Worksheet - Khallina printable pdf download

Worksheet - Khallina

PRONUNCIATION

ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY:

PRONUNCIATION OF ALLAH

‫اهلل‬

As we’ve seen, the word ‫ هللا‬appears in many

different expressions and contexts. Not only

does it carry particularly important cultural

connotations, but, in regards to pronunciation,

it is a very interesting word. In Arabic, the letter

lam (‫ )ل‬is almost always pronounced as a non-

emphatic, frontal consonant like in the word leg

or like and not emphatically as in the word all

‫ل‬

or old. For the non-emphatic letter, the tongue

should be against the teeth. For the emphatic one,

the tongue should be against the ridge on the

roof of the mouth behind the teeth. In Arabic,

the common, non-emphatic ‫ ل‬is generally even

further up against the teeth. The diagram below

illustrates this point in the mouth where the

tongue should be located for each of the different

sounds. Practice saying the English words

mentioned above to get a feel for the different

positioning of the tongue.

However, in a few instances in Arabic, the ‫ ل‬is

‫ل‬

pronounced emphatically, the most common

example of this being the emphatic ‫ ل‬heard in

the word Allah (‫ .)هللا‬As we saw early, most of

(

‫اهلل‬

)

‫اهلل‬

the expressions containing the word ‫ هللا‬have

emphatic ‫ .ل‬However, an exception occurs

Expression

Preceding vowel

Emphaticness

‫اهلل‬

whenever ‫ هللا‬is preceded immediately by the

frontal vowel sound of the kasra ( ِ ). We see this

‫اهلل ُ أكبر‬

alif

Emphatic ‫ل‬

in two of the five expressions from earlier,

‫احلمد هلل‬

‫ هلل دمحلا‬and ‫ .هللا مساب‬Since the immediate-

‫باسم اهلل‬

‫س ُ بحان َ اهلل‬

fatHa

Emphatic ‫ل‬

preceding sound is a frontal one against the teeth,

the ‫ ل‬is pronounced as a frontal, non-emphatic

sound as well. Below is a chart that illustrates how

alif

Emphatic ‫ل‬

‫ال إله إال اهلل‬

the preceding vowel sounds of ‫ هللا‬influences the

‫اهلل‬

emphaticness of the ‫.ل‬

kasra

Non-emphatic ‫ل‬

‫بسم ِ اهلل‬

ِ ‫احلمد هلل‬

kasra

Non-emphatic ‫ل‬

Worksheet - Khallina

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