New Approaches to Analysing the Vocalisation of Early Qurʾānic Manuscripts

Studies of the vocalisation of Qurʾānic manuscripts have largely focused on the reading traditions they define. While this is an important part of understanding the context and history of the use of vocalisation, there are other aspects of this system that remain understudied. Beyond the phonetic value represented by the coloured dots, subtleties of dot placement can also encode other information, such as orthoepic elements of recitation. Additionally, just as the study of palaeography can reveal much about manuscript chronology, scribal traditions, habits, and regional practices, there is potential for a palaeographic study of vocalisation to do the same when dots are investigated through a palaeographic approach. Finally, most vocalised manuscripts are only partially dotted. Understanding the context within which a letter is dotted can provide insight into implied and counterfactual readings or into morphology.

This paper describes novel ways of recording variation in dotting practices in Qurʾānic manuscripts by integrating traditional philological approaches with new techniques afforded by digital imaging and encoding of datasets.