Imāla (Arabic: إمالة slanting) is a shift exhibited in many Modern and Classical accents of Arabic, where the vowel [æ], be it long or short, is raised to [ɛ] or even [e] in certain morphological or phonological contexts. One of the most distinguishable features in dialects in which it occurs, it is also used in many Qira'at of the Quran, including that of Hafs, albeit only in a single instance in the latter.
Contents |
Historically, Imālah was a feature of the ancient dialects of Najd and Tameem, where it occurred in both verbs and inflected nouns. There are many cases in which Imālah is appropriate; some of the most common are outlined below:
Example: الأعلى (The highest, [ʔælʔæʕleː])
Example: صيام (fasting, [sˤijeːm])
Example: إناث (females, [ʔineːθ])
Example: كافر (nonbeliever, [keːfir])
Many Qira'at of the Qur'an implement Imālah at least once. Some, like those of Hafs or Qaloon, use it only once, whereas others, like those of Hamzah and Al-Kisaa'i, implement it regularly. In those, Imālah affects hundreds of words, either because of a general rule of a specific Qira'ah, or as a specific word prescribed to undergo Imālah. Warsh's Qira'ah from the way of Al-Azraq implements minor Imālah ([ɛ]) regularly, and major Imālah ([e]) in only one instance.
Although Imālah isn't normally found in MSA, it remains a relatively common feature of Colloquial accents. It is very frequent in the Lebanese accent, and less so in elsewhere in the Levant and some parts of the Maghreb, where it can be as high as [i]. It is one of the most famous properties of those accents.
The vowel [e]/[i] is also used in most dialects of Modern Arabic, including some of those with Imālah, to replace Standard Arabic [æj]. In those dialects, the word بيت ([bæjt], house) is pronounced as [beːt] or [biːt].
The Andalusi accent of medieval Moorish Spain used to implement Imālah, and many Arabic loan words and city names in Spanish retain that property. Seville's name is a notable example of this phenomenon.