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Internal Rhymes as Evidence for Old Hijazi: Difference between revisions
Internal Rhymes as Evidence for Old Hijazi (view source)
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Arab grammarians tried to explain the mismatch between spelling and classical Arabic pronunciation by saying that every Arabic word is spelled as if the word was the first to be uttered and the last to be uttered.<ref>rasm al-miṣḥaf by Ghanim Qadduri, p.67</ref> This rule explains why the alef of the definite article is always spelled although it’s only pronounced when it’s in the beginning of utterance. It also explains all the previous mismatch examples: | Arab grammarians tried to explain the mismatch between spelling and classical Arabic pronunciation by saying that every Arabic word is spelled as if the word was the first to be uttered and the last to be uttered.<ref>rasm al-miṣḥaf by Ghanim Qadduri, p.67</ref> This rule explains why the alef of the definite article is always spelled although it’s only pronounced when it’s in the beginning of utterance. It also explains all the previous mismatch examples: | ||
al-madrasatu jadīdah (The school is new) | |||
المدرسة جديدة | |||
In a pausal position, the feminine ending ‘h’ doesn’t turn into a ‘t’. The word “al-madrasatu” is not in a pausal position. But since that the rule says that every word must be written as if it was in a pausal position, the word al-madrasatu is spelled in Arabic as “al-madrasah” because that’s the pausal pronunciation. | al-madrasatu jadīdah (The school is new): In a pausal position, the feminine ending ‘h’ doesn’t turn into a ‘t’. The word “al-madrasatu” is not in a pausal position. But since that the rule says that every word must be written as if it was in a pausal position, the word al-madrasatu is spelled in Arabic as “al-madrasah” because that’s the pausal pronunciation. | ||
hādhā kitābun jadīd (This is a new book) | hādhā kitābun jadīd (This is a new book) | ||
هذا كتابٌ جديد | هذا كتابٌ جديد | ||
Words in pausal positions don’t take nunation. So nunation is never spelled in any nunated word. That’s why the word kitābun is spelled in Arabic as “kitāb” although the word in the sentence isn’t in a pausal position. | Words in pausal positions don’t take nunation. So nunation is never spelled in any nunated word. That’s why the word kitābun is spelled in Arabic as “kitāb” although the word in the sentence isn’t in a pausal position. | ||
قرأت كتاباً جديدا | |||
qaraʾtu kitāban jadīdā. (I have read a new book) | qaraʾtu kitāban jadīdā. (I have read a new book) | ||
In a pausal position, the “an” marker for the indefinite accusative is pronounced as a long ‘a’ vowel. That’s why the “an” turned into a long ‘a’ vowel in the word “jadīdā” because the word is at the end of the sentence. The Arabic spelling of the word jadīdā matches its pronunciation. But the word kitāban is spelled as if it was in a pausal position: kitābā. Its pronunciation doesn’t match its Arabic spelling. | In a pausal position, the “an” marker for the indefinite accusative is pronounced as a long ‘a’ vowel. That’s why the “an” turned into a long ‘a’ vowel in the word “jadīdā” because the word is at the end of the sentence. The Arabic spelling of the word jadīdā matches its pronunciation. But the word kitāban is spelled as if it was in a pausal position: kitābā. Its pronunciation doesn’t match its Arabic spelling. | ||
Historical linguist Marijn Van Putten says: | Historical linguist Marijn Van Putten says: | ||
((While such a ‘pausal’ spelling convention is, of course, not impossible, such a spelling convention is – to our knowledge – unique among the languages of the world. Despite this, very few scholars have attempted to explain the origins of themechanics of Arabic pausal spelling and rather just cite it as a given fact. | ((While such a ‘pausal’ spelling convention is, of course, not impossible, such a spelling convention is – to our knowledge – unique among the languages of the world. Despite this, very few scholars have attempted to explain the origins of themechanics of Arabic pausal spelling and rather just cite it as a given fact. | ||
The few authors that comment on it (e.g. Rabin 1951: 26; Blau 1977: 12) often explain the pausal spelling as the result of authors writing very slowly, while sounding out each word individually.)) | The few authors that comment on it (e.g. Rabin 1951: 26; Blau 1977: 12) often explain the pausal spelling as the result of authors writing very slowly, while sounding out each word individually.)) | ||
((The idea is that, as words were sounded out one-by-one in isolation before being committed to writing, they would take on their pausal form and be pelled as such, which eventually became conventionalised into the pausal spelling (Nöldeke et al. 2013: 408; Blau 1977:12).18 This of course presupposes | ((The idea is that, as words were sounded out one-by-one in isolation before being committed to writing, they would take on their pausal form and be pelled as such, which eventually became conventionalised into the pausal spelling (Nöldeke et al. 2013: 408; Blau 1977:12).18 This of course presupposes | ||
that the language of the Qurˀān did have full case inflection and would only lose nunation and its case vowels in pause)) p.14 | that the language of the Qurˀān did have full case inflection and would only lose nunation and its case vowels in pause)). <ref>Case in the Quranic Consonantal Text By Marijn Van Putten, p7,14)</ref> | ||
Van Putten challenges the pausal convention by two arguments: | |||
1- The treatment of the final ī in the Quran is usually lost in pause, yet it’s kept in context. This means that the spelling of the Quran isn’t based on the pausal rule. Otherwise, the treatment of the final ī wouldn’t have changed between pausal and non-pausal positions<ref>Previous source, p.14</ref>. | |||
2- Internal rhymes in the Quran that only show up if every word was pronounced in the pausal form. Which means that what was thought to be a special treatment for the pronunciation of pausal words was actually the norm for almost all words in the original language of the Quran. The mismatch between the Quranic spelling and the Classical Arabic pronunciation is the result of imposing classical Arabic on a text that wasn’t written in Classical Arabic. The Quran was written in a language that Van Putten and Ahmad Al-Jallad call “Old Hijazi”. | 2- Internal rhymes in the Quran that only show up if every word was pronounced in the pausal form. Which means that what was thought to be a special treatment for the pronunciation of pausal words was actually the norm for almost all words in the original language of the Quran. The mismatch between the Quranic spelling and the Classical Arabic pronunciation is the result of imposing classical Arabic on a text that wasn’t written in Classical Arabic. The Quran was written in a language that Van Putten and Ahmad Al-Jallad call “Old Hijazi”. | ||
Based on these internal rhymes, Old Hijazi had the following features that sets it apart from classical Arabic | Based on these internal rhymes, Old Hijazi had the following features that sets it apart from classical Arabic<ref>Previous source, p.13</ref> : | ||
1- Lack of nunation. | 1- Lack of nunation. | ||
2- Lack of final short vowels except in construct. | |||
2- Lack of final short vowels except in construct. | |||
3- The feminine ending is always “ah” and it only turns to “at” in construct. | 3- The feminine ending is always “ah” and it only turns to “at” in construct. | ||
4- The indefinite accusative marker is always a long ‘a’ vowel. | 4- The indefinite accusative marker is always a long ‘a’ vowel. | ||
5- The third person masculine singular pronoun is always a mere ‘h’ with no vowel attached to it. | |||
5- The third person masculine singular pronoun is always a mere ‘h’ with no vowel attached to it. | |||
==Internal rhymes in the Quran== | ==Internal rhymes in the Quran== | ||
In the Quran, the last word of nearly every verse rhymes with the last words of the surrounding verses. Sometimes within the same verse, words in pausal positions rhyme with each other. But there are many cases where a word that’s in context (i.e., not in a pausal position) does rhyme with another word that’s either in a pausal position or in context. This type of rhyming was never noted by Muslim scholars despite the presence of obvious examples such as: | In the Quran, the last word of nearly every verse rhymes with the last words of the surrounding verses. Sometimes within the same verse, words in pausal positions rhyme with each other. But there are many cases where a word that’s in context (i.e., not in a pausal position) does rhyme with another word that’s either in a pausal position or in context. This type of rhyming was never noted by Muslim scholars despite the presence of obvious examples such as: | ||
﴿وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَغْنَى وَأَقْنَى﴾ | |||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَغْنَى وَأَقْنَى﴾</span> | |||
Q53:48 ʾaghnā wa ʾaqnā. | Q53:48 ʾaghnā wa ʾaqnā. | ||
In Old Hijazi: aghnē wa aqnē. | In Old Hijazi: aghnē wa aqnē. | ||
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For more examples see the article (link) | For more examples see the article (link) | ||
<references /> | |||