Assimilation, Intensification and Tipping in Warsh’s Reading of Nafi: A Phonological, Analytical, Descriptive Study

Abstract

It cannot be concealed from the erudite eloquent that the whole Koran came as a deviation from what was usual in its composition, style and indicativeness. The Koran, the very word of God, came to address minds, inducing thought and contemplation, affecting the conscious, and arousing feelings and passions. No book combines these effects except the Holy Koran. The affect passions, a system of word-music is indispensable for it to confront the Arabic word-music ingenuity represented by Arabic prosody.

The Koran was word-music, but so unlike theirs. Part of the Koran they admired, and parts of it were at variance with what they found admirable. To them, it was poetry, and non-poetry, magic and non-magical, as was witnessed by their unbelievers before their believers. It was word-music that plays up on and enchants heart-strings.

The Koran descended and recited seven-fold by Mohammad from Gabrial, from His Almighty Lord. Thereupon vocal studies described them through a meticulous descriptive manner in any field of Arabic language levels as they were in their vocal studies of the science of Koranic recital. This article was the last of a series researched by the writer in the vocal phenomena in "Warsh's reading of "Nafi'". The writer has taken a phonologically descriptive approach, so as to deduce the general base regulating the partial bases governing the three phenomena of assimilation, intensification (accentuation) and tipping (or tilting) in Warsh's reading of Nafi'. The writer attempted to reveal vocal vowelism, and has based her study of this phenomenon on the books of the seven recitals on Warsh's edition of the Koran and on recordings by Sheikh Al-Husari of Warsh's recitals. The writer has made use of modern phonetic formulas in monitoring and explaining the phenomenon.