Pronunciation and Speech Defects at Al-Khalil "A Study in Al-Ain Dictionary"

Abstract

Dr. Ahmad Abdelmajid Hamad Alqaisi

This study investigates Al-Khalil bin Ahmad Al-Farahidi’s use of speech defects terminologies in "Mu<jam Al-<ain". The motivation for this study stems from the observation that most studies in the field of speech defects neglect the significant contributions of Al-Farahidi and rather focus on late scholars such as Al-Jahiz. While Al-Jahiz takes credit for classifying speech defects, it should be illuminated that Al-Farahidi was first to mention it and detail its description but without attributive classifications. Al-Farahidi, however, shouldn’t be blamed for not offering classifications simply because being encyclopedic and investigative was a prevailing characteristic of authorship at the time.

 This work categorizes the terms of speech defects used by Al-Farahidi under three main headings: (Physiological defects, Behavioral defects, and Non-nativeness defects).  The study then elaborated on a number of terms and sub-headings that could be added under the above-mentioned two main categories.

 The study concludes that Al-Farahidi is a pioneer in writing about and describing speech defects, and that later works were dependent on Al-Farahidi’s contributions.