The "Hatt" in "Hamza" and "Ha": An Analytical, Descriptive and Phonological Study

Abstract

The "Hatt" feature is one of those issues that were barely discussed by modern and old scholars who all agreed that "Hatt" is a feature of "Hamza" and "Ha", but they never explained its characteristics and influence on both phonemes. This research endeavors to ascertain the existence of "Hatt" in phonological features, pronunciation, and in the difference of meaning between that of the modern and what Al-Faraheedi had given. Due to this, and in order to achieve its aspired objective, the study compares the opinions of the ancient scholars with those of the modern trend who use technology in the description of phonemes. For this reason, the research adopted the analytical descriptive method in his study. The findings revealed that both the “Hamza" and "Ha" are two voiced phonemes and that the "Hatt" in "Hamza" is a squeezed sound, while in the “Ha” is semi-squeezed, because of narrowing of the articulators causing some friction. Thus, the "Ha" has two “Hatts”, strong once voiced and weak when voiceless.