Question

In your tidbit lessons you have been explaining how each letter is articulated from a precise point in the mouth;  my question is: Is there an articulation point for the vowels too? And if so what would they be?

Answer

Masha’ Allah, that is a very good question.  Vowels do not have an articulation point since they are not a letter, instead they accompany the letter.  Each letter then has four distinct sounds depending on the vowel that is accompanying it.  If there is a fat-hah on the letter, there is an accompanying opening of the mouth.  If there is a kasrah there is an accompanying lowering of the jaw.  A dhammah has an accompanying circling of the lips, and a sukoon on a letter has no accompanying mouth or jaw movement. 

One note though, the vowels are miniature versions of the three medd letters.  One famous scholar of the Qur’an, Imam Ash-Shatibiyy, called the medd letters the mothers of the three vowels that accompany a letter (the sukoon is not included).  The fat-hah therefore is an outcome of the alif, the kasrah of the ya’, and the dhammah of the wow.  Since the sukoon is the absence of a vowel, it has no “mother” in medd letters.