Articulation Of The Arabic Alphabet

To know how to pronounce the Arabic alphabet, you have to learn the articulation point for each letter - meaning where you need to make the sound in your mouth.

Almost all the articulation points in Arabic are specific places, but there are some that have a general area of articulation.

Before we get started, you can test if you’re using the right articulation point for a letter in three ways:

• Pronounce the letter with a shaddah [ّّ ] (In other words, double the letter).
• Pronounce the letter with no vowel.
• Put a hamzah [ء] before the letter you are checking.

You can then check the position of your tongue, mouth, or feel what area of the throat you are using.

There are four general areas of the throat and mouth that have within them the specific or general articulation points of the Arabic letters. Let’s work through them all.

1. Jauf - (The Empty Space In The Throat And Mouth)

Three med (lengthened) letters originate from this general area, which are:

• The aleph [ا] preceded by a letter with a fat-hah [َ ] (and the true aleph is only in this state); the Arabic aleph [ا] never takes a vowel and is always preceded by a fatha[َ ].
• The wow [و] with a sukoon [ْ ] followed by a letter with a dhammah [ُ ].
• The ya’ [ي] with a sukoon [ْ ] preceded by a letter with a kasrah [ِ ].

Unlike with all the other Arabic letters, these three sounds end by abruptly stopping the sound.

2. The Throat

There are three articulation points for six different letters which are pronounced from the deepest, middle, and closest part of the throat.

Deepest Part Of The Throat

This is the point in your throat furthest away from the mouth and the closest to the chest. The hamzah [ء] and the ha’ [ه] are the two letters pronounced from here.

• The letter Hamzah (ء) {ءَ ءُ ءِ) is similar to English in the pronunciation of the first letter in: about, of, and egg.
  • Sometimes the letter [ا] is pronounced like hamza if it comes in the beginning of some limited nouns and limited verbs, and if it comes with the letter { ل } as a definite article like with: { ال }.
• The letter ha'a ه [هَ هُ هِ] is similar to the English ‘h’ in English in: hat, hot and help.

Middle Of The Throat

The two letters that are emitted from here are: (Aien عَ عِ عُ( and )حَ حِ حُ).

• Aien عَ عُ عِ comes from behind the apple of your throat. Put a fingertip on your apple and then try to feel the vibration as you say the letter [ع].
• For the letter ح [حَ حُ حِ] imagine the sound which comes from the throat after eating very hot spices. Whilst keeping your mouth open, you breathe out and can feel the air cross your airway passage to soothe the hotness of the spice. This sound that comes out sounds like ح .

Closest Part Of The Throat

This is the point in your throat that is closest to your mouth. Two letters are articulated from this area, they are: { غَين= غُ غَ غِ: ghain} and khaa [خ] .

• One way of finding the articulation area for the letter )ghain غين( is by gargling. The sound emitted with a deep gargle is close to the Arabic letter. Notice when you listen to this sound that there is vibration coming from the beginning of the throat.
• To pronounce (Khaa خاء: خَ، خُ، خِ letter) imagine that you are listening to someone snoring and you imitate his sound. Khaa [خاء : خ] is often mispronounced as a “k” by non-Arabs. The “k” is not articulated from the throat, rather it is articulated from the posterior portion of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

3. The Tongue

There are four areas of the tongue used for articulation: the deepest part, the middle, the sides, and the tip. Altogether, the tongue has ten articulation points for eighteen letters.

Deepest Part Of The Tongue

This is the point on the tongue nearest to the throat. There are two letters that use the deepest part of the tongue in articulation. They are {قاف قُ قَ قِ} and {كاف: كُ كَ كِ}.

• ( قَ، قُ، قِ Qaf letter) you can pronounce it easily by opening the mouth and closing the top of the throat. Make sure not to let the air come out from the throat, unless you make the air come out loudly. 
• {كاف: كُ كَ كِ، Kaf letter, like: k } is articulated from the deepest part of the tongue and the roof of the mouth opposite it. It is articulated closer to the mouth than the ق.

Middle Of The Tongue

The three letters articulated here are (ي , ش ج ) y, j and sh. To correctly pronounce these, the middle of the tongue collides with the roof of the mouth when these letters are articulated without a vowel. When the letters are voweled, the middle of the tongue separates with strength from the roof of the mouth.

The ya’ here is not the med letter ya’, which is articulated from Al-Jawf. The med letter ya’ is a ya’ saakinah preceded by a kasrah - not a fatha.

The ya’ saakinah which is preceded by a fatha is discussed below. These sounds : علَيهم ، and الريب - ياء: ءيْ ، يُ ، يَ ، يِ are similar to these three words in English: (you, yak, year)

• ( ج، جُ ، جَ ، جِ)j - similar to these English words: ) jewelry, jam, jelly.
• {شين: ءش ، شُ نشَ ، شِ } similar to the English ‘sh’ in: should, shall, she

The Side Of The Tongue

The letter ض is articulated from one or both sides of the tongue, from the molars, and the gum next to the molars. This letter can be articulated either from one side of the tongue alone, or from both sides of the tongue simultaneously.

ض ، ضُ ، ضَ ، ضِ : has the characteristic of compression of the sound, as well as takhfeem (heaviness), meaning that the back of the tongue raises up when pronouncing it, compressing the sound. In English we can notice the sound of this Arabic letter in the words: introduction and redact.

The Tip Of The Tongue

• The letter لُ ، لَ ، لِ : ل: is articulated from the tip of the tongue, and the gums surrounding your upper front teeth. The articulation of this letter requires your tongue to form the shape of an arc. The articulation of the ل is in an upward movement, not a forward movement like ‘l’ is in English. However, the placement of your tongue for the letter (ل) is similar to the English letter ‘l’ in the examples: look, lack and led.
• The letter ن) ن= نُ ، نَ نِ is articulated in a similar place to ل but further forward on the gum. The most similar sound in English is the sound ‘n’ in: nub, nab and negative.
• ر : رُ ، رَ ، رِ is similar to the Spanish trilled ‘r’. This sound is made by striking the upper gums using the top of the tip of the tongue.

These following letters are pronounced from the top side of the tip of the tongue, and the gum line surrounding the upper top teeth.

• د = دُ ، دَ ، دِ is similar to the English ‘d’ in: do, did and dam. Make sure it comes out loudly.
• ت : { تُ ، تَ ، تِ } وَ{ ط طُ ، طَ ، طِ } are soft letters. You can pronounce both of them without phonetic voice.

The following three letters are made by placing the tip of the tongue on the gums surrounding your lower two front teeth. The sound is emitted between the upper and lower incisors. There is a little space left in between the tip of the tongue and the plates of the teeth when pronouncing these letters. The term “plate” refers to the long axis of the tooth, and in this case, the long axis that is on the internal side, rather than the external side of the teeth.

These letters can also be referred to as “whistles”. They are called that due to the accompanying whistle sound heard when they are emitted properly.

• { ز : زُ ، زَ ، زِ } is similar to the English ‘z’ in: zoo, zap and zigzag. 
• { س: سُ ، سَ ، سِ } is similar to the English ‘s’ in: soul, sad and send.
• { ص : صُ ، صَ صِ } is similar to the English word: some.

The letters ظ، ذ، ث are emitted from the top side of the tip of the tongue, and the bottom edges of the top two front incisors. Care should be taken to make sure the top of the tip is really colliding or separating (depending on if there is no vowel or a vowel) with the edges of the teeth and not the plates of the teeth. Make sure not to make a “whistle” sound when saying these letters, otherwise they may be confused with the previous group.

4. The Lips

The letter {ف} فُ ، فَ ، ِ } fa'a is produced between the inside of the lower lip and the tips of the two top front incisors. To make the correct sound of this letter, you need to bring together these two points of articulation.

There are three letters that are articulated using both lips, but they do not all share the same mechanism in articulation.

• The non-lengthened letter {و} is articulated by forming a circle shape with your lips, but make sure they never completely meet. 
• The {م مُ ، مَ ، مِ } is articulated by closing the two lips together. This is similar to the English sound ‘m’ in: modern, man and men.
• The letter {ب ، بُ ، بَ ، بِ} is articulated by closing the lips together, but differs from above as it is done stronger. It is more similar to the sound ‘b’ in: book, banana and be.

Putting it all together

Below is a quick guide on how to articulate each letter in the Arabic alphabet:

While learning how to pronounce the Arabic alphabet might look challenging, with a little dedication and with the right teaching tools, you can easily and quickly learn how to correctly articulate these letters.

Keep practicing!

Reference:

• أحكام تجويد القرآن
• english_Tajweed_Rules_of_the_Quran
• PLACES OF ARTICULATION: INTRODUCTION TO ARTICULATION POINTS OF THE ARABIC LETTERS
  • by: Kareema Carol Czerepinski صفحة29

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