Alif and Hamza in Arabic language

This study provides a comprehensive examination of the positions of alif and hamza in the Arabic language. The research is structured around three main axes: verbs, nouns, and particles. In the context of verbs, the study explores the placement of alif and hamza within triliteral and quadriliteral basic (mujarrad) verb forms, analyzing the impact of their position—whether at the beginning, middle, or end of the root—on the verb's meaning and conjugation. Additionally, augmented (mazeed) verbs formed with one, two, or three additional letters are also addressed, with detailed analysis of the function of the hamza in derived patterns such as "ʾafʿala", "istafʿala", and "tafāʿala". These verb types are studied across the four main forms: past (māḍī), present/future (muḍāriʿ), imperative (ʾamr), and verbal noun (maṣdar). The study clarifies whether the hamza is original (aṣlī) or additional (zāʾid), and its effects on meaning and morphological structure (ṣarf and wazn). In the section on nouns, the presence of alif and hamza in singular (mufrad), dual (muthannā), and plural (jamʿ) forms is examined. This includes an analysis of three key noun types: maqṣūr (e.g., fatā, ʿaṣā), mamdūd (e.g., ṣaḥrāʾ, inshāʾ), and nāqiṣ (e.g., qāḍī). Furthermore, the study investigates the roles of alif and hamza in pronouns, demonstrative nouns, and relative pronouns, as well as in broken plurals (jamʿ taksīr) and sound feminine plurals (jamʿ muʾannath sālim). Particular attention is given to orthographic and phonetic changes in alif and hamza when nouns shift into dual or plural forms. In the final section on particles, the research focuses on the interrogative hamza, and the distinction between hamzat al-qaṭʿ and hamzat al-waṣl, elaborating on their phonetic and orthographic roles in Arabic. Additionally, it discusses the alif of vocative lamentation (ʾalif an-nudba), the grammatical function of the definite article "al-", and the rhythmic/aesthetic role of alif in poetic meter.