يyāʾ
How it is made
phoneticsmiddle of the tongue against the middle of the palate; voiced, between stop and continuant.
In brief, from the lines below. English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
Sībawayh · al-Kitāb (d. c. 180/796)
ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى مخرج الجيم والشين والياء
From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. line 26553 ↗
ومنها اللينة، وهي الواو والياء، لأن مخرجهما يتسع لهواء الصوت أشد من اتساع غيرهما
Among them are the 'soft' letters, the wāw and the yāʾ, because their place widens for the air of the voice more than any other's. lines 26596–26597 ↗
Ibn Jinnī · Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb (d. 392/1002)
ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى، مخرج الجيم والشين والياء
From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. line 974 ↗
إلا الألف والياء والواو، اللواتي هن حروف المد والاستطالة
[All the letters are sound] except the alif, the yāʾ and the wāw, which are the letters of lengthening and extension. lines 1226–1228 ↗
Reference
Ibn Jinnī’s chapter on the yāʾits opening
اعلم أن الياء حرف مجهور، يكون في الكلام على ثلاثة أضرب: أصلا، وبدلا، وزائدا
Know that the yāʾ is a voiced letter; in speech it is of three kinds: radical, substitute and augment. lines 10763–10764 ↗
The chapter begins at line 10759 ↗; the rest of it is on the letter's substitutions, assimilation and uses.
In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics
Level of existence: السماء الأولى · The First Heaven
Divine Name: الرب · The Lord (al-Rabb)
Lunar mansion: الخرتان · al-Kharatān
الفصل الحادي والعشرون في الاسم الرب وتوجهه على إيجاد السماء الأولى والبيت المعمور والسدرة والخليل ويوم السبت وححرف الياء بالنقطتين من أسفل والخرتان وكيوان
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64500Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry. AI
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي للنداء، وقد يؤكد بها.
It is for the vocative (calling), and it may be used for emphasis. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīWith ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا يثبت كالبرق ونحوه.
It is an indication of the thing that does not remain fixed, like lightning and the like. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīWith kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي يستحيا به أو يستحيا منه كالعورة.
It is an indication of the thing that causes shame, or of which one is ashamed, like the private parts. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīFurther
هذا ما سمعته منه رضي الله عنه، والذي في خطه رضي الله عنه: الياء بالفتح للنداء وتكون في بعض الأحيان للخبر الذي فيه نداء نحو )لم يلد( فإنه خبر وفيه نداء.
This is what I heard from him. What is in his handwriting: yāʾ with fatḥa is for the vocative, and at times it is for a statement that contains a vocative, such as 'He begets not' (lam yalid), which is a statement and contains a vocative. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīSībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn (Cairo: al-Khānjī), vol. 4, pp. 431–436. Digital text: 0180Sibawayhi.KitabSibawayhi.Shamela0023018-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya (as recorded by OpenITI), vol. 1. Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.SirrSinacatIcrab.Shamela0012017-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.