Vowel 1 a speech sound made with the

Vowel: 1. a speech sound made with the vocal tract open 2. A letter, such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in the English alphabet, that represents a vowel. � In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound.

� In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels: A, E, I, O, U. But there are many more vowel sounds in the English language. The number of vowels in English is uncertain, because there are different varieties of English. � Examples of vowels: I i /ɪ/ /aɪ/ "twin" / "twine" O o /ɒ/ /oʊ/ "not" / "note" U u /ʌ/ /juː/ "cub" / "cube"

Vowels in Arabic There are 6 vowels - 3 short and 3 long - and 2 diphthongs in Arabic.

Long Vowels � The three long vowel sounds in Arabic are represented by the following three letters. � 1. 'Alif ﺍﻷﻠﻒ ﺣﺮﻑ � 2. Waw - ﺣﺮﻑ ﺍﻟﻮﺍﻭ � 3. Ya' - ﺣﺮﻑ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺀ

Short Vowels � The three short vowel sounds in Arabic are represented using the following symbols either above or below the letters. � 1. Fatha ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺤﺔ - indicated by a small diagonal stroke above the consonant. This is the neutral a vowel sound, such as in the words, nun and woman. � 2. Kasra ﺍﻟﻜﺴﺮﺓ - indicated by a small diagonal stroke below the consonant. Similar to the sound in the middle of the word did.

Short Vowels � 3. Damma ﺍﻟﻀﺓ - written like a miniature ﻭﺍﻭ above the letter. It's pronounced like the u in bull. � → Sukun ﺳﻜﻮﻥ - indicated by a small circle above the letter. It is used to signify the absence of a vowel, for example, ﺑﺕ and ﻛ.

Diphthongs � A diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds occurring next to each other within the same syllable. The two diphthongs in Arabic are the two sounds: � 1. ay as in the word ﺑﻴﺖ � 2. aw as in the word ﻳﻮﻡ ﻫﻤﺎ ﺍﻟﻮﺍﻭ ﻭﺍﻟﻴﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻛﻨﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﻮﺡ ﻣﺎ : ﺣﺮﻭﻑ ﺍﻟﻠﻴﻦ ” "ﺧﻮﻑ"ﻭ "ﺑﻴﺖ : ﻗﺒﻠﻬﻤﺎ ﻣﺜﻞ

Nunation � Nunation ﺍﻟﺘﻨﻮﻳﻦ is found at the end of nouns and adjectives when they are indefinite. � It is indicated using a doubled vowel sign. With the sounds un (double damma), in (double kasra), or an (double fatha). � When the fatha is doubled, the letter 'alif is added except when the word ends in a ta' marboota.

Stress - The Syllable A syllable is a unit of sound containing either a vowel sound alone e. g. eye, you; or a vowel sound with one or more consonants e. g. not, stop. � Examples of two-syllable words: seven, water. � Stress: when a word has more than one syllable, one of them is spoken with special force, called stress. A spoken word is recognized not only by its pronunciation but also by its stress pattern. If the pronunciation of a word is correct, but the stress is wrong then the word may not be understood e. g. � � � Record(n): Br. E /ˈrekɔːd/ ; NAm. E /ˈrekərd/ Record(v): Br. E /rɪˈkɔːd/ ; NAm. E /rɪˈkɔːrd/

Stress - The Syllable The Arabic language is a language of syllable length, not stress. While reading Arabic all syllables should be given their full length, but no effort should be made to emphasize any syllable at the expense of the other. The result will sound as if some syllables are stronger than others, but this is because of their length. � In Arabic, there are long and short syllables. The long syllable is the one that contains a long vowel preceded by a matching short vowel ( )ﺍﻟﻤﺪ. The short syllable, on the other hand, contains a short vowel or a diphthong. �

Examples: has three short syllables ﻛﺎﺗﺐ has a long syllable ( )ﺍ and a short syllable ( )ﺗﺐ � ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ has a long syllable ( )ﺑﺎﺕ and two short syllables ( )ﻙ and ( )ﺕ � ﺃﻮﺭﺍﻕ has a short syllable ( )ﺃﻮ and a long syllable ( )ﺭﺍﻕ � ﺗﻜﺒﻴﺮ has a long syllable ( )ﺑﻴﺮ and a short syllable ( )ﺗﻚ � ﻓﻀﺔ has two short syllables ( )ﻑ and ( )ﺿﺔ � ﺑﻴﺖ has one short syllable � ﺧﻮﻑ has one short syllable � �

Abbreviations � As in the English language, some abbreviations are used in the Arabic language, such as ﺍﻟﺦ.

The Alphabet as Numbers � The letters of the Arabic alphabet are sometimes used for numbering. The order followed is found in the following line: ﺍﺑﺠﺪ ﻫﻮﺯ ﺣﻄﻲ ﻛﻠﻤﻦ ﺳﻌﻔﺺ ﺕ ﺫ ﻍ

Homework � Indicate how many long syllables and short syllables are in each of the following words: ﺃﺸﺠﺎﺭ ﻗﻠﻢ ﻟﻮﻡ ﻗﺓ