Substitution in Natural Phonological Classes: Ancient Arabic Dialects as a Model

This article deals with the phenomenon of substitution in natural phonological categories, focusing on ancient Arabic dialects as a model. Arabic dialects show phonological, and sometimes morphological, differences, although the ancients considered Arabic dialects to be "different" but linguistically correct. Despite this, a distinction was made between eloquent languages such as Quraysh and the vilified languages as described by al-Suyuti and Ibn Faris, with Quraysh being said to be the most eloquent. The article defends a linguistic view that all ancient Arabic tribes were equally eloquent. The theory of "feature engineering" will be used to explain the phonological changes that occurred in Arabic dialects.