |first=Sibawayhi |title=solomon i.sara_sibawayh on imalah-text translation |url=https://www.academia.edu/36974800 |language=en |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>
|
|- align="center"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|a}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|aː}}
|}
:Notes:
:* {{IPA|[ɑ(ː)]}} is the allophone of {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/aː/}} after uvular and emphatic consonants
:* {{IPA|[eː]}} arose from two separate sources, often conflated:
:**The contraction of the triphthong {{IPA|*ayV}}. Some Arabs said ''banē'' (< *banaya) for ''banā'' ("he built") and ''zēda'' (< *zayida) for ''zāda'' ("it increased"). This {{IPA|/eː/}} merged with {{IPA|/aː/}} in later Classical Arabic and most modern Arabic dialects.<ref name=":0" />
:**A completely different phenomenon called [[imāla]] led to the raising of {{IPAslink|a}} and {{IPA|/aː/}} adjacent to a sequence {{IPA|i(ː)C}} or {{IPA|Ci(ː)}}, where C was a non-emphatic, non-uvular consonant, e.g. ''al-kēfirīna'' < ''al-kāfirīna'' ("the infidels"). Imala could also occur in the absence of an i-vowel in an adjacent syllable. It was considered acceptable Classical Arabic by Sibawayh, and still occurs in numerous modern Arabic dialects, particularly the urban dialects of the Fertile Crescent and the Mediterranean.
:* [{{IPA|eː}}] may have been the original pronunciation of a final ی which is otherwise pronounced as [{{IPA|aː}}]. In the Kisā'i and Hamzah recitations of the Qur'an, this pronunciation is used, whereas in the Hafs pronunciation {{IPA|aː}} is used instead. An example of this can be seen in the names Mūsā (Moses), 'īsā (Jesus), and Yahyā (John), which would be pronounced as Musē, 'īsē and Yahyē in the former two manners of recitation.