Phonological Justification for the Transformation of (Waw) into (Hamza) in Arabic: A Comparative Study between Ancient and Modern Scholars

Abstract

Classical phonetics was replete with phonetic explanations for all phonetic phenomena, including the phenomenon of the hamza being pronounced or softened. However, these explanations were often limited to description rather than revealing the phonetic relationships underlying the pronunciation or softening of the hamza. Consequently, modern phonetics has taken a new direction in analyzing the phenomenon of the hamza, whether pronounced or softened. Therefore, this research aims to clarify the points of agreement and disagreement between classical and modern phonetic explanations of the hamza in Arabic
Due to the abundance of issues concerning the hamza between its realization and softening, our research in the phonetic explanation of the realization of the hamza that is transformed from the waw was limited to what came with the ancients. As for the moderns, they did not accept the occurrence of the transformation and substitution between the hamza and the waw because of their difference in articulation and attribute. So they pushed in their explanations what appears to be the transformation of the waw into a hamza a new praise that contradicts the explanations of the ancients - but the moderns themselves did not agree on a far-fetched reason when they directed the appearance of the hamza instead of the waw in many Arabic words. Rather, their statements diverged in their explanations of what happened to the realization of the hamza in those words. Did the realization of the hamza in them transform the waw into a hamza as the ancients mentioned, or was it due to the omission of the waw from the syllabic formation of the words and the introduction of the hamza as a rule to correct the syllable as the moderns said?