Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Hitit Theology Journal, cilt.23, sa.1, ss.520-537, 2024 (ESCI)
In this study, the influence of natural sciences on Arabic phonology tradition is investigated in the case of a late tajwīd book, Juhd al-muqill. Phonology is a field that analyses speech sounds as a subject of linguistics. Speech sounds can be the subject of linguistic sciences in terms of reflecting the customs of a particular language, and of natural sciences in terms of their physical nature. Considering this aspect of sounds, it seems possible for the two fields to influence each other. Accordingly, our research analysed this hypothesised retrospective effect through document analysis. Since the influence of the natural sciences on the Arabic phonological tradition is manifested in the conception of sound or in the terms used, these two issues constitute the focus of the research. The universe of the research is the sources of natural sciences before Juhd al-muqill and the sources of the phonological tradition. The research data consisting of comments and concepts related to the conception of sound were evaluated by taking into account its place in the disciplinary tradition. As a basis for the evaluation of the research data, the Arabic phonological tradition and the content of the science of tajwīd were also discussed. The field of Arabic Phonology has not emerged as an independent discipline in history, but it has formed a tradition with a highly developed acquis and intersecting multiple disciplines. One of the main disciplines shouldering the Arabic phonology tradition is the science of tajweed. Since it is closely related to the performance of recitation, its treatment of speech sounds has been practical and therefore more likely to be influenced by natural sciences. As a tajwīd work, Juhd al-muqill is a work that produced some innovations in the tajwīd literature. The fact that some of the innovations are related to the conception of sound, makes it a suitable example for researching the influence of natural sciences. As a matter of fact, Juhd al-muqill used one of the works of natural sciences as a direct reference and, in one case, was directly influenced by it. In order to investigate the influences in the book in general and to reveal the implicit influences, two points were focussed on. These are the interpretations reflecting the conception of sound and the terms used. The duration of sound production is one of the issues related to the concept of sound. Unlike other tajwīd works, sound production durations are graded in Juhd al-muqill. It is very clear that the duration degrees are transferred from the natural sciences. On the other hand, the vowel-consonant distinction, which is the main sound classification of natural sciences, and the results of this distinction are not clear in Juhd al-muqill. However, the influence of natural sciences on the vowel-consonant distinction is felt in the use of concepts, even if it is not expressed in words. The sound-breath distinction, which is inherited from the tajwīd literature and thought to have emerged under the influence of natural sciences, is also clearly used in Juhd al-muqill. In summary, it has been observed that the duration of sound production, is indisputably transferred from natural sciences, and the influence of natural sciences is implicit or indirect in the distinction between vowel-consonant and sound-breath. The influence of natural sciences is also seen in the terms expressing the features of sound. The first of these terms is the instantaneous-durational (ānī-zamānī) term binary. Juhd al-muqill is the first tajwīd work in which these two terms are used. In the work, these terms were not only transferred but also reconciled with the plosive-non-plosive (shidda-rikhwa) binary. In the book, where we cannot explicitly see the distinction between vowel and consonant, it is noteworthy that the naming of the long vowels wāw and yā is meticulous. The author was very careful in using the terms al-wāwu’l-maddiyya and al-yā’u’l-maddiyya. It seems that the author is aware of the vowel-consonant distinction, but he consciously avoided the terms sāmit-musawwit (consonant-vowel) used by the natural scientists. This led him to use the name haraka for short vowels and the name of the letter combined with the adjective maddiyya for long vowels, instead of using a term combining long and short vowels. Hence, the most striking finding of the study is that the vowel-consonant distinction and related terms, which were the basic distinction in natural sciences, are not used in Juhd al-muqill.