On the treatment of super-heavy syllables in Arabic Dialects: an Optimality Theoretic approach to historical typology

This study provides a historical typological Optimality Theoretic analysis of the treatment of potential super-heavy syllables in six Arabic varieties: Hijazi, Egyptian, Emirati, Kuwaiti, Algerian, and Palestinian. The analysis in this study uses the same violable OT constraints for all languages, and the differences between the grammars are represented by the order in which the constraints are ranked relative to one another. The similarities and differences between these varieties are examined from the point of view of one approach to historical OT (Cho 1998), which states that individual pairs of constraints may be ranked or unranked in relation to one another, one operation at a time, meaning that switching the order of two constraints takes two steps historically. According to Cho (1998, 45), “each step of a sound change should be viewed as a change in the ranking of constraints.” Cho’s approach in detecting the historical typological differences between varieties by counting the steps of constraint reranking is compatible with a common approach to historical linguistics. Specifically, Wichmann et al. (2010) provide a quantitative method for determining the geographic homeland of a group of related languages, which takes into account a simple linguistic-difference metric and the geographic distance between the languages. Using constraint reranking in place of Wichmann et al.’s linguistic-difference metric to calculate the homeland of Arabic dialects results in an area around Hijaz as the homeland of Arabic dialects, since Hijazi, Egyptian and Emirati dialects form a cluster of geographically close, but linguistically diverse dialects.

Interesting Pausal Forms in the Speech of Muslims and Christians in Kufᵘr-Kanna

The aim of this paper is to describe the system of vocalic variants in pause pertaining to speakers of Arabic in Kufᵘr-Kanna (AKK) and in this regard to determine the features that characterize the AKK. As in Nazareth, the incidence of pauses in AKK varies and depends on the content, the listener and the speaker’s intentions. In AKK I detected pausal forms in the speech of middle-aged and elderly Muslims and elderly Christians. In addition to changes in consonants and vowel quality in their speech, in pausal position final syllables also undergo other modifications as compared to the contextual forms. Unlike in Nazareth, four further types were identified in AKK: (1) lengthening of short vowels in final position: ‑Cv > ‑Cv̄#, -CvC > -Cv̄C#; lengthening of normal and anaptyctic short vowels in final closed syllables: -CvC#; (2) devoicing of voiced consonants in word-final position; (3) glottalization after con­sonants and vowels in word-final position; and (4) aspiration: addition of (h) in pausal position where the word ends in long vowels. Key words: Arabic dialects – Pausal forms – Syllables – Long vowels – Short vowels – Christians and Muslims.

Perceptual mapping of linguistic variation in Saudi Arabic dialects

This article provides a perceptual dialectology account of linguistic diversity in Saudi Arabia. Using the map-drawing and labeling task, the study examined the perceptions and ideologies of 674 speakers of Saudi Arabic dialects about the perceived boundaries of regional dialect varieties, as well as their social evaluation of and beliefs about the dialects. The analysis of the results as displayed in composite maps using a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping program revealed that respondents identified five major dialect areas as having the most distinct features: the Najdi, Hijazi, southern, eastern, and northern regions. Ten categories of respondents’ labels emerged out of the qualitative analysis: style, influence, Bedouin/urban, fast, open/closed, vowel lengthening, unique vocabulary, alternation of /k/ and /g/, attraction, and social media. The present findings show the salience of certain linguistic and social features that respondents associate with certain dialect areas. Such perceptions can ultimately guide and enhance future descriptions and analyses of actual linguistic variation in Saudi Arabia.

On interdental fricatives in the first-layer dialects of Maghrebi Arabic

The present paper aims at revisiting the question of interdental fricatives in the so-called pre-Hilali Arabic dialects, that is the descendants of the first stage of Arabicization in North Africa. It attempts to challenge, from a diachronic and comparative approach, the view that the absence of interdental fricatives—and their merger with dental stops—is a hallmark of pre-Hilali Arabic. On the basis of neglected data, we will provide evidence suggesting that interdental phonemes occur or did occur in some of the Arabic dialects which resulted from the early Muslim conquest of North Africa.

Avoidance of final monopositional vowels

A group of Arabic dialects in Yemen exhibit a velar k in the subject suffixes of the perfect paradigm. The 1sg subject suffix surfaces in the various dialects as -ku, -k or -kw. In addition, the vocalization of the base may or may not be colored with a round vocalic quality, depending on both the realization of the suffix and the verbal type faʿal or fiʿil. Based on inquiries among speakers from Lower Yemen, we propose a path of evolution that leads from -ku to the labialized -kw, to a “colored” stem, and finally to the grammaticalization of coloration and loss of labialization. Two pressures propel the passage between stages: a functional pressure to distinguish between 1sg and 2msg, and a phonological pressure to avoid monopositional final vowels. The phonological pressure is shown to also motivate palatalization in the 2fsg -ki ⇒ -ky (⇒ -š), as well as the effect of pre-pausal nasal insertion, viz. -ku ⇒ -kum# and -ki ⇒ -kiŋ#. We further show that final vowels resulting from the interaction of the subject suffixes with object clitics are phonologically long—even if phonetically neutralized—and hence they do not violate the phonological requirement. The formal theories of strict CV (Lowenstamm 1996, Scheer 2004) and Element Theory (Kaye et al. 1985) are used to explain the a-synchronized development in the different verbal patterns, as well as the extent of the phonological ban on monopositional vowels.

Syllabification nature in Bedouin-North Yemeni Arabic dialects (Bed-NYAD)

This study is concerned with discussing the syllable structure or the syllable nature of the bedouin or nomadic north Yemeni Arabic dialect spoken mainly in five governorates namely, Aljawf, Tihamah, Amran, Sa’adah and Ma’rib, in Yemen referred to in the study as Bed-NYAD. The main goal of this paper is to show how many syllables are there in such dialects of the Yemeni Arabic and how they differ from those NYAD. Data collection was achieved with the help of a digital recorder. Many speakers of Bed-NYAD have been recorded for the sake of proving our claim that Bed-NYAD have different syllable nature from those other Yemeni dialects of Arabic. The finding of the study revealed that Bed-NYAD have five main types CV, CV:, CVC, CVCC and CV:C while NYAD have only three types of syllables CV, CVV, CVC and the semisyllable C.

Effect of emphasis spread on VOT in coronal stops in Qatari Arabic

Emphasis (contrastive pharyngealization of coronals) in Arabic spreads from an emphatic consonant to neighboring segments. Previous research suggests that in addition to changing spectral characteristics of adjacent segments, emphasis might affect voice onset time (VOT) of voiceless stops because emphatic stops in Arabic dialects have considerably shorter VOT than their plain cognates. No study investigated whether emphatic co-articulation could shorten VOT in plain stops produced in emphatic environment. The present study investigates changes in VOT in syllable-initial /t/ using production data from sixteen speakers of Qatari Arabic, who read non-word syllables with initial plain and emphatic stops /t/ and /ṭ/ adjacent to another plain or emphatic consonant. The results show that emphasis spread is a gradient process that affects only spectral characteristics of segments, causing changes in vowel formants and spectral centre of gravity of stops. Long-lag VOT in plain /t/, however, was not shortened in emphatic syllables. The findings suggest that shorter VOT in voiceless emphatic stops in Qatari Arabic is not a mechanical aftermath of pharyngealization but, rather, a phonological requirement to maintain contrast between long-lag and short-lag VOT in plain and emphatic stops.

The functions of the dative in the Jewish Arabic dialect of Baghdad

Like in Classical Arabic and other modern Arabic dialects, the preposition l- marks the dative also in the Jewish Arabic dialect of Baghdad (JB). Under the scope of the syntactic category of dative, one finds different semantic roles like recipients, benefactives, possessors, experiencers, and others. Moreover, some datives operate on the pragmatic rather than the semantic level of the clause. This paper defines and exemplifies seven different dative roles in JB based on their interpretive properties and accounts for their distinctive syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic features.