الإبدال الصوتيّ وأثره في توجيه دلالة اللّفظة عند البغويّ

Abstract

The phonetic problem has long been one of the central linguistic issues that attracted the attention of early scholars, just as it continues to do in modern phonetic studies. Modern linguists have achieved a vast body of specialized knowledge in the study of language, a fact largely attributable to the adoption of systematic methodologies in both scientific and cognitive research. At the same time, early scholars demonstrated a high level of awareness of the foundations and roots of language, comparable to that of contemporary researchers.

This study examines phonetic alternation in the works of al-Baghawī and is divided into two main parts. The first addresses alternation among consonants, a phenomenon that appears predominantly in Qurʾānic readings and influences semantic interpretation. The second focuses on alternation among short vowels, namely the diacritical vowel markings. The research investigates an early linguistic effort in this field as manifested in the exegetical work of al-Baghawī, a distinguished Qurʾānic commentator, highlighting his contributions to phonetic substitution. Such phonetic substitution has been adopted by modern scholars as a criterion for distinguishing and describing linguistic sounds.

Through this study, the research seeks to demonstrate that the contributions of early scholars in this linguistic domain were not inferior to those of modern researchers. Linguistic heritage embodies significant scientific and epistemological value, rendering it a solid foundation upon which contemporary linguistic studies can be built.