consonants are most easily heard in conjuction with fath
̇ah (^) ــَــ /a/,
which is then coloured towards /o/, or to American English /u/ in ‘but’
or /o/ in ‘bottle’, ‘hot’, etc.
Example: The non-emphatic /s/ in the word َسـَل َب salaba ‘to steal’
sounds like sælæbæ, but the emphatic /s
̇
/ in the word َصَل َب s
̇
alaba ‘to
crucify’ sounds almost like s
̇
olobo.
Note a: The following two consonants may sometimes also function as
emphatic: ر /r/ (10), and ل /l/ (23) only with the word ّل ُه
ا
َأل^
alla ̄h, ‘God’.
Note b: The uvular ق /q/ has almost the same effect on the adjacent vowels as
the emphatic consonants. Thus the word َكْلب kalb, ‘dog’, with a velar /k/,
sounds almost like kælb, whereas َقْلب qalb ‘heart’, with an uvular ق /q/,
sounds almost like qolb.
Note c: Phonologically the above sounds /æ/ and /o/ both represent the fath
̇
ah
ـَـــ. However, in the transliteration system used in this book they are replaced
by /a/. This is because they function as /a/ phonemically.
Exercises
Read and practise your handwriting:
Emphatic consonants Corresponding non-emphatic
consonants
َص (14) towards /s
̇
o/ counterpart of َس (12) towards /sæ/ as in ‘sat’
َض (15) towards /d
̇
o/ counterpart of َد (8) towards /dæ/ as in ‘dam’
َط (16) towards /t
̇
o/ counterpart of َت (3) towards /tæ/ in ‘tat’
َظ (17) towards /d
̄ ̇
o/ counterpart of َذ (9) towards /d
̄
æ/ in ‘that’
َخـ َبـ َز َك ِر َه َسـ ِم َع َش ِه َد َف ِر َغ
(1) h
̆
abaza kariha sami
asˇahida farig ̇a
to bake to dislike to hear to witness to be empty
َد َر َس َقـ ُر َب َكـ ُر َم َس ِم َع ُه َثـ ُقـ َل
(2) darasa qaruba karuma t
̄
aqula sami
ahu
to study to be near to be noble to be heavy he heard him
Vowels
14