imāla

(also ; ) is a phenomenon in Arabic comprising the fronting and raising of Old Arabic toward or , and the old short toward . and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by Sibawayh. According to as-Sirafi and Ibn Jinni (10th century), the vowel of the was pronounced somewhere between and , suggesting a realization of .

Sibawayh primarily discusses as a shift of to in the vicinity of or , an allophonic variation that can be characterized as umlaut or ''i''-mutation. Additionally, Sibawayh's subsumes occurrences of a phonemic vowel resulting from the collapse of Old Arabic triphthongs. For this reason, not all instances of can be characterized as a vowel shift from an original towards the .

was not a general phenomenon, occurring only in some of the old dialects. Yet, the grammarians regarded it as a legitimate phenomenon from the normative point of view when it occurred in certain conditionings. In the context of Arabic dialectology, the term is also used to describe a variety of phenomena involving mid-vowels in place of the Standard Arabic low-vowel. also features in several (styles of recitation) of the Quran.

''Imāla'' in the grammatical tradition

Sibawayh's description of is based on the linguistic situation prevailing in his time and environment, mainly al-Basra and its surroundings in southern Iraq. The description of by all later grammarians is based on that of Sibawayh. Historically and anciently, was a feature in both verbs and inflected nouns. There are several processes which the term describes, of the most common are outlined below:

''i''-mutation

The type of which figures most prominently in Sibawayh's discussion is the shift of to in the vicinity of or . The shift is blocked whenever there are emphatic or uvular consonants (''ṣ'', ''ḍ'', ''ṭ'', ''ẓ'', ''ġ'', ''q'', ''x'') adjacent to the or following it, but is not blocked if the umlaut-triggering stands between the blocking consonant and a following . The blocking effect of emphatics is shown in the following examples:
* Reflexes of ''CāCiC'': 'worshipper' vs. 'guarantor'
* Reflexes of ''CaCāCiC'': 'mosques' vs. 'pluck of animals'
* Reflexes of ''CaCāCīC'': 'keys' vs. 'bellows'

III-''w/y imāla''

Sibawayh says that nouns with final root consonant ''w'' (III-''w'') do not undergo , eg. 'back', 'stick'. On the other hand, nouns with root-final ''y'' (III-''y'') and feminine nouns with suffix ''-y'' undergo , eg. 'goat', 'pregnant'. Such is not blocked by emphatic consonants, eg. 'gifted'.

According to Sibawayh, a similar applies to defective verbs regardless of the underlying root consonant: (III-''w'') 'he raided', 'he threw' (III-''y''). However other grammarians describe varieties in which ''imāla'' applies to III-''y'' verbs, but not III-''w'' verbs. Sibawayh also describes a system in which only III-''y'' nouns and feminine nouns with suffix ''-y'' have , it being absent from verbs altogether.

II-''w/y imāla''

According to Sibawayh, is applied to hollow verbs (II-''w'' or II-''y'') whose has an vowel, such as ( ) and ( ). Sibawayh said that this was the practice for some people of Hijaz. Additionally, al-Farra' said that this was the practice of the common people of Najd, among which Tamim, Asad, and Qays.

''Imāla'' in Quranic recitation

Many of the Quran implement at least once. Some, like those of Hafs or Qalun, use it only once, but in others, affects hundreds of words because of a general rule of a specific or as a specific word prescribed to undergo .

Lexically determined ''i''-mutation

While ''i''-mutation is non-phonemic in Sibawayh's description, its occurrences in the Quranic reading traditions are highly lexically determined. For example, Hisham and Ibn Dhakwan apply ''i''-mutation to ''CaCāCiC'' plural 'drinks' ( Q36:73) but not 'the predators' ( Q5:4) or 'positions' (Q36:39).

III-''w/y imāla''

Al-Kisaʾi and Hamza are known for having phonemic as the realization of alif maqsura in III-y nouns and verbs, as well as in derived final-weak forms and forms having the feminine ending written with ''-y'', such as 'pregnant'. Warsh, from the way of al-Azraq, realizes this extra phoneme as .

Other readers apply this only sporadically: Hafs reads it only once in ( Q11:41). Šubah only has it in 'he saw', 'he threw', and 'blind' in its two attestations in Q17:72.

II-''w/y imāla''

Hamza applies to 'to increase', 'to want', 'to come', 'to fail', 'to seize', 'to fear', 'to wander', 'to be good', 'to taste' and 'to surround'. Some irregular lexical exceptions where Hamza does not apply it include 'he died', 'they measured them', 'she ceased', and 'she wandered'.

''Imāla'' in modern Arabic dialects

''i''-mutation

In the modern dialects of Iraq and Anatolia and in the modern dialect of Aleppo, the factors conditioning medial (''i''-mutation) correspond to those described by Sibawayh in the 8th century. In these modern dialects, medial occurs when the historical vowel of the syllable adjacent to was or . For instance:
* * >  'dogs' in Christian Baghdadi, Mosul, Anatolia, and Aleppo
* * > 'mosque' in Christian Baghdadi, Mosul, and Anatolia
* * > 'knives' in the Jewish dialect of Mosul.

It does not occur in the proximity of ''ə'' < *''a'' or ''ə'' < *''u'', however:

* * > 'baker' in Jewish Baghdadi
* * > 'inhabitants' in Jewish Baghdadi.

In addition to the mentioned dialects, this type of medial occurs in the dialect of Deir ez-Zor, the dialects of Hatay and Cilicia in Turkey, and the dialects of some Bedouin tribes in the Negev.

III-''w/y imāla''

Sibawayh's description of the final (III-''w/y'' ) is also, in general, similar to that prevailing in the modern dialects and in the dialect of Aleppo. One of the most striking points of resemblance is that in some dialects in Sibawayh's time, this final occurred only in nouns and adjectives, and not in verbs; in the modern dialects and in Aleppo the situation is exactly the same, as illustrated by the examples (< *) 'drunk (pl.)' and (< *) 'blind' vs. (< *) 'he built'.

Consonantally conditioned medial ''imāla''

Many modern dialects outside Iraq have an completely conditioned by the consonantal environment of . This type of does not correspond to any type mentioned by Sibawayh. It occurs in many Lebanese dialects, in the Druze dialects of Hauran and the Golan, in the dialects of the Syrian desert oases Qariten and Palmyra, in the Bedouin dialects of Sahil Maryut in Egypt, and in the Jabali dialect of Cyrenaica.

Effect on other languages

The accent of Andalusia in Moorish Spain featured , and many Arabic loanwords and city names in Spanish still do so. A notable example is the name of Andalusia's largest city, Seville, deriving from the Arabic , from the Latin .

See also

*Tenseness
*Vowel height
* Andalusian Arabic
* North Levantine Arabic
*Tunisian Arabic
*North Mesopotamian Arabic

References

* Word-final imaala in contemporary Levantine Arabic : a case of language variation and change, Durand, Emilie Pénélope, University of Texas, Austin, 2011
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Imala
Phonetics
Arabic language
Arabic phonology
Lebanese Arabic