Vowels and Classification Criteria in Modern Standard Arabic

Abstract

Phonemes in a language are divided into two basic groups as segmental and suprasegmental. Among them, suprasegmental phonemes are not dependent on a single sound, on the contrary they contain more than one sound piece. Segmental phonemes are special sound units that are linked to a single sound. Vowels, consonants and semi-vowels are called segmental phonemes. Many vocal organs are involved in the formation of vowels. Among those, the tongue, lips and chin have a more important place in the forming the vowels. For this reason the vowels are divided into various groups as front, back, closed, open etc. according to the condition of the tongue, lips and chin in articulation. In addition to that vowels are examined as short and long in terms of the duration of their pronunciation. The aim of this study, which was prepared using the literature review method is to analyzed the vowels of Modern Standard Arabic in line with the views of the 20th and 21th century Arab phoneticians with the differences of opinion between them. In addition to that it is aimed to classify these vowels according to the criteria of the IPA with the views of the modern Arabic phoneticians.