Velarization in English and Arabic

Abstract

  The current study tackles the phenomenon of velarization both in  English and Arabic. Velarization means  raising the back of the tongue towards the soft palate in which  the mouth becomes full of resonance of the sound. Velarization or (Al-Tafkheem ) is one of Al- Tajweed rules which requires specific performance. The problem of this study is the    multiple letters of Arabic velarization with  various features and exits which    are not like English   .     This study  aims at making a comparison between English and Arabic, presenting  the definitions , the  means of occurring of this process , the organs of speech used to perform it and to search  the degree of similarity and  difference between the two languages. This study hypothesizes that the properties of velarization in  both languages are different, the sounds of velarization in English and Arabic  have different places of articulation and  there are aspects  totally dissimilar.     The data are collected from various English and Arabic references. This study includes two figures of dark and light / l /  in  both languages,  examples to clarify the explanation and   a diagram which summarizes the phenomenon of Al-Tafkheem in Arabic.