The following are the five major areas of the speech system:
The empty space in the mouth and throat: It has one articulation point for the three letters of
The Throat: It has three articulation points for six different letters which are pronounced from the deepest, middle, and closest part of the
The Tongue: It has ten articulation points for eighteen letters.
The Two Lips: The lips have two articulation points for four
The Nasal Cavity: It is a large air-filled space above and behind the nose, in the middle of the It is the continuation of both nostrils. There is one articulation point, that of the Ghunnah.
The empty space in the throat and mouth (Al-Jawf)
The Throat
The Tongue
The Lips
The Nasal Cavity
The empty space in the throat and mouth (Al-Jawf)
The empty space in the mouth and throat is a major area and an articulation point at the same time. The three Madd (lengthened) letters originate from this general area, these letters are:
Waaw Sak inah preceded by a Dhammah
Yaa Sakinah preceded by a Kasrah
Alif preceded by a Fathah.
These three Madd letters do not have a specific place that they are pronounced from, unlike all the other letters. Their sound is produced from the point of articulation of the previous letter.
When pronouncing the Alif, the sound should be rising. If the Alif is preceded by a heavy letter, the Alif should be heavy, whilst if preceded by a light letter, it will be
light. Example: باب
When pronouncing the Waaw, the sound should be straight (neither falling nor rising), in addition to circling of the lips.
Example: يفعلون
When pronouncing the Yaa, the sound should be falling, in addition to raising of the middle part of the tongue.
Example: عليم