Modern Arabic Scholars on Stress

Abstract

The article comments on the most significant phonetic works, which describe: • theoretical provisions on the physiology of percussive sound generation, • its acoustic features and parameters of the vowel component - syllabic carrier, • rules for placing stress in Arabic words, • Peculiarities and differences in the generation of stress in different idioms of the Arab world. The aim of the paper is to describe the basic concepts of Arab scholars regarding the stress in the Arabic word. The authors take a different look at the articulatory mechanism and acoustic characteristics of stress, highlighting various parameters of the stressed syllable, such as effort, exhaled air volume, intensity, tone, duration and distinctness. The purpose of the description is to identify the common features of Arabic stress. The article examines the works of Ibrahim Anis, Muhammad al-Nuri, Tamam Hassan and Ahmad Mukhtar Umar – authors of the 20th century, when experimental phonetic studies among Arabic linguists were not yet carried out, therefore, the paper describes a purely theoretical study of the issue. As the main factor of the stressed syllable, Arabic authors choose the effort applied for its implementation, as well as the tone – this is noted in the works of all the listed linguists. Two authors highlight the characteristics of distinctness and duration. According to all authors, intensity makes the least contribution to the stress of a syllable. All factors are associated with great effort at the stage of articulation. The article describes the history of interest in stress in Arabic grammatical monographs, as well as the main provisions and approaches to its definition, which made it possible to further experimental study of the issue.