Between Veneration for the Text and Vernacularization of the Spoken Form in Quran Recitation

Abstract

An argument is made in this paper attempting to show that the purportedly intended sanctification accorded to reciting the Quran by adherence to certain phonetic coarticulation operations goes against the noble intention itself. This principle of Tajweed rules requires that anticipatory (i.e., regressive) consonant assimilation (should) apply where its phonetic conditions obtain. The paper argues that this process results in making the oral product of such recitation come closer to vernacular speech than to standard speech. The argument of the paper extrapolates from the attested universal use of such coarticulation assimilation in vernacular or casual speech in languages of the world.

Keywords: Quran, recitation, formal pronunciation, veneration, casual speech, vernacular, phonetic processes of connected speech