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TAJWEED TIDBIT LESSONS

Articulation points of the Deepest part of the Tongue

  There are two letters that use the deepest part of the tongue in articulation.  They are and .

Is articulated from the deepest part of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth in the area of the soft palate.

Is articulated from the deepest part of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth in the area of the hard palate.  This letter is closer to the mouth than the.

  Common mistakes in these letters

The non-Arab has more than a few common mistakes with these two letters.  The first letter,is not a common letter in other languages, and even the Arabs have substituted this letter for others in different colloquial Arabic dialects.  Egyptians and Shaamis substitute a hamzah for the   in their dialect.  The Gulf Arabs use a “g” sound in their dialect for this letter. 
There are two mistakes in articulating this when reciting the Qur’an.  Usually it is a problem in the articulation point.  Either the letter is articulated on the hard palate or close to it, so it ends up sounding like an English “k”, or the letter is pronounced not from the tongue, but from the throat, and the resultant incorrect sound is a cross between a

and a  .  Native English speakers tend to make the first type of error, and Muslims of eastern origin tend to make the second type of error.

is often mispronounced at an articulation point further back in the mouth than the correct articulation point.  The resultant letter is often closer to athan the correct desired sound.  Muslims from the East, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines tend to have this error.  Native English speakers sometimes pronounce this letter a little further back in the mouth than is totally correct so there is no air heard with the letter. In truth, there should be a running of air when this letter is pronounced correctly.