Towards A Model of Spectrogram For Tajweed-Quranic Recitation

Abstract

A spectrogram is a technology invented for the study of speech elements. This instrument has been used widely in phonetics to improve speech accuracy. However, this instrument has not been exploited widely in study of tajweed (recitation methods) knowledge. This would become a loss as through usage of spectrogram, understanding and accuracy of pronunciation in tajweed knowledge can be improved. One of the vital element in tajweed knowledge is that should be fulfilled accurately is harakat (length duration). Through past studies, it could be observed that many problems arise due to arising confusion in the term harakat and it has brought to various tajweed errors related to harakat. Besides that, there is also a scarcity of information regarding harakat value for pronunciation in Quranic recitation besides the rule of mad (length) and several tajweed rules of which harakat values have been determined. The lack of this information causes less understanding of accurate pronunciation in a particular recitation. In this study, redefinition of harakat was done to become a particular reference in performing the following quantitative study. Then, quantitative study exploiting spectrogram technology was executed to study harakat value for a letter with fathah, kasrah and dhammah diacritics by taking mad asli rule as a reference to strengthen concrete definition for the defined harakat. Results of the study indicated that harakat value for the diacritic letter is one harakat.  Two-way ANOVA test showed no significant difference for the harakat value of the diacritic letter between different reciters, but a slightly significant difference in harakat value between different types of letter and diacritic. This finding strengthens that concrete definition for harakat is the ratio of a pronunciation duration to the duration of one letter pronunciation in a specific recitation.