Arabic writing generates meaning through sonic reverberation across related root sounds.

Evidence

But there is much more than this. The force of the phrase gathers not simply from the various references of the separate words, but from the reverberation of senses set up between the parts of the phrase by their differing sounds. The initial sound j–m–l indicating sum, totality, is echoed at the other end of the phrase in the sound j–m– indicating a union, gathering, assemblage. An almost identical sound, m–n, fills the middle of the phrase, min an-naas. These sounds in turn recall other potential sounds, such as j–mm, to gather, be numerous, j–m–d, to congeal, j–mh–r, multitude mass, j–l–s/m–jl–s, to sit together/assembly, perhaps m–l–, to be full, crowd, assembly, and so on. All these further sounds are implicated in the meaning, the force, of the phrase. Each combination of sounds connects with and evokes a further sound, so that from one combination to the next a potentially endless chain of meaning can be made to reverberate, however distantly, in the movement of a single phrase. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 451

Categorization

• DEFINE: Describes a mechanic of meaning in Arabic: sense gathered through chains of root-sound echoes rather than univocal reference.
• CANDY: The sound-chain example (j-m-l, j-m-’, m-l-’) is a compact, shareable demonstration of root-based poetic meaning.