imala

English

Alternative forms

• imaala, imalah, imaalah

Etymology

From Arabic إمالة (ʔimāla, “inclination”). The earliest form of the process, described by the Arab grammarians, was conditioned on the existence of an /i/ before or after the /a/ (somewhat similarly to Germanic umlaut). Hence the /a/ was said to “incline” towards the /i/. In most modern dialects, however, imala is a default development, only hindered by certain adjacent consonants (especially emphatics).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɑːlə/

Noun

imala (plural imalas)

1. (phonetics) a sound change in Arabic by which the vowels /a/, /aː/ are fronted in certain phonetic environments (possibly creating new phonemes, notably in Maltese and to a lesser degree in some dialects)

Serbo-Croatian

Participle

imala (Cyrillic spelling имала)

1. inflection of imati:
   1. feminine singular active past participle
   2. neuter plural active past participle