Major Poetic Variations (ʿilal) A Digital Phonetic Study

Abstract

This research includes an introduction, three sections and a conclusion. The introduction highlights the significance of the study: highlighting the quantitative and the qualitative dimensions of prosodic analysis, the problem of the study: the terms describing prosodic variations without considering what they share in common, the objectives of the study: reducing the number of ʿilal by grouping the ones that belong to the same phonemic law, the methodology: the digital syllabification technique that addresses both the quantitative and the qualitative dimensions of phonemic syllables, and a review of relevant literature. The first section addresses the quantitative as well as the qualitative dimensions of the phonemic syllables that make up the rhythmic nuclei in verse foot as represented in the poetic major variation of addition. It also distinguishes between the ʿilal of addition that are limited to the quantitative change and those in which there are both quantitative and qualitative changes. The second section classifies the types of quantitative and qualitative change combinations in ʿilal of addition into four categories. The third section is concerned with studying compound ʿilal- such as the occurrence of two major variations at the same time, or the occurrence of a major variation and a minor variation (ziḥāfāt)- in terms of quantity and quality, and seeks to reach a general criterion that governs the harmony and cacophony of these ʿilal.