Ḍād

Arabic alphabet
ا    ب    ت    ث    ج    ح
خ    د    ذ    ر    ز    س
ش    ص    ض    ط    ظ    ع
غ    ف    ق    ك    ل
م    ن    ه    و    ي
History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration v · d · e

Ḍād (ض) is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being ṯāʾ, ḫāʾ, ḏāl, ẓāʾ, ġayn). In name and shape, it is a variant of ṣād. The usual current pronunciation of this letter is as an "emphatic" (pharyngealized) /d/. However, based on ancient descriptions of this sound, it is clear that in Qur'anic Arabic it was some sort of unusual lateral sound. It is described by modern linguists as having been either a pharyngealized voiced alveolar lateral fricative /ɮˤ/ or a similar affricated sound /dɮˤ/ or /dˡˤ/.^[1][2] (It is said that Muhammad pronounced it with both sides of his tongue.)^[3] This is an extremely unusual sound, and led the early Arabic grammarians to describe Arabic as the "language of the Ḍād", since the sound was thought to be unique to Arabic. The emphatic lateral nature of this sound is in fact inherited from Proto-Semitic, and related sounds still occur in some South Semitic languages such as Mehri (where it is usually an ejective lateral fricative). A grapheme for this sound also exists in the South Arabian alphabet ( ṣ́) and the Ge'ez alphabet (Ṣ́appa ፀ), although in Ge'ez it merged early on with /ṣ/. Its numerical value is 800 (see Abjad numerals).

Ḍād is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:

Position in word:	Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
Form of letter:	ض‎	ـض‎	ـضـ‎	ضـ‎

In some reconstructions of Proto-Semitic phonology, there is an emphatic voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, ṣ́ (Classical Arabic pronunciation: [ɬˤ]), featuring as the direct ancestor of Arabic Ḍād, while merging with ṣād in most other Semitic languages.

See also

• Ll Welsh voiceless lateral fricative
• Sat
• Śawt
• Arabic phonology
• Ḍ

Sources

• Lateral Fricatives Worldwide and in Africa

1. ^ Ferguson, Charles (1959), "The Arabic Koine", Language 35 (4) .
2. ^ Versteegh, Kees (1997), The Arabic Language, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 9004177027 
3. ^ The Side of the Tongue