Sibaweh's Jahr (Sonority) and Hams (Whisper) In the Light of Modern Linguistic Studies

Abstract

This research paper discusses  Sibaweh's study of phonology. Sibaweh was a leading grammarian, second only to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmed Al-Farahidi. He contributed a precise, brief, but comprehensive description of sounds. Therefore, he has been an exemplary model for those who followed his steps, up until our time.

This research aims to re-evaluate Sibaweh's scholarship in the light of new findings in the field of phonology, especially applied phonology, and in its most prominent achievement, sonority (loudness) and whispering (lack of loudness or aspiration).

What Sibaweh presented with regards to his study of the place of articulation was a novel and original scientific universal idea, acknowledged by fair-minded modern linguists. His contribution, aside from its being an Arab-Islamic legacy, is a unique one in the history of linguistics, modern and old.