{"history":[],"article":{"id":"b646d73d-724a-44c9-bce6-dbf76c10afae","title":"Imāla","slug":"im-la","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \nImāla (also imālah; ) is a phenomenon in [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic) comprising the fronting and raising of Old [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic) toward, and the old short toward.\nImāla and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by [Sibawayh](https://bliptext.com/articles/sibawayh).\nAccording to as-Sirafi and [Ibn Jinni](https://bliptext.com/articles/ibn-jinni) (10th century), the vowel of the imāla was pronounced somewhere between and, suggesting a realization of.\n[Sibawayh](https://bliptext.com/articles/sibawayh) primarily discusses imāla as a shift of to in the vicinity of or, an [allophonic](https://bliptext.com/articles/allophone) variation that can be characterized as [umlaut](https://bliptext.com/articles/umlaut-linguistics) or i-mutation.\nAdditionally, Sibawayh's imāla subsumes occurrences of a [phonemic](https://bliptext.com/articles/phoneme) vowel resulting from the collapse of Old Arabic [triphthongs](https://bliptext.com/articles/triphthong).\nFor this reason, not all instances of imāla can be characterized as a [vowel shift](https://bliptext.com/articles/vowel-shift) from an original towards the.\nImāla was not a general phenomenon, occurring only in some of the old dialects.\nYet, the grammarians regarded it as a legitimate phenomenon from the normative point of view when it occurred in certain conditionings.\nIn the context of Arabic dialectology, the term imāla is also used to describe a variety of phenomena involving mid-vowels in place of the [Standard Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/standard-arabic) low-vowel.\nImāla also features in several qirāʾāt (styles of recitation) of the [Quran](https://bliptext.com/articles/quran).\n\n# Imāla in the grammatical tradition\nSibawayh's description of imāla is based on the linguistic situation prevailing in his time and environment, mainly [al-Basra](https://bliptext.com/articles/basra) and its surroundings in southern [Iraq](https://bliptext.com/articles/iraq).\nThe description of imāla by all later grammarians is based on that of Sibawayh.\nHistorically and anciently, imāla was a feature in both [verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/verbs) and [inflected](https://bliptext.com/articles/inflection) [nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/nouns).\nThere are several processes which the term imāla describes, of the most common are outlined below:\n\n## i-mutation\nThe type of imāla which figures most prominently in Sibawayh's discussion is the shift of to in the vicinity of or.\nThe shift is blocked whenever there are [emphatic](https://bliptext.com/articles/emphatic-consonant) or [uvular consonants](https://bliptext.com/articles/uvular-consonant) (ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, ẓ, ġ, q, x) adjacent to the or following it, but is not blocked if the umlaut-triggering stands between the blocking consonant and a following.\nThe blocking effect of emphatics is shown in the following examples:\n\n## III-w/y imāla\nSibawayh says that nouns with final root consonant w (III-w) do not undergo imāla, eg. qafā 'back', ʿaṣā 'stick'.\nOn the other hand, nouns with root-final y (III-y) and feminine nouns with suffix -y undergo imāla, eg. miʿzē 'goat', ḥublē 'pregnant'.\nSuch imāla is not blocked by emphatic consonants, eg. muʿṭē 'gifted'.\nAccording to Sibawayh, a similar imāla applies to [defective verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-verbs) regardless of the underlying root consonant: ġazē (III-w) 'he raided', ramē 'he threw' (III-y).\nHowever other grammarians describe varieties in which imāla applies to III-y verbs, but not III-w verbs.\nSibawayh also describes a system in which only III-y nouns and feminine nouns with suffix -y have imāla, it being absent from verbs altogether.\n\n## II-w/y imāla\nAccording to Sibawayh, imāla is applied to [hollow verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-verbs) (II-w or II-y) whose 1sg has an vowel, such as xēfa (1sg xiftu) and ǧēʾa (1sg ǧiʾtu).\nSibawayh said that this was the practice for some people of [Hijaz](https://bliptext.com/articles/hijaz).\nAdditionally, al-Farra' said that this was the practice of the common people of [Najd](https://bliptext.com/articles/najd), among which [Tamim](https://bliptext.com/articles/banu-tamim), [Asad](https://bliptext.com/articles/banu-asad), and [Qays](https://bliptext.com/articles/qays).\n\n# Imāla in Quranic recitation\nMany qirāʾāt of the [Quran](https://bliptext.com/articles/quran) implement imāla at least once.\nSome, like those of [Hafs](https://bliptext.com/articles/hafs) or [Qalun](https://bliptext.com/articles/qalun), use it only once, but in others, imāla affects hundreds of words because of a general rule of a specific qirāʾa or as a specific word prescribed to undergo imāla.\n\n## Lexically determined i-mutation\nWhile i-mutation is non-phonemic in Sibawayh's description, its occurrences in the Quranic reading traditions are highly lexically determined.\nFor example, Hisham and Ibn Dhakwan apply i-mutation to CaCāCiC plural mašēribu 'drinks' ([Q36](https://bliptext.com/articles/ya-sin):73) but not al-ǧawāriḥi 'the predators' ([Q5](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-ma-idah):4) or manāzila 'positions' ([Q36](https://bliptext.com/articles/ya-sin):39).\n\n## III-w/y imāla\n[Al-Kisaʾi](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-kisa-i) and [Hamza](https://bliptext.com/articles/hamzah-az-zaiyyat) are known for having phonemic as the realization of [alif maqsura](https://bliptext.com/articles/alif-maqsura) in III-y nouns and verbs, as well as in derived final-weak forms and forms having the feminine ending written with -y, such as ḥublē 'pregnant'.\n[Warsh](https://bliptext.com/articles/warsh), from the way of al-Azraq, realizes this extra phoneme as.\nOther readers apply this imāla only sporadically: [Hafs](https://bliptext.com/articles/hafs) reads it only once in maǧrē-hā ([Q11](https://bliptext.com/articles/hud-surah):41).\n[Šubah](https://bliptext.com/articles/shu-bah) only has it in reʾē 'he saw', ramē 'he threw', and aʿmē 'blind' in its two attestations in [Q17](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-isra):72.\n\n## II-w/y imāla\nHamza applies imāla to zēda 'to increase', šēʾa 'to want', ǧēʾa 'to come', xēba 'to fail', rēna 'to seize', xēfa 'to fear', zēġa 'to wander', ṭēba 'to be good', ḍēqa 'to taste' and ḥēqa 'to surround'.\nSome irregular lexical exceptions where Hamza does not apply it include māta 'he died', kālū-hum 'they measured them', zālat 'she ceased', and zāġat 'she wandered'.\n\n# Imāla in modern Arabic dialects\n\n## i-mutation\nIn the modern qeltu dialects of [Iraq](https://bliptext.com/articles/iraqi-arabic) and [Anatolia](https://bliptext.com/articles/anatolian-arabic) and in the modern [dialect of Aleppo](https://bliptext.com/articles/aleppo-arabic), the factors conditioning medial imāla (i-mutation) correspond to those described by Sibawayh in the 8th century.\nIn these modern dialects, medial imāla occurs when the historical vowel of the syllable adjacent to was or.\nFor instance:\nIt does not occur in the proximity of ə < *a or ə < *u, however:\nIn addition to the mentioned dialects, this type of medial imāla occurs in the qeltu dialect of [Deir ez-Zor](https://bliptext.com/articles/deir-ez-zor), [the dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/northwest-arabian-arabic) of [Hatay](https://bliptext.com/articles/hatay-province) and [Cilicia](https://bliptext.com/articles/cilicia) in Turkey, and [the dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/northwest-arabian-arabic) of some [Bedouin tribes in the Negev](https://bliptext.com/articles/negev-bedouin).\n\n## III-w/y imāla\nSibawayh's description of the final imāla (III-w/y imāla) is also, in general, similar to that that prevailing in the modern qəltu dialects and in the dialect of Aleppo.\nOne of the most striking points of resemblance is that in some dialects in Sibawayh's time, this final imāla occurred only in nouns and adjectives, and not in verbs; in the modern qəltu dialects and in Aleppo the situation is exactly the same, as illustrated by the examples sakāġi (< *sakārē) 'drunk (pl.)' and aʿmi (< *aʿmē) 'blind' vs. bana (< *banā) 'he built'.\n\n## Consonantally conditioned medial imāla\nMany modern dialects outside Iraq have an imāla completely conditioned by the consonantal environment of.\nThis type of imāla does not correspond to any type mentioned by Sibawayh.\nIt occurs in many [Lebanese dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/lebanese-arabic), in the [Druze](https://bliptext.com/articles/druze) dialects of [Hauran](https://bliptext.com/articles/hauran) and the [Golan](https://bliptext.com/articles/golan-heights), in the dialects of the Syrian desert oases [Qariten](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-qaryatayn) and [Palmyra](https://bliptext.com/articles/palmyra), in the [Bedouin dialects of Sahil Maryut](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-egyptian-bedawi-arabic) in Egypt, and in the Jabali dialect of [Cyrenaica](https://bliptext.com/articles/cyrenaica).\n\n# Effect on other languages\n[The accent of Andalusia](https://bliptext.com/articles/andalusi-arabic) in [Moorish Spain](https://bliptext.com/articles/moorish-spain) featured imāla, and many [Arabic loanwords and city names in Spanish](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-language-influence-on-the-spanish-language) still do so.\nA notable example is the name of Andalusia's largest city, [Seville](https://bliptext.com/articles/seville), deriving from the Arabic Išbīliya, from the Latin Hispalis.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T10:31:11.710Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T10:31:11.710Z","search_vector":"'imāla':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \nImāla (also imālah; ) is a phenomenon in [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic) comprising the fronting and raising of Old [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic) toward, and the old short toward.\nImāla and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by [Sibawayh](https://bliptext.com/articles/sibawayh).\nAccording to as-Sirafi and [Ibn Jinni](https://bliptext.com/articles/ibn-jinni) (10th century), the vowel of the imāla was pronounced somewhere between and, suggesting a realization of.\n[Sibawayh](https://bliptext.com/articles/sibawayh) primarily discusses imāla as a shift of to in the vicinity of or, an [allophonic](https://bliptext.com/articles/allophone) variation that can be characterized as [umlaut](https://bliptext.com/articles/umlaut-linguistics) or i-mutation.\nAdditionally, Sibawayh's imāla subsumes occurrences of a [phonemic](https://bliptext.com/articles/phoneme) vowel resulting from the collapse of Old Arabic [triphthongs](https://bliptext.com/articles/triphthong).\nFor this reason, not all instances of imāla can be characterized as a [vowel shift](https://bliptext.com/articles/vowel-shift) from an original towards the.\nImāla was not a general phenomenon, occurring only in some of the old dialects.\nYet, the grammarians regarded it as a legitimate phenomenon from the normative point of view when it occurred in certain conditionings.\nIn the context of Arabic dialectology, the term imāla is also used to describe a variety of phenomena involving mid-vowels in place of the [Standard Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/standard-arabic) low-vowel.\nImāla also features in several qirāʾāt (styles of recitation) of the [Quran](https://bliptext.com/articles/quran).\n\n# Imāla in the grammatical tradition\nSibawayh's description of imāla is based on the linguistic situation prevailing in his time and environment, mainly [al-Basra](https://bliptext.com/articles/basra) and its surroundings in southern [Iraq](https://bliptext.com/articles/iraq).\nThe description of imāla by all later grammarians is based on that of Sibawayh.\nHistorically and anciently, imāla was a feature in both [verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/verbs) and [inflected](https://bliptext.com/articles/inflection) [nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/nouns).\nThere are several processes which the term imāla describes, of the most common are outlined below:\n\n## i-mutation\nThe type of imāla which figures most prominently in Sibawayh's discussion is the shift of to in the vicinity of or.\nThe shift is blocked whenever there are [emphatic](https://bliptext.com/articles/emphatic-consonant) or [uvular consonants](https://bliptext.com/articles/uvular-consonant) (ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, ẓ, ġ, q, x) adjacent to the or following it, but is not blocked if the umlaut-triggering stands between the blocking consonant and a following.\nThe blocking effect of emphatics is shown in the following examples:\n\n## III-w/y imāla\nSibawayh says that nouns with final root consonant w (III-w) do not undergo imāla, eg. qafā 'back', ʿaṣā 'stick'.\nOn the other hand, nouns with root-final y (III-y) and feminine nouns with suffix -y undergo imāla, eg. miʿzē 'goat', ḥublē 'pregnant'.\nSuch imāla is not blocked by emphatic consonants, eg. muʿṭē 'gifted'.\nAccording to Sibawayh, a similar imāla applies to [defective verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-verbs) regardless of the underlying root consonant: ġazē (III-w) 'he raided', ramē 'he threw' (III-y).\nHowever other grammarians describe varieties in which imāla applies to III-y verbs, but not III-w verbs.\nSibawayh also describes a system in which only III-y nouns and feminine nouns with suffix -y have imāla, it being absent from verbs altogether.\n\n## II-w/y imāla\nAccording to Sibawayh, imāla is applied to [hollow verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-verbs) (II-w or II-y) whose 1sg has an vowel, such as xēfa (1sg xiftu) and ǧēʾa (1sg ǧiʾtu).\nSibawayh said that this was the practice for some people of [Hijaz](https://bliptext.com/articles/hijaz).\nAdditionally, al-Farra' said that this was the practice of the common people of [Najd](https://bliptext.com/articles/najd), among which [Tamim](https://bliptext.com/articles/banu-tamim), [Asad](https://bliptext.com/articles/banu-asad), and [Qays](https://bliptext.com/articles/qays).\n\n# Imāla in Quranic recitation\nMany qirāʾāt of the [Quran](https://bliptext.com/articles/quran) implement imāla at least once.\nSome, like those of [Hafs](https://bliptext.com/articles/hafs) or [Qalun](https://bliptext.com/articles/qalun), use it only once, but in others, imāla affects hundreds of words because of a general rule of a specific qirāʾa or as a specific word prescribed to undergo imāla.\n\n## Lexically determined i-mutation\nWhile i-mutation is non-phonemic in Sibawayh's description, its occurrences in the Quranic reading traditions are highly lexically determined.\nFor example, Hisham and Ibn Dhakwan apply i-mutation to CaCāCiC plural mašēribu 'drinks' ([Q36](https://bliptext.com/articles/ya-sin):73) but not al-ǧawāriḥi 'the predators' ([Q5](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-ma-idah):4) or manāzila 'positions' ([Q36](https://bliptext.com/articles/ya-sin):39).\n\n## III-w/y imāla\n[Al-Kisaʾi](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-kisa-i) and [Hamza](https://bliptext.com/articles/hamzah-az-zaiyyat) are known for having phonemic as the realization of [alif maqsura](https://bliptext.com/articles/alif-maqsura) in III-y nouns and verbs, as well as in derived final-weak forms and forms having the feminine ending written with -y, such as ḥublē 'pregnant'.\n[Warsh](https://bliptext.com/articles/warsh), from the way of al-Azraq, realizes this extra phoneme as.\nOther readers apply this imāla only sporadically: [Hafs](https://bliptext.com/articles/hafs) reads it only once in maǧrē-hā ([Q11](https://bliptext.com/articles/hud-surah):41).\n[Šubah](https://bliptext.com/articles/shu-bah) only has it in reʾē 'he saw', ramē 'he threw', and aʿmē 'blind' in its two attestations in [Q17](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-isra):72.\n\n## II-w/y imāla\nHamza applies imāla to zēda 'to increase', šēʾa 'to want', ǧēʾa 'to come', xēba 'to fail', rēna 'to seize', xēfa 'to fear', zēġa 'to wander', ṭēba 'to be good', ḍēqa 'to taste' and ḥēqa 'to surround'.\nSome irregular lexical exceptions where Hamza does not apply it include māta 'he died', kālū-hum 'they measured them', zālat 'she ceased', and zāġat 'she wandered'.\n\n# Imāla in modern Arabic dialects\n\n## i-mutation\nIn the modern qeltu dialects of [Iraq](https://bliptext.com/articles/iraqi-arabic) and [Anatolia](https://bliptext.com/articles/anatolian-arabic) and in the modern [dialect of Aleppo](https://bliptext.com/articles/aleppo-arabic), the factors conditioning medial imāla (i-mutation) correspond to those described by Sibawayh in the 8th century.\nIn these modern dialects, medial imāla occurs when the historical vowel of the syllable adjacent to was or.\nFor instance:\nIt does not occur in the proximity of ə < *a or ə < *u, however:\nIn addition to the mentioned dialects, this type of medial imāla occurs in the qeltu dialect of [Deir ez-Zor](https://bliptext.com/articles/deir-ez-zor), [the dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/northwest-arabian-arabic) of [Hatay](https://bliptext.com/articles/hatay-province) and [Cilicia](https://bliptext.com/articles/cilicia) in Turkey, and [the dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/northwest-arabian-arabic) of some [Bedouin tribes in the Negev](https://bliptext.com/articles/negev-bedouin).\n\n## III-w/y imāla\nSibawayh's description of the final imāla (III-w/y imāla) is also, in general, similar to that that prevailing in the modern qəltu dialects and in the dialect of Aleppo.\nOne of the most striking points of resemblance is that in some dialects in Sibawayh's time, this final imāla occurred only in nouns and adjectives, and not in verbs; in the modern qəltu dialects and in Aleppo the situation is exactly the same, as illustrated by the examples sakāġi (< *sakārē) 'drunk (pl.)' and aʿmi (< *aʿmē) 'blind' vs. bana (< *banā) 'he built'.\n\n## Consonantally conditioned medial imāla\nMany modern dialects outside Iraq have an imāla completely conditioned by the consonantal environment of.\nThis type of imāla does not correspond to any type mentioned by Sibawayh.\nIt occurs in many [Lebanese dialects](https://bliptext.com/articles/lebanese-arabic), in the [Druze](https://bliptext.com/articles/druze) dialects of [Hauran](https://bliptext.com/articles/hauran) and the [Golan](https://bliptext.com/articles/golan-heights), in the dialects of the Syrian desert oases [Qariten](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-qaryatayn) and [Palmyra](https://bliptext.com/articles/palmyra), in the [Bedouin dialects of Sahil Maryut](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-egyptian-bedawi-arabic) in Egypt, and in the Jabali dialect of [Cyrenaica](https://bliptext.com/articles/cyrenaica).\n\n# Effect on other languages\n[The accent of Andalusia](https://bliptext.com/articles/andalusi-arabic) in [Moorish Spain](https://bliptext.com/articles/moorish-spain) featured imāla, and many [Arabic loanwords and city names in Spanish](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-language-influence-on-the-spanish-language) still do so.\nA notable example is the name of Andalusia's largest city, [Seville](https://bliptext.com/articles/seville), deriving from the Arabic Išbīliya, from the Latin Hispalis.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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