Nunation

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Nunation is the name for two different linguistic phenomena in Arabic and Hebrew .

Nunation in Arabic

The standard Arabic language knows two sets of noun endings: -u ( nominative ) , -i ( genitive ) , -a ( accusative ) for nouns in a certain status (determined by article or status constructus , i.e. genitive connection) and -un (nominative) , - in (genitive) , -an (accusative) for (triptotic) nouns in the indefinite status. The placement of this additional "n" s in indefinite nouns is called a nunation. The name, as well as the Arabic name tanwīn  /تنوين, comes from the letter ن nūn .

Example:

  • al-bābu - the door (determined)
  • bābun - a door (indefinite)
symbol ـٌ ـٍ ـً
Transliteration
-U.N
-in
-on

In all modern Arabic dialects the case endings and with them the nunation have disappeared. In individual dialects that are spoken in the Tihama in Yemen , it serves as a sign of indetermination without naming the case. In the spoken high-level Arabic language, the use of case endings is optional and is considered a sign of particularly correct pronunciation.

In-written Arabic is the nunation is not now written, the usual sign of "N", but only in a few texts such as the Koran , by later introduced above or below the Rasm set additional characters : -an  /ـً, -un  /ـٌand -in  /ـٍ.

Nunation in Hebrew

In (Old) Hebrew , the letter Nun is attached to verb forms. However, this has no grammatical meaning, but serves the euphony.

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