Arabian Epigraphic Notes

An Open Access Online Journal on Arabian Epigraphy.

The development of the triphthongs in Quranic and Classical Arabic

Abstract

The original Proto-Semitic triphthongs have developed in a variety of ways in the history of Arabic. Employing data from Old Arabic and the Quranic Consonantal Text, this paper examines the developments of these triphthongs in Classical Arabic and the language of the Quran. It describes the development in hollow and defective roots and shows that Quranic Arabic developed a new long vowels /ē/ and /ō/ in positions where Classical Arabic merges triphthongs with *ā.


Keywords

Nabataeo-Arabic Old Arabic Quranic Consonantal Text Triphthongs Historical linguistics