Imāla

Key takeaways

Imāla belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Imāla to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Imāla from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Imāla (also imālah; Arabic: إمالة, lit. 'inclination') is a phenomenon in Arabic comprising the fronting and raising of Old Arabic /aː/ toward /iː/ or /eː/, and the old short /a/ toward /i/. Imāla and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by Sibawayh. According to as-Sirafi and Ibn Jinni (10th century), the vowel of the imāla was pronounced somewhere between /a/ and /i/, suggesting a realization of [e]. Sibawayh primarily discusses imāla as a shift of /aː/ to /eː/ in the vicinity of /i/ or /iː/, an allophonic variation that can be characterized as umlaut or i-mutation. Additionally, Sibawayh's imāla subsumes occurrences of a phonemic vowel /eː/ resulting from the collapse of Old Arabic triphthongs. For this reason, not all instances of imāla can be characterized as a vowel shift from an original /aː/ towards the /iː/. Imāla was not a general phenomenon, occurring only in some of the old dialects. Yet, the grammarians regarded it as a legitimate phenomenon from the normative point of view when it occurred in certain conditionings. In the context of Arabic dialectology, the term imāla is also used to describe a variety of phenomena involving mid-vowels in place of the Standard Arabic low-vowel. Imāla also features in several qirāʾāt (styles of recitation) of the Quran.

Imāla in the grammatical tradition Sibawayh's description of imāla is based on the linguistic situation prevailing in his time and environment, mainly al-Basra and its surroundings in southern Iraq. This is confirmed by evidence in the Kitāb. The description of imāla by all later grammarians is based on that of Sibawayh. Historically and anciently, imāla was a feature in both verbs and inflected nouns. There are several processes which the term imāla describes, of the most common are outlined below:

i-mutation The type of imāla which figures most prominently in Sibawayh's discussion is the shift of /aː/ to /eː/ in the vicinity of /i/ or /iː/. The shift is blocked whenever there are emphatic or uvular consonants (ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, ẓ, ġ, q, x) adjacent to the /aː/ or following it, but is not blocked if the umlaut-triggering /i/ stands between the blocking consonant and a following /aː/. The blocking effect of emphatics is shown in the following examples:

Reflexes of CāCiC: ʿēbid 'worshipper' vs. ḍāmin 'guarantor' Reflexes of CaCāCiC: masēǧid 'mosques' vs. maʿāliq 'pluck of animals' Reflexes of CaCāCīC: mafētīḥ 'keys' vs. manāfīx 'bellows'

III-w/y imāla Sibawayh says that nouns with final root consonant w (III-w) do not undergo imāla, eg. qafā 'back', ʿaṣā 'stick'. On the other hand, nouns with root-final y (III-y) and feminine nouns with suffix -y undergo imāla, eg. miʿzē 'goat', ḥublē 'pregnant'. Such imāla is not blocked by emphatic consonants, eg. muʿṭē 'gifted'. According to Sibawayh, a similar imāla applies to defective verbs regardless of the underlying root consonant: ġazē (III-w) 'he raided', ramē 'he threw' (III-y). However other grammarians describe varieties in which imāla applies to III-y verbs, but not III-w verbs. Sibawayh also describes a system in which only III-y nouns and feminine nouns with suffix -y have imāla, it being absent from verbs altogether.

II-w/y imāla According to Sibawayh, imāla is applied to hollow verbs (II-w or II-y) whose 1sg has an /i/ vowel, such as xēfa (1sg xiftu) and ǧēʾa (1sg ǧiʾtu). Sibawayh said that this was the practice for some people of Hijaz. Additionally, al-Farra' said that this was the practice of the common people of Najd, among which Tamim, Asad, and Qays.

Imāla in Quranic recitation Many qirāʾāt of the Quran implement imāla at least once. Some, like those of Hafs or Qalun, use it only once, but in others, imāla affects hundreds of words because of a general rule of a specific qirāʾa or as a specific word prescribed to undergo imāla.

Lexically determined i-mutation While i-mutation is non-phonemic in Sibawayh's description, its occurrences in the Quranic reading traditions are highly lexically determined. For example, Hisham and Ibn Dhakwan apply i-mutation to CaCāCiC plural mašēribu 'drinks' (Q36:73) but not al-ǧawāriḥi 'the predators' (Q5:4) or manāzila 'positions' (Q36:39).

III-w/y imāla Al-Kisaʾi and Hamza are known for having phonemic /eː/ as the realization of alif maqsura in III-y nouns and verbs, as well as in derived final-weak forms and forms having the feminine ending written with -y, such as ḥublē 'pregnant'. Warsh, from the way of al-Azraq, realizes this extra phoneme as [æː]. Other readers apply this imāla only sporadically: Hafs reads it only once in maǧrē-hā (Q11:41). Šubah only has it in reʾē 'he saw', ramē 'he threw', and aʿmē 'blind' in its two attestations in Q17:72.

II-w/y imāla Hamza applies imāla to zēda 'to increase', šēʾa 'to want', ǧēʾa 'to come', xēba 'to fail', rēna 'to seize', xēfa 'to fear', zēġa 'to wander', ṭēba 'to be good', ḍēqa 'to taste' and ḥēqa 'to surround'. Some irregular lexical exceptions where Hamza does not apply it include māta 'he died', kālū-hum 'they measured them', zālat 'she ceased', and zāġat 'she wandered'.

Imāla in modern Arabic dialects

i-mutation In the modern qeltu dialects of Iraq and Anatolia and in the modern dialect of Aleppo, the factors conditioning medial imāla (i-mutation) correspond to those described by Sibawayh in the 8th century. In these modern dialects, medial imāla occurs when the historical vowel of the syllable adjacent to /aː/ was /i/ or /iː/. For instance:

*kilāb > klēb 'dogs' in Christian Baghdadi, Mosul, Anatolia, and Aleppo *jāmiʿ > jēməʿ 'mosque' in Christian Baghdadi, Mosul, and Anatolia *sakākīn > sakēkīn 'knives' in the Jewish dialect of Mosul. It does not occur in the proximity of ə < *a or ə < *u, however:

*xabbāz > xəbbāz 'baker' in Jewish Baghdadi *sukkān > səkkān 'inhabitants' in Jewish Baghdadi. In addition to the mentioned dialects, this type of medial imāla occurs in the qeltu dialect of Deir ez-Zor, the dialects of Hatay and Cilicia in Turkey, and the dialects of some Bedouin tribes in the Negev.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Imāla

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Imāla claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Imāla before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Imāla ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Imāla

In research: Imāla appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Imāla in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Imāla is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arabic language, Arabic phonology, Lebanese Arabic, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Imāla outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Imāla in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Imāla means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Imāla out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Imāla in simple terms?

Imāla (also imālah; Arabic: إمالة, lit. 'inclination') is a phenomenon in Arabic comprising the fronting and raising of Old Arabic /aː/ toward /iː/ or /eː/, and the old short /a/ toward /i/. Imāla and the factors conditioning its occurrence were described for the first time by Sibawayh.

Why does Imāla matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Imāla?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Imāla.