Semiotic Aspects of the Arabic Language Letters

Résumé

The Arabic language letters, called abjad, has for long been of great interest to researchers and thinkers, namely linguists, philosophers and sufists. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some semiotic aspects of the Arabic language Abjad. The paper reflects on the previous researches conducted by both traditional and modern linguists in the Islamic world. The inquiry intends to make salient the impact of the letters on the meaning of word they appear in. Two examples of letters are dealt with in details. They the sound حَاء (ḥāʾ) and the sound خَاء (khāʾ). Results concerning the differences between these two sounds is also referred to. And statistical analysis is provided reviewing a purely quantitative research conducted by Hasan Abbas. The letter حَاء (ḥāʾ) differs from the letter sound خَاء (khāʾ) in terms of the impact on the meaning of the words they appear in. the study paves the way to further investigations