Controversial Voices Issues under Light of the Computational Speech Analysis

Abstract

Arabic phonology has emerged as a natural result of the scholars’

interest in the Holy Qur’an, as they set rules for its correct pronunciation

and showed the foundations on which the language of the Qur’an is based.

The revelation of the Holy Qur’an was the main motive behind the emergence

of Arabic sciences in general and phonology in particular. In fact, Arabic

phonological studies came into existence as a result of the readers’ interest

in setting rules for the correct recitation of the Holy Qur’an.

The science of Tajweed (Recitation) is undoubtedly a genuine source of

Arabic phonological studies. This is due to the invaluable achievements made

by Tajweed scholars in phonological studies, and not due to numerous writings

in this science. I would even go as far as to claim that what phonologists have

achieved so far completes what has been achieved by Arab scholars in the

past as well as their preceding Indian scholars. Arab scholars’ endeavors to

study linguistic sounds were among the outstanding achievements in linguistic

studies on the basis of which a good number of studies have been established.

However, none of modern Arab philologists has taken interest in Tajweed

books which include studies on linguistic sounds. Such studies are as equally

important as other studies in Arabic.

This study deals with a number of phonological issues that raised

controversy between old and modern linguists. It combines both theory

and application through reliance on the results of the technical analysis of

sounds. Nonetheless, this study is not unrelated to the endeavors of Arab

scholars who made a detailed description of Arabic sounds in order to keep

Arabic pronunciation away from any alteration and to preserve the correct

and standard pronunciation of the Holy Qur’an.