Vocal Diversity (Alifun) at Sibawayh (d. 180 AH)

Abstract

The importance of this research lies in rooting the idea of phonetic diversity, as it is concerned with shedding light on one of the vocabulary of phonetic research, which is the “alifun” in the book of Sibawaih (d. And then analyze those texts by referring to the writings of ancient and modern scholars; In order to stand on how Sibawayh referred to what is known today as the phenomenon of the Alifon, to show us the extent of its presence in their works, and the extent to which Arabic scholars are aware of it, the purpose of the research is the idea of rooting and the existence of this phenomenon at Sibawayh, knowing that this term is a logical image of another term that is The phoneme, which represents a phoneme, has no effect on changing the meaning of the word. Rather, it is a phonetic variation of the phoneme.

It is worth mentioning that this study employed the descriptive approach as a way to prove this phenomenon at Sibawayh, by referring to the book and investigating phonetic issues, and then comparing it with what was reported by Westerners in their description of this phenomenon, and with this it reached an important conclusion, which is that the alifon phenomenon has a clear presence in Sibawayh's book and the ancient Arab heritage, however, it did not receive the attention of modern researchers from among the Arab scholars, as we found it among Westerners. The research was divided into four issues; To prove this phenomenon at Sibawayh, and based on the foregoing, this research was not divided into investigations and demands, but rather the research was based on an extract, a preface, and serial issues to shed light on this vocal diversity, "the phoneme" and a conclusion that included the most important results that were reached.