A phonological study of Tajvid processes in the Holy Quran within the framework of laboratory phonology

This article investigates Tajvid phonological patterns, namely Izhar, Idgham, Ighlab and Ikhfa based on laboratory methodology. To this end, a corpus of Quranic verses read by 12 Qari (three native Arabic and 9 Iranian subjects) at two different rates of speech, namely Tahghigh and Tartil, was designed and gathered. The target words in the verses were those in which the coronal nasal consonant /n/ was placed always in word-final position before words starting either with a pharyngeal/glottal consonant /?،h،Ä،X،ð،À/ (Izhar), Yarmalun phonemes, namely /j،r،m،l،w،n/ (Idgham), the labial stop /b/ (Ighlab), or any consonant other than the three groups of consonants mentioned above (Ikhfa). Analyses were conducted on both the frequency and duration of the speech signals. Results suggested that Idgham and Ighlab follow one single phonological process whereby /n/ is assimilated to the place and manner of the following consonant while it retains its [+nasal] phonetic feature. /n/ in Izhar before pharyngeal/glottal consonants is realized as a typical coronal nasal, and in Ikhfa, it is not realized at all and is recognizable only through nasalization of the preceding vowel. Overall, based on the results of the study, we propose a new classification of Tajvid phonological patterns.