Why does arabic sound

Arabic has 28 letters and is written from right to left. Each letter has an initial, medial, and final position which take different forms. Arabic does not have capital letters like English. What are the historical origins of the Arabic writing system?

Click to examine the link between earlier alphabets and how they developed into the Arabic alphabet we know today. How did earlier alphabets develop into the Arabic alphabet we know today? How do other languages from completely different language families use the Arabic alphabet as their primary writing system? The Arabic language has 28 specific phonemes, which are the building blocks of any Arabic word. In Arabic, unlike other languages such as English or French, each phoneme matches with a specific letter.

North African dialects are often grouped as Maghrebi, but each country has a variety of distinct dialects between countries and within countries. The Maghrebi dialect is particularly distinct from other dialects in the Arab world due to the influence of Tamazight the indigenous language of North Africa , the strategic location of these countries on the Mediterranean sea, where trade with European countries also led to significant language exchange, and French colonization.

For instance, the Arabic dialect in Morocco, referred to as Darija, has varying influences from French, Tamazight, and Spanish depending on the area of the country and the extent of foreign influence.

The Egyptian dialect, referred to as Masri, is considered one of the most widely understood dialects in the region due to the massive production of Egyptian films, television shows, and music in the twentieth century.

Egyptian Arabic has also has significant influence from the Coptic language, which was widely spoken in Egypt until the 19th century. There are also loan words from English, French, Italian, and Latin.

Levantine Arabic across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine are very closely related but still vary greatly between cities and even villages. However, a crucial difference between English and Arabic is the sound system [1]. For this reason, Arabs named the Arabic language by the language of the Dad, which is the letter used for this unusual sound [1]. Using phonological categories, such as place of articulation will often analyze speech segments [2] [3].

There are many differences between English and Arabic consonants regarding their places of articulation. First, there are some Arabic consonants that do not exist nor have equivalents in English.

Despite this difference, English and Arabic share fourteen common consonants. When any of these consonants are spoken, friction occurs in the position of the tongue against the lips, teeth or roof of the mouth.

Thus, friction is made depending on the nature of the produced sound. Labial sounds consist of bilabial, labiovelar and labiodental sounds. Bilabial sounds are articulated between the upper and lower lips [4]. Labiodental sounds are produced when the lower lip touches the upper teeth [4].

Dental sounds are articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue keeps in contact with the upper front teeth [4]. Dental sounds exist both in English and Arabic sound systems. Basically, there are two different ways to produce dental sounds.

The first one is to use the tip of the tongue and put it at the back of the upper teeth without blocking the airflow by pressing hardly on them. The second way is to use the blade of the tongue and makes it articulates with the bottom of the upper teeth. While the tip of the tongue protruding between the teeth and leaves enough space allowing the turbulent airstream to escape.

The phoneme changed might change the meaning completely. Alveolar sounds are articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge that is located behind the upper teeth [4]. The difference is in their place of articulation. Unlike English, this sound is not common in native Arabic language. Thus, Arab speakers are cannot pronounce the flap easily. For example, Seattle has a flap in the middle of the word. The tip of the tongue comes close to the alveolar ridge but not touching.

It makes a quick frictionless glide sound [11]. Palato-alveolar sounds are articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge and the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate [4]. Velarised alveolar consonants and Velarised denti-alveolar sounds do not exist in English. Velarised alveolar sounds are produced by using the blade of the tongue and makes reach the alveolar ridge closely.

Velarised denti-alveolar sounds are difficult to pronounce because they have a very different manner. Non-native Arabic speakers can never pronounce these sounds clearly as natives. Palatal sounds are produced when the tongue body articulates with the hard palate.

Velar sounds are produced when the body of the tongue reaches the velum or soft palate [4]. Richard Dawkins has been at it again. And he is not alone in his views. It is often stated that Arabic is a guttural language; that can sound aggressive to the Western ear. And no one in my experience says that Dutch is ugly. The solution?