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The terms majhūra/mahmūsa denote a phonological correlation, generally held to correspond to the opposition between voiced/voiceless (e.g. Schaade 1911:13), or to that between lenis/fortis phonemes (for a discussion of the difference between these two oppositions, see Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996:95–99). Both terms were first used by Sībawayhi (d. 175/791) in his Kitāb (II, 405). He probably based his observations on earlier research by his predecessors. However, his teacher al-Xalīl ibn ʾAḥmad (d. 175/791) does not mention this classification in the Kitab al-ʿayn, although …

The lexical meaning of the verb tamakkana is ‘to be powerful, to be able to do something’. In grammatical terminology, tamakkun is used for a general grammatical and semantic category indicating the ability of words to be inflected and to perform various grammatical functions (for a survey of previous reconstructions of this term's function, see Danecki 1993; Talmon 2003:287, n. 2). A part of speech possessing tamakkun is called mutamakkin; it should have regular inflection and regular form. That which is irregular is classified as ġayr mutamakkin. The more functions a word can p…

The term ʾidġām (or iddiġām) lit. ‘insertion’ denotes in Arabic phonetics different types of assimilatory processes (assimilation), which lead either to gemination (prolongation) of consonants or their change. The term ʾidġām was used by the Kufan school of grammar, whereas iddiġām is said to have been used by Sībawayhi and the Basrans (Suyūṭī, Hamʿ II, 225 quoting Ibn Ḥayyān). In fact, Troupeau (1976) has a total of 217 occurrences for the verb ʾadġama in the Kitāb and 141 for the masdar ʾidġām; iddaġama occurs once, in the passive (Sībawayhi, Kitāb I, 386.12 ʾanna n-nūn qad tuddaġamu…