Arabic phonology

Last updated

While many languages have numerous dialects that differ in phonology, contemporary spoken Arabic is more properly described as a continuum of varieties. [1] This article deals primarily with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is the standard variety shared by educated speakers throughout Arabic-speaking regions. MSA is used in writing in formal print media and orally in newscasts, speeches and formal declarations of numerous types. [2]

Contents

Modern Standard Arabic has 28 consonant phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes. All phonemes contrast between "emphatic" (pharyngealized) consonants and non-emphatic ones. Some of these phonemes have coalesced in the various modern dialects, while new phonemes have been introduced through borrowing or phonemic splits. A "phonemic quality of length" applies to consonants as well as vowels. [3]

History

Of the 29 Proto-Semitic consonants, only one has been lost: */ʃ/, which merged with /s/, while /ɬ/ became /ʃ/ (see Semitic languages). [4] Various other consonants have changed their sound too, but have remained distinct. An original */p/ lenited to /f/, and */ɡ/ – consistently attested in pre-Islamic Greek transcription of Arabic languages [5] – became palatalized to /ɡʲ/ or /ɟ/ by the time of the Quran and /d͡ʒ/, /ɡ/, /ʒ/ or /ɟ/ after early Muslim conquests and in MSA (see Arabic phonology#Local variations for more detail). [6] An original voiceless alveolar lateral fricative */ɬ/ became /ʃ/. [7]

Its emphatic counterpart /ɬˠ~ɮˤ/ was considered by Arabs to be the most unusual sound in Arabic (Hence the Classical Arabic's appellation لُغَةُ ٱلضَّادِluɣatu‿ḍ-ḍād or "language of the ḍād"). For most modern dialects, it has become an emphatic stop /dˤ/ with loss of the laterality [7] or with complete loss of any pharyngealization or velarization, /d/. The classical ḍād pronunciation of pharyngealization /ɮˤ/ still occurs in the Mehri language, and the similar sound without velarization, /ɮ/, exists in other Modern South Arabian languages.

ktb Sl@ lsw`y 02.jpg
ktb Sl@ lsw`y 03.jpg
ktb Sl@ lsw`y 01.jpg
The first known book printed in Arabic: Kitābu ṣalāti s-sawā'ī (كتاب صلاة السواعي), a book of hours printed with movable type in 1514. [8]

Other changes may also have happened. Classical Arabic pronunciation is not thoroughly recorded and different reconstructions of the sound system of Proto-Semitic propose different phonetic values. One example is the emphatic consonants, which are pharyngealized in modern pronunciations but may have been velarized in the eighth century and glottalized in Proto-Semitic. [7]

Reduction of /j/ and /w/ between vowels occurs in a number of circumstances and is responsible for much of the complexity of third-weak ("defective") verbs. Early Akkadian transcriptions of Arabic names show that this reduction had not yet occurred as of the early part of the 1st millennium BC.[ citation needed ]

The Classical Arabic language as recorded was a poetic koine that reflected a consciously archaizing dialect, chosen based on the tribes of the western part of the Arabian Peninsula, who spoke the most conservative variants of Arabic. Even at the time of Muhammed and before, other dialects existed with many more changes, including the loss of most glottal stops, the loss of case endings, the reduction of the diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ into monophthongs /eː,oː/, etc. Most of these changes are present in most or all modern varieties of Arabic.[ citation needed ]

An interesting feature of the writing system of the Quran (and hence of Classical Arabic) is that it contains certain features of Muhammad's native dialect of Mecca, corrected through diacritics into the forms of standard Classical Arabic. Among these features visible under the corrections are the loss of the glottal stop and a differing development of the reduction of certain final sequences containing /j/: Evidently, the final /-awa/ became /aː/ as in the Classical language, but final /-aja/ became a different sound, possibly /eː/ (rather than again /aː/ in the Classical language). This is the apparent source of the alif maqṣūrah 'restricted alif' where a final /-aja/ is reconstructed: a letter that would normally indicate /j/ or some similar high-vowel sound, but is taken in this context to be a logical variant of alif and represent the sound /aː/.[ citation needed ]

Literary Arabic

Recording of a poem by Al-Ma'arri titled "I no longer steal from nature"

The "colloquial" spoken dialects of Arabic are learned at home and constitute the native languages of Arabic speakers. "Formal" Modern Standard Arabic is learned at school; although many speakers have a native-like command of the language, it is technically not the native language of any speakers. Both varieties can be both written and spoken, although the colloquial varieties are rarely written down and the formal variety is spoken mostly in formal circumstances, e.g., in radio and TV broadcasts, formal lectures, parliamentary discussions and to some extent between speakers of different colloquial dialects.

Even when the literary language is spoken, it is normally only spoken in its pure form when reading a prepared text out loud and communicating between speakers of different colloquial dialects. When speaking extemporaneously (i.e. making up the language on the spot, as in a normal discussion among people), speakers tend to deviate somewhat from the strict literary language in the direction of the colloquial varieties. There is a continuous range of "in-between" spoken varieties: from nearly pure Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), to a form that still uses MSA grammar and vocabulary but with colloquial influence, to a form of the colloquial language that imports a number of words and grammatical constructions in MSA, to a form that is close to pure colloquial but with the "rough edges" (the most noticeably "vulgar" or non-Classical aspects) smoothed out, to pure colloquial.

The particular variant (or register ) used depends on the social class and education level of the speakers involved and the level of formality of the speech situation. Often it will vary within a single encounter, e.g., moving from nearly pure MSA to a more mixed language in the process of a radio interview, as the interviewee becomes more comfortable with the interviewer. This type of variation is characteristic of the diglossia that exists throughout the Arabic-speaking world.[ citation needed ]

Coverage in Al-Ahram in 1934 of the inauguration of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo, an organization of major importance to the modernization of Arabic. hyy'@ lmjm` llGwy lmlky (mjm` llG@ l`rby@ blqhr@) ywm tdshynh.png
Coverage in Al-Ahram in 1934 of the inauguration of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo, an organization of major importance to the modernization of Arabic.

Although Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is a unitary language, its pronunciation varies somewhat from country to country and from region to region within a country. The variation in individual "accents" of MSA speakers tends to mirror corresponding variations in the colloquial speech of the speakers in question, but with the distinguishing characteristics moderated somewhat. It is important in descriptions of "Arabic" phonology to distinguish between pronunciation of a given colloquial (spoken) dialect and the pronunciation of MSA by these same speakers.

Although they are related, they are not the same. For example, the phoneme that derives from Classical Arabic /ɟ/ has many different pronunciations in the modern spoken varieties, e.g., [d͡ʒ~ʒ~j~ɡʲ~ɡ] including the proposed original [ɟ]. Speakers whose native variety has either [ d͡ʒ ] or [ ʒ ] will use the same pronunciation when speaking MSA. Even speakers from Cairo, whose native Egyptian Arabic has [ ɡ ], normally use [ ɡ ] when speaking MSA. The [ j ] of Persian Gulf speakers is the only variant pronunciation which is not found in MSA; [d͡ʒ~ʒ] is used instead, but may use [j] in MSA for comfortable pronunciation.

Another reason of different pronunciations is influence of colloquial dialects. The differentiation of pronunciation of colloquial dialects is the influence from other languages previously spoken and some still presently spoken in the regions, such as Coptic in Egypt, Berber, Punic, or Phoenician in North Africa, Himyaritic, Modern South Arabian, and Old South Arabian in Yemen and Oman, and Aramaic and Canaanite languages (including Phoenician) in the Levant and Mesopotamia.[ citation needed ]

Another example: Many colloquial varieties are known for a type of vowel harmony in which the presence of an "emphatic consonant" triggers backed allophones of nearby vowels (especially of the low vowels /aː/, which are backed to [ ɑ(ː) ] in these circumstances and very often fronted to [ æ(ː) ] in all other circumstances). In many spoken varieties, the backed or "emphatic" vowel allophones spread a fair distance in both directions from the triggering consonant. In some varieties, most notably Egyptian Arabic, the "emphatic" allophones spread throughout the entire word, usually including prefixes and suffixes, even at a distance of several syllables from the triggering consonant.

Speakers of colloquial varieties with this vowel harmony tend to introduce it into their MSA pronunciation as well, but usually with a lesser degree of spreading than in the colloquial varieties. For example, speakers of colloquial varieties with extremely long-distance harmony may allow a moderate, but not extreme, amount of spreading of the harmonic allophones in their MSA speech, while speakers of colloquial varieties with moderate-distance harmony may only harmonize immediately adjacent vowels in MSA.[ citation needed ]

Vowels

Vowel chart representing the pronunciation of long vowels by a Palestinian speaker educated in Beirut. From Thelwall (1990:38). (These values vary between regions across North Africa and West Asia.) Arabic vowels (Monophthongs).png
Vowel chart representing the pronunciation of long vowels by a Palestinian speaker educated in Beirut. From Thelwall (1990 :38). (These values vary between regions across North Africa and West Asia.)
Vowel chart representing the pronunciation of diphthongs by a Palestinian speaker educated in Beirut. From Thelwall (1990:38) Arabic vowels (Diphthongs).svg
Vowel chart representing the pronunciation of diphthongs by a Palestinian speaker educated in Beirut. From Thelwall (1990 :38)

Modern Standard Arabic has six vowel phonemes forming three pairs of corresponding short and long vowels (/a,aː,i,iː,u,uː/). Many spoken varieties also include /oː/ and /eː/. Modern Standard Arabic has two diphthongs (formed by a combination of short /a/ with the semivowels /j/ and /w/). Allophony in different dialects of Arabic can occur and is partially conditioned by neighboring consonants within the same word. The following are some general rules:

Example words [11]
shortlong
iعِدْ/ʕid/"promise!"عِيد/ʕiːd/"holiday"
uعُدّ/ʕudd/"count (command)"عُود/ʕuːd/"oud"
aعَدّ/ʕadd/"counted"عَاد/ʕaːd/"came back"
ajعَيْن/ʕajn/"eye"
awعَوْد/ʕawd/"return"

However, the actual rules governing vowel-retraction are a good deal more complex and have relatively little in the way of an agreed-upon standard, as there are often competing notions of what constitutes a "prestige" form. [12] Often, even highly proficient speakers will import the vowel-retraction rules from their native dialects. [13] Thus, for example, in the Arabic of someone from Cairo, emphatic consonants will affect every vowel between word boundaries, whereas certain Saudi speakers exhibit emphasis only on the vowels adjacent to an emphatic consonant. [14] Certain speakers (most notably Levantine speakers) exhibit a degree of asymmetry in leftward vs. rightward spread of vowel-retraction. [14] [15]

The final heavy syllable of a root is stressed. [11]

The short vowels [u,ʊ,o,o̞,ɔ] are all possible allophones of /u/ across different dialects; e.g., قُلْت/ˈqult/ ('I said') is pronounced [ˈqʊlt] or [ˈqolt] or [ˈqɔlt], since the difference between the short mid vowels [o,o̞,ɔ] and [u,ʊ] is never phonemic, and they are mostly found in complementary distribution, except for a number of speakers where they can be phonemic but only in foreign words.

The short vowels [i,ɪ,e,e̞,ɛ] are all possible allophones of /i/ across different dialects; e.g., مِن/ˈmin/ ('from') is pronounced [ˈmɪn] or [ˈmen] or [ˈmɛn] since the difference between the short mid vowels [e,e̞,ɛ] and [i,ɪ] is never phonemic, and they are mostly found in complementary distribution, except for a number of speakers where they can be phonemic but only in foreign words.

The long mid vowels /oː/ and /eː/ appear to be phonemic in most varieties of Arabic except in general Maghrebi Arabic, where they merge with /uː/ and /iː/. For example, لون ('color') is generally pronounced /loːn/ in Mashriqi dialects but /luːn/ in most Maghrebi Arabic. The long mid vowels can be used in Modern Standard Arabic in dialectal words or in some stable loanwords or foreign names, [16] as in روما/ˈroːma/ ('Rome') and شيك/ˈʃeːk/ ('cheque').

Foreign words often have a liberal sprinkling of long vowels, as vowels tend to be written as long vowels in foreign loans, under the influence of European-language orthographies which write down every vowel with a letter. [17] The long mid vowels /eː/ and /oː/ are always rendered with the letters ي and و, respectively, accompanied by a preceding hamzah sitting above (أ) and below (إ) an alif (ا) respectively word-initially. In general, the pronunciation of loanwords is highly dependent on the speaker's native variety.

Consonants

Even in the most formal of conventions, pronunciation depends upon a speaker's background. [18] Nevertheless, the number and phonetic character of most of the 28 consonants has a broad degree of regularity among Arabic-speaking regions. Note that Arabic is particularly rich in uvular, pharyngeal, and pharyngealized ("emphatic") sounds. The emphatic coronals (/sˤ/, /dˤ/, /tˤ/, and /ðˤ/) cause assimilation of emphasis to adjacent non-emphatic coronal consonants.[ citation needed ] The standard pronunciation of ⟨ج/d͡ʒ/ varies regionally, most prominently [ d͡ʒ ] in the Arabian Peninsula, parts of the Levant, Iraq, north-central Algeria, and parts of Egypt, it is also considered as the predominant pronunciation of Literary Arabic outside the Arab world and the pronunciation mostly used in Arabic loanwords across other languages (e.g. in Georgian, Malay, Persian, Turkish and Urdu), and [ ʒ ] in most of Northwest Africa, most of the Levant, some parts of the Arabian Peninsula, other pronunciations include [ ɡ ] only in Egypt ([ ɡ ] appears as a dialectal pronunciation in coastal Yemen, and south coastal Oman but not as a standard pronunciation), as well as [ ɟ ] in Sudan.

Note: the table and notes below discuss the phonology of Modern Standard Arabic among Arabic speakers and not regional dialects.

Modern Standard Arabic consonant phonemes
Labial Dental Denti-alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal
Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
plain emphatic [a]
Nasal m م n ن
Plosive voiceless [b] t [c] ت ط k ك q [d] ق ʔ أ
voiced b ب d [c] د [e] ض d͡ʒ [f] ج( ɡ ) [g]
Fricative voiceless f ف θ [h] ث s س ص ʃ ش x ~ χ [i] خ ħ [j] ح h هـ
voiced ð [h] ذ z ز ðˤ [k] ظ ɣ ~ ʁ [i] غ ʕ [j] ع
Trill r [l] ر
Approximant l ل( ɫ ) [m] j ي w و
  1. Emphatic consonants are pronounced with the back of the tongue approaching the pharynx (see pharyngealization). They are pronounced with velarization by the Iraqi and Arabic Gulf speakers.[ citation needed ]/q/, /ħ/, and /ʕ/ can be considered the emphatic counterparts to /k/, /h/, and /ʔ/ respectively. [19]
  2. /t/ and /k/ are aspirated [tʰ] and [kʰ], whereas /tˤ/ and /q/ are unaspirated. [20]
  3. 1 2 Depending on the region, the plosives are either alveolar or dental.
  4. The Sudanese usually pronounce /q/ ( ق ) as [ ɢ ] even in Literary Arabic.
  5. ض[dˤ] was historically [ɮˤ], a value it retains among older speakers in a few isolated dialects, [21] speakers that merge ض and ظ usually mispronounce ض as [ðˤ] when speaking Modern Standard Arabic instead of the standard [dˤ]. [22]
  6. When speaking Modern Standard Arabic, the phoneme represented by the Arabic letter ǧīm ( ج ) is pronounced [ d͡ʒ ], [ ʒ ], [ ɡ ] (only in Egypt), or [ ɟ ] depending on the speaker's native dialect. [23] Outside the Arab League, [ d͡ʒ ] is the preferred taught variant.
  7. In Modern Standard Arabic /ɡ/ is either the standard pronunciation [24] for ǧīm ( ج ) (only in Egypt) or is used in foreign words which may be transcribed more commonly with ج , غ , ق or ك or less commonly ݣ (used in Morocco) or ڨ (used in Tunisia and Algeria), mainly depending on the regional spoken variety of Arabic or the commonly diacriticized Arabic letter.
  8. 1 2 /θ/ and /ð/ may be approximated to [ t ] and [ d ] or [ s ] and [ z ], respectively.
  9. 1 2 In most regions, uvular fricatives of the classical period have become velar or post-velar. [25]
  10. 1 2 The "voiced pharyngeal fricative" /ʕ/ (ع) is described as neither pharyngeal nor fricative, but a creaky-voiced epiglottal approximant. [26] Its unvoiced counterpart /ħ/ (ح) is likewise epiglottal, although it is a true fricative. Thelwall asserts that the sound of ع is actually a pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ]. [27] Similarly, McCarthy (1994) points to dialectal and idiolectal variation between stop and continuant variations of /ʕ/ in Iraq and Kuwait, noting that the distinction is superficial for Arabic speakers and carries "no phonological consequences." [28]
  11. The voiced emphatic dental fricative ظ[ðˤ] is sometimes pronounced as a voiced emphatic alveolar fricative [zˤ] depending on the speaker in Egypt and Lebanon. [29]
  12. Emphatic [rˤ] exists in Northwestern African pronunciations and in Egypt when accompanied by /a/ or /u/ and plain when accompanied by /i/ or /j/; in closed syllables, then it is plain when the first preceding voweled consonant has /i/ or if /j/ is present, but emphatic if the first preceding voweled letter is accompanied by /a/ or /u/. The trill /r/ is sometimes reduced to a single vibration when single, but it remains potentially a trill, not a flap [ɾ]: the pronunciation of this single trill is between a trill [r] and a flap [ɾ]. ⟨r⟩ is in free variation between a trill [r] and a flap [ɾ] in Egypt and the Levant.
  13. In most pronunciations, /ɫ/ as a phoneme occurs in a handful of loanwords. It also occurs in الله Allah /ʔaɫˈɫaːh/, the name of God, [23] except when it follows long or short /i/ when it is not emphatic: بسم الله bismi l-lāh /bis.milˈlaːh/ ("in the name of God"). [30] However, /ɫ/ is absent in many regions, such as the Nile Valley, and is more widespread in certain regions, such as Iraq, where the uvulars have velarized surrounding instances of /l/ in the environment of emphatic consonants when the two are not separated by /i/. [31]

Long (geminate or double) consonants are pronounced exactly like short consonants, but last longer. In Arabic, they are called mushaddadah ("strengthened", marked with a shaddah). Between a long consonant and a pause, an epenthetic [ə] occurs, [11] but this is only common across regions in West Asia.

Phonotactics

Standard Arabic syllables come in only five forms: [32]

Standard Arabic syllable structure does not allow syllables to start with a vowel or with a consonant cluster. [32] In cases where a word starts with a consonant cluster it is preceded by an epenthetic /ʔi/ utterance initially or /i/ when preceded by a word that ends with a consonant; there are however exceptions like من/min/ and ـهم/-hum/ that connect with a following word-initial consonant cluster with /a/ and /u/ respectively, if the preceding word ends with a long vowel that vowel is then shortened.

Super-heavy syllables are usually not allowed except word finally, [32] with the exception of CVV- before geminates creating non-final CVVC- syllables, these can be found in the active participles of geminate Form I verbs, like in مادة /maːd.da/ ('substance, matter'), كافة /kaːf.fa/ ('entirely'). In the pausal form, the final geminates behave as a single consonant, only when preceding another word or with vocalization, the geminates start appearing, belonging to two separate syllables. E.g.: سام /saːm(.m)/ ('poisonous'), جاف /d͡ʒaːf(.f)/ ('dry'), عام /ʕaːm(.m)/ ('public, general'), خاص /χaːsˤ(.sˤ)/ ('private, special'), and حار /ħaːr(.r)/ ('hot, spicy'). [32]

Loanwords can break some phonotactic rules like allowing initial consonant clusters (with an initial epenthetic /i/ or often another repeated vowel from the word being optional inserted after the first consonant) like in پلوتو/pluː.toː,bu.luː.toː "Pluto" and پراج/praːɡ,be.raːɡ/ "Prague" or allowing CVVC syllables non-finally without geminates like in روسيا/ruːs.jaː/ "Russia" and سوريا/suːr.jaː/ "Syria", which can be modified to /ruː.si.jaː,suː.ri.jaː/ to fit the phonotactics better. [32]

Word stress

The placement of word stress in Arabic varies considerably from one dialect to another, and has been the focus of extensive research and debate.

In determining stress, Arabic distinguishes three types of syllables: [33] :2991

The word stress of Classical Arabic has been the subject of debate. However, there is consensus as to the general rule, even though there are some exceptions. A simple rule of thumb is that word-stress falls on the penultimate syllable of a word if that syllable is closed, and otherwise on the antepenultimate. [34]

A more precise description is J. C. E. Watson's. Here the stressed syllable follows the marker ' and variant rules are in brackets: [33] :3003

  1. Stress a pre-pausal superheavy (CVVC, CVVCC, or CVCC) syllable: كِتاب[kiˈtāb]'book', مادّ[ˈmādd]'stretching (MASCSG)', شَرِبْت[ʃaˈribt]'I/you (MASCSG) drank'.
  2. Otherwise, stress the rightmost non-final heavy (CVV or CVC) syllable: دَرَسْنا[daˈrasnā]'we learnt', صابُونٌ[ṣāˈbūnun]'soap (NOM)', مَكْتَبة[ˈmaktabah]'library', مادٌّ[ˈmāddun]'stretching (NOM)', مَكْتَبةٌ[ˈmaktabatun]'library'.
  3. Otherwise, stress the antepenult (or leftmost syllable if there is no antepenult): كَتَبَ[ˈkataba]'he wrote'.

Modern Arabic dialects all maintain rules (1) and (2). But if there is neither a final superheavy syllable nor a heavy penultimate syllable, their behaviour varies. Thus in Palestinian, rule (3) is instead 'otherwise stress the first syllable (up to the antepenult): كَتَب[ˈkatab]'he wrote', زَلَمة[ˈzalamah]'man', whereas the basic rules of Cairene (to which there are exceptions) are: [33] :2993,3004

  1. Stress a superheavy ultima.
  2. Otherwise, stress a heavy penult.
  3. Otherwise, stress the penult or antepenult, whichever is separated by an even number of syllables from the rightmost non-final heavy syllable, or, if there is no non-final heavy syllable, from the left boundary of the word.

Local variations of Modern Standard Arabic

Spoken varieties differ from Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic not only in grammar but also in pronunciation. Outside of the Arabian peninsula, a major linguistic division is between sedentary, largely urban, varieties and rural varieties. Inside the Arabian peninsula and in Iraq, the two types are less distinct; but the language of the urbanized Hejaz, at least, strongly looks like a conservative sedentary variety.[ citation needed ]

Some examples of variation:

Consonants

The standard pronunciation of ⟨ج⟩ in MSA varies regionally, most prominently [ d͡ʒ ] in the Arabian Peninsula, parts of the Levant, Iraq, north-central Algeria, and parts of Egypt, it is also considered as the predominant pronunciation of Literary Arabic outside the Arab world and the pronunciation mostly used in Arabic loanwords across other languages (e.g. in Georgian, Malay, Persian, Turkish and Urdu), and [ ʒ ] in most of Northwest Africa, most of the Levant, some parts of the Arabian Peninsula, other pronunciations include [ ɡ ] only in Egypt ([ ɡ ] appears as a dialectal pronunciation in coastal Yemen, and south coastal Oman but not as a standard pronunciation in MSA), as well as [ ɟ ] in Sudan.

In Modern Standard Arabic (not in Egypt's use), /ɡ/ is used as a marginal phoneme to pronounce some dialectal and loan words. On the other hand, it is considered a native phoneme or allophone in most modern Arabic dialects, mostly as a variant of ق/q/ (as in Arabian Peninsula and Northwest African dialects) or as a variant of /d͡ʒ/ج (as in Egyptian and a number of Yemeni and Omani dialects). It is also considered a separate foreign phoneme that appears only in loanwords, as in most urban Levantine dialects where ق is /ʔ/ and ج is /d͡ʒ~ʒ/.

The foreign phonemes /p/, /v/, /t͡ʃ/, /t͡s/ etc. are not necessarily pronounced by all Arabic speakers, but they can be pronounced by some speakers especially in foreign proper nouns and loanwords.

/p/ and /v/ are usually transcribed with their own letters /p/ and /v/ but as these letters are not part of Standard Arabic, and they are simply written with ب/b/ and ف/f/, e.g. The use of both sounds may be considered marginal and Arabs may pronounce the words interchangeably; both نوفمبر and نوڤمبر/nu(ː)fambar/, /novambar,-ber/ or /nofember/ "November", both كاپريس and كابريس/ka(ː)pri(ː)s,ka(ː)bri(ː)s/ "caprice" can be used. [17] [35]

/t͡ʃ/ is another possible loanword phoneme, as in the word سندوتش or ساندوتش (sandawitš or sāndwitš 'sandwich'), though a number of varieties instead break up the [t] and [ʃ] sounds with an epenthetic vowel. [36] Egyptian Arabic treats /t͡ʃ/ as two consonants ([tʃ]) and inserts [e], as [teʃC] or [Cetʃ], when it occurs before or after another consonant. /t͡ʃ/ is found as normal in Iraqi Arabic and Gulf Arabic. [37] Normally the combination تش (tā’-shīn) is used to transliterate the [tʃ], while in rural Levantine dialects /k/ is usually substituted with /t͡ʃ/ while speaking and would be written as ك. Otherwise Arabic usually substitutes other letters in the transliteration of names and loanwords like the Persian character چ which is used for writing [tʃ].

Other Variations include:

Vowels

Phonologies of different Arabic dialects

The main dialectal variations in Arabic consonants revolve around the six consonants; ج , ق , ث , ذ , ض and ظ :

LetterClassicalModern StandardDialectal Main VariationsLess Common Variations
ث /θ//θ/[ θ ][ t ][ s ][ f ]
ج /gʲ/ or /ɟ//d͡ʒ/[ d͡ʒ ][ ʒ ][ ɡ ][ ɟ ][ j ][ d͡z ][ d ]
ذ /ð//ð/[ ð ][ d ][ z ][ v ]
ض /ɮˤ//dˤ/[ ][ ðˤ ][ ][ d ][ ]
ظ /ðˤ//ðˤ/[ ðˤ ][ ][ ]
ق /q/ or /ɡ//q/[ q ][ ɡ ][ ʔ ][ ɢ ][ k ][ d͡ʒ ][ d͡z ][ ɣ ]

Cairene

The Arabic of Cairo (often called "Egyptian Arabic" or more correctly "Cairene Arabic") is a typical sedentary variety and a de facto standard variety among certain segments of the Arabic-speaking population, due to the dominance of Egyptian media. Watson adds emphatic labials [mˤ] and [bˤ] [39] and emphatic [rˤ] [23] to Cairene Arabic with marginal phonemic status. Cairene has also merged the interdental consonants with the dental plosives (e.g., ثلاثة/θalaːθa/[tæˈlæːtæ]'three') except in loanwords from Classical Arabic where they are nativized as sibilant fricatives (e.g., ثانوية/θaːnawijja/[sænæˈwejja], ' secondary school '). Cairene speakers pronounce /d͡ʒ/ as [ɡ] and debuccalized /q/ to [ʔ] (again, loanwords from Classical Arabic have reintroduced the earlier sound [38] or approximated to [k] with the front vowel around it [ æ ] changed to the back vowel [ ɑ ]). Classical Arabic diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ became realized as [eː] and [oː] respectively. Still, Egyptian Arabic sometimes has minimal pairs like شايلة[ˈʃæjlæ]'carrying FEMSG' vs. شيلة[ˈʃeːlæ]'burden'. جيب[ɡeːb]'pocket' + -نا[næ]'our' → collapsing with [ˈɡebnæ] which means (جبنة'cheese' or جيبنا'our pocket'), [40] because Cairene phonology cannot have long vowels before two consonants. Cairene also has [ ʒ ] as a marginal phoneme from loanwords from languages other than Classical Arabic. [41]

Sanaa

Varieties such as that of Sanaa, Yemen, are more conservative and retain most phonemic contrasts of Classical Arabic. Sanaani possesses [ ɡ ] as a reflex of Classical /q/ (which still functions as an emphatic consonant). [40] In unstressed syllables, Sanaani short vowels may be reduced to [ ə ]. [42] /tˤ/ is voiced to [dˤ] in initial and intervocalic positions. [39]

Distribution

The most frequent consonant phoneme is /r/, the rarest is /ðˤ/. The frequency distribution of the 28 consonant phonemes, based on the 2,967 triliteral roots listed by Wehr [35] is (with the percentage of roots in which each phoneme occurs):

PhonemeFrequencyPhonemeFrequency
/r/24%/w/18%
/l/17%/m/17%
/n/17%/b/16%
/f/14%/ʕ/13%
/q/13%/d/13%
/s/13%/ħ/12%
/j/12%/ʃ/11%
/d͡ʒ/10%/k/9%
/h/8%/z/8%
/tˤ/8%/χ/8%
/sˤ/7%/ʔ/7%
/t/6%/dˤ/5%
/ʁ/5%/θ/3%
/ð/3%/ðˤ/1%

This distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual frequency of occurrence of the phonemes in speech, since pronouns, prepositions and suffixes are not taken into account, and the roots themselves will occur with varying frequency. In particular, /t/ occurs in several extremely common affixes (occurring in the marker for second-person or feminine third-person as a prefix, the marker for first-person or feminine third-person as a suffix, and as the second element of Forms VIII and X as an infix) despite being fifth from last on Wehr's list. The list does give, however, an idea of which phonemes are more marginal than others. Note that the five least frequent letters are among the six letters added to those inherited from the Phoenician alphabet, namely, ḍād , ṯāʾ , ḫāʾ , ẓāʾ , ḏāl and ġayn .

Sample

The Literary Arabic sample text is a reading of The North Wind and the Sun by a speaker who was born in Safed, lived and was educated in Beirut from age 8 to 15, subsequently studied and taught in Damascus, studied phonetics in Scotland and since then has resided in Scotland and Kuwait. [43]

Normal orthographic version

كانت ريح الشمال تتجادل والشمس في أي منهما كانت أقوى من الأخرى، وإذ بمسافر يطلع متلفعا بعباءة سميكة. فاتفقتا على اعتبار السابق في إجبار المسافر على خلع عباءته الأقوى. عصفت ريح الشمال بأقصى ما استطاعت من قوة. ولكن كلما ازداد العصف ازداد المسافر تدثرا بعباءته، إلى أن أسقط في يد الريح فتخلت عن محاولتها. بعدئذ سطعت الشمس بدفئها، فما كان من المسافر إلا أن خلع عباءته على التو. وهكذا اضطرت ريح الشمال إلى الاعتراف بأن الشمس كانت هي الأقوى.

Diacriticized orthographic version

كَانَتْ رِيحُ الشَّمَالِ تَتَجَادَلُ وَالشَّمْسَ فِي أَيٍّ مِنْهُمَا كَانَتْ أَقْوَى مِنَ الأُخْرَى، وَإِذْ بِمُسَافِرٍ يَطْلَعُ مُتَلَفِّعًا بِعَبَاءَةٍ سَمِيكَةٍ. فَاتَّفَقَتَا عَلَى اعْتِبارِ السَّابِقِ فِي إِجْبارِ المُسَافِرِ عَلَى خَلْعِ عَباءَتِهِ الأَقْوى. عَصَفَتْ رِيحُ الشَّمالِ بِأَقْصَى مَا اسْتَطَاعَتْ مِن قُوَّةٍ. وَلٰكِنْ كُلَّمَا ازْدَادَ العَصْفُ ازْدَادَ المُسَافِرُ تَدَثُّرًا بِعَبَاءَتِهِ، إِلَى أَنْ أُسْقِطَ فِي يَدِ الرِّيحِ فَتَخَلَّتْ عَنْ مُحَاوَلَتِهَا. بَعْدَئِذٍ سَطَعَتِ الشَّمْسُ بِدِفْئِهَا، فَمَا كَانَ مِنَ المُسَافِرِ إِلَّا أَنْ خَلَعَ عَبَاءَتَهُ عَلَى التَّوِّ. وَهٰكَذَا اضْطُرَّتْ رِيحُ الشَّمَالِ إِلَى الاِعْتِرَافِ بِأَنَّ الشَّمْسَ كَانَتْ هِيَ الأَقْوَى. [44]

Phonemic transcription (with i‘rāb )

/kaːnatriːħuʃ.ʃamaːlitatad͡ʒaːdaluwaʃ.ʃamsafiːʔaj.jinminhumaːkaːnatʔaqwaːminalʔuxraː|waʔiðbimusaːfirinjatˤlaʕumutalaf.fiʕanbiʕabaːʔatinsamiːka||fat.tafaqataːʕalaʕ.tibaːris.saːbiqifiːʔid͡ʒbaːril.musaːfiriʕalaːxalʕiʕabaːʔatihil.ʔaqwaː||ʕasˤafatriːħuʃ.ʃamaːlibiʔaqsˤaːmas.tatˤaːʕatminquw.wa||walaːkinkul.lamaz.daːdal.ʕasˤfuz.daːdalmusaːfirutadaθ.θuranbiʕabaːʔatih|ʔilaːʔanʔusqitˤafiːjadir.riːħifataxal.latʕanmuħaːwalatihaː||baʕda.ʔiðinsatˤaʕatiʃ.ʃamsubidifʔihaː|famaːkaːnaminalmusaːfiriʔil.laːʔanxalaʕaʕabaːʔatahuʕalat.taw||wahaːkaðat.tˤur.ratriːħuʃ.ʃamaːliʔilal.ʔiʕtiraːfibiʔan.naʃ.ʃamsakaːnathijal.ʔaqwaː/ [44]

Phonemic transcription (without i‘rāb)

/kaːnatriːħuʃ.ʃamaːltatad͡ʒaːdalwaʃ.ʃamsfiːʔaj.jinminhumaːkaːnatʔaqwaːminalʔuxraː|waʔiðbimusaːfirjatˤlaʕmutalaf.fiʕanbiʕabaːʔasamiːkah||fat.tafaqataːʕalaʕ.tibaːris.saːbiqfiːʔid͡ʒbaːrilmusaːfirʕalaːxalʕʕabaːʔatihil.ʔaqwaː||ʕasˤafatriːħuʃ.ʃamaːlbiʔaqsˤaːmastatˤaːʕatminquw.wa||walaːkinkul.lamaz.daːdal.ʕasˤfuz.daːdal.musaːfirtadaθːuranbiʕabaːʔatih|ʔilaːʔanʔusqitˤfiːjadir.riːħfataxal.latʕanmuħaːwalatihaː||baʕdaʔiðinsatˤaʕatiʃ.ʃamsbidifʔihaː|famaːkaːnminalmusaːfirʔil.laːʔanxalaʕaʕabaːʔatahuʕalat.taw||wahaːkaðat.tˤur.ratriːħuʃ.ʃamaːlʔilal.ʔiʕtiraːfbiʔan.naʃ.ʃamskaːnathijal.ʔaqwaː/

Phonetic transcription (Egypt)

[ˈkæːnætriːħæʃ.ʃæˈmæːltætæˈɡæːdælwæʃˈʃæm.sefiːˈʔæj.jinmenˈhomæˈkæːnætˈʔɑqwɑmɪnælˈʔʊxrɑ|ʔɪðbimʊˈsæːferˈjɑtˤlɑʕmʊtæˈlæf.feʕbiʕæˈbæːʔæsæˈmiːkæ||t.tæfɑqɑˈtæːˈʕælæʕ.teˈbɑːrɪsˈsɑːbeqfiːʔeɡbɑːrælmʊˈsæːferˈʕælæˈxælʕeʕæbæːˈʔæt(i)hilˈʔɑqwɑː||ˈʕɑsˤɑfɑtriːħæʃ.ʃæˈmæːlbiˈʔɑqsˤɑs.tɑˈtˤɑːʕɑtmɪnˈqow.wɑ||ˈlæːkenkʊlˈlæmæzˈdæːdælʕɑsˤfɪzˈdæːdæl.mʊˈsæːfertædæθˈθʊrænbiʕæbæːˈʔætih|ˈʔilæʔænˈʔosqetˤfiːjædærˈriːħtæˈxæl.lætʕænmʊħæːwæˈlæt(i)hæ||bæʕdæˈʔiðinˈsɑtˤɑʕɑtæʃˈʃæm.sebidɪfˈʔihæ|mæːkæːnmɪnæl.mʊˈsæːferˈʔil.læʔænˈxælæʕʕæbæːˈʔætæhʕælætˈtæw||hæːˈkæðætˈtˤor.rɑtriːħæʃ.ʃæˈmæːlˈʔilæl.ʔeʕteˈrɑːfbiˈʔænnæʃˈʃæm.seˈkæːnætˈhɪ.jælˈʔɑqwɑ]

ALA-LC transliteration

Kānat rīḥ al-shamāl tatajādalu wa-al-shams fī ayyin minhumā kānat aqwá min al-ukhrá, wa-idh bi-musāfir yaṭlaʻu mutalaffiʻ bi-ʻabāʼah samīkah. Fa-ittafaqatā ʻalá iʻtibār al-sābiq fī ijbār al-musāfir ʻalá khalʻ ʻabāʼatihi al-aqwá. ʻAṣafat rīḥ al-shamāl bi-aqṣá mā istaṭāʻat min qūwah. Wa-lākin kullamā izdāda al-ʻaṣf izdāda al-musāfir tadaththuran bi-ʻabāʼatih, ilá an usqiṭ fī yad al-rīḥ fa-takhallat ʻan muḥāwalatihā. Baʻdaʼidhin saṭaʻat al-shams bi-difʼihā, fa-mā kāna min al-musāfir illā an khalaʻa ʻabāʼatahu ʻalá al-taww. Wa-hākadhā iḍṭurrat rīḥ al-shamāl ilá al-iʻtirāf bi-an al-shams kānat hiya al-aqwá.

English Wiktionary transliteration (based on Hans Wehr)

kānat rīḥu š-šamāli tatajādalu wa-š-šamsa fī ʾayyin minhumā kānat ʾaqwā mina l-ʾuḵrā, wa-ʾiḏ bi-musāfirin yaṭluʿu mutalaffiʿan bi-ʿabāʾatin samīkatin. fa-t-tafaqatā ʿalā ʿtibāri s-sābiqi fī ʾijbāri l-musāfiri ʿalā ḵalʿi ʿabāʾatihi l-ʾaqwā. ʿaṣafat rīḥu š-šamāli bi-ʾaqṣā mā staṭāʿat min quwwatin. walākin kullamā zdāda l-ʿaṣfu zdāda l-musāfiru tadaṯṯuran bi-ʿabāʾatihi, ʾilā ʾan ʾusqiṭa fī yadi r-rīḥi fataḵallat ʿan muḥāwalatihā. baʿdaʾiḏin saṭaʿati š-šamsu bi-difʾihā, famā kāna mina l-musāfiri ʾillā ʾan ḵalaʿa ʿabāʾatahu ʿalā t-tawwi. wa-hakaḏā ḍṭurrat rīḥu š-šamāli ʾilā l-ʾiʿtirāfi biʾanna š-šamsa kānat hiya l-ʾaqwā.

English Translation

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allophone</span> Phone used to pronounce a single phoneme

In phonology, an allophone is one of multiple possible spoken sounds – or phones – used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plosive and the aspirated form are allophones for the phoneme, while these two are considered to be different phonemes in some languages such as Central Thai. Similarly, in Spanish, and are allophones for the phoneme, while these two are considered to be different phonemes in English.

Modern Hebrew has 25 to 27 consonants and 5 vowels, depending on the speaker and the analysis.

The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influence of German dialects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hassaniya Arabic</span> Maghrebi Arabic dialect spoken by Mauritanians and Sahrawi

Hassaniya Arabic is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian and Malian Arabs and the Sahrawi people. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes of Yemeni origin who extended their authority over most of Mauritania and Western Sahara between the 15th and 17th centuries. Hassaniya Arabic was the language spoken in the pre-modern region around Chinguetti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf Arabic</span> Variety of Arabic from the Persian Gulf

Gulf Arabic or Khaleeji is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in Eastern Arabia around the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, southern Iraq, eastern Saudi Arabia, northern Oman, and by some Iranian Arabs.

English phonology is the system of speech sounds used in spoken English. Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar phonological system. Among other things, most dialects have vowel reduction in unstressed syllables and a complex set of phonological features that distinguish fortis and lenis consonants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Standard Arabic</span> Formal literary variety of Arabic

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA) is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages also the variety of spoken Arabic that approximates this written standard. MSA is the language used in literature, academia, print and mass media, law and legislation, though it is generally not spoken as a first language, similar to Contemporary Latin. It is a pluricentric standard language taught throughout the Arab world in formal education, differing significantly from many vernacular varieties of Arabic that are commonly spoken as mother tongues in the area; these are only partially mutually intelligible with both MSA and with each other depending on their proximity in the Arabic dialect continuum.

The phonology of the Persian language varies between regional dialects, standard varieties, and even from older varieties of Persian. Persian is a pluricentric language and countries that have Persian as an official language have separate standard varieties, namely: Standard Dari (Afghanistan), Standard Iranian Persian (Iran) and Standard Tajik (Tajikistan). The most significant differences between standard varieties of Persian are their vowel systems. Standard varieties of Persian have anywhere from 6 to 8 vowel distinctions, and similar vowels may be pronounced differently between standards. However, there are not many notable differences when comparing consonants, as all standard varieties have a similar number of consonant sounds. Though, colloquial varieties generally have more differences than their standard counterparts. Most dialects feature contrastive stress and syllable-final consonant clusters. Linguists tend to focus on Iranian Persian, so this article may contain less adequate information regarding other varieties.

Libyan Arabic, also called Sulaimitian Arabic by scholars, is a variety of Arabic spoken in Libya, and neighboring countries. It can be divided into two major dialect areas; the eastern centred in Benghazi and Bayda, and the western centred in Tripoli and Misrata. The Eastern variety extends beyond the borders to the east and share the same dialect with far Western Egypt, Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, with between 90,000 and 474,000 speakers in Egypt. A distinctive southern variety, centered on Sabha, also exists and is more akin to the western variety. Another Southern dialect is also shared along the borders with Niger with 12,900 speakers in Niger as of 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hejazi Arabic</span> Variety of Arabic spoken in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia

Hejazi Arabic or Hijazi Arabic (HA), also known as West Arabian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Hejaz region in Saudi Arabia. Strictly speaking, there are two main groups of dialects spoken in the Hejaz region, one by the urban population, originally spoken mainly in the cities of Jeddah, Mecca, Medina and partially in Ta'if and another dialect by the urbanized rural and bedouin populations. However, the term most often applies to the urban variety which is discussed in this article.

The phonology of Bengali, like that of its neighbouring Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, is characterised by a wide variety of diphthongs and inherent back vowels.

Kuwaiti is a Gulf Arabic dialect spoken in Kuwait. Kuwaiti Arabic shares many phonetic features unique to Gulf dialects spoken in the Arabian Peninsula. Due to Kuwait's soap opera industry, knowledge of Kuwaiti Arabic has spread throughout the Arabic-speaking world and become recognizable even to people in countries such as Tunisia and Jordan.

Hindustani is the lingua franca of northern India and Pakistan, and through its two standardized registers, Hindi and Urdu, a co-official language of India and co-official and national language of Pakistan respectively. Phonological differences between the two standards are minimal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varieties of Arabic</span> Family of dialects/variants of Arabic language

Varieties of Arabic are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. Arabic is a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family that originated in the Arabian Peninsula. There are considerable variations from region to region, with degrees of mutual intelligibility that are often related to geographical distance and some that are mutually unintelligible. Many aspects of the variability attested to in these modern variants can be found in the ancient Arabic dialects in the peninsula. Likewise, many of the features that characterize the various modern variants can be attributed to the original settler dialects as well as local native languages and dialects. Some organizations, such as SIL International, consider these approximately 30 different varieties to be separate languages, while others, such as the Library of Congress, consider them all to be dialects of Arabic.

This article explains the phonology of Malay and Indonesian based on the pronunciation of Standard Malay, which is the official language of Brunei and Singapore, "Malaysian" of Malaysia, and Indonesian the official language of Indonesia and a working language in Timor Leste. There are two main standards for Malay pronunciation, the Johor-Riau standard, used in Brunei and Malaysia, and the Baku, used in Indonesia and Singapore.

This article is about the phonology of Egyptian Arabic, also known as Cairene Arabic or Masri. It deals with the phonology and phonetics of Egyptian Arabic as well as the phonological development of child native speakers of the dialect. To varying degrees, it affects the pronunciation of Literary Arabic by native Egyptian Arabic speakers, as is the case for speakers of all other varieties of Arabic.

This article is about the phonology and phonetics of standard Slovene.

The phonological system of the Hejazi Arabic consists of approximately 26 to 28 native consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes:. Consonant length and vowel length are both distinctive in Hejazi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damascus Arabic</span> Arabic dialect of Damascus

Damascus Arabic or Damascus Dialect is a Levantine Arabic spoken dialect, indigenous to and spoken primarily in Damascus. As the dialect of the capital city of Syria, and due to its use in the Syrian broadcast media, it is prestigious and widely recognized by speakers of other Syrian dialects, as well as in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. Accordingly, in modern times it is sometimes known as Syrian Arabic or the Syrian Dialect; however, the former term may also be used to refer to the group of similar urban sedentary dialects of the Levant, or to mean Levantine Arabic in general.

Faifi is a possible descendant of Old South Arabian language and is spoken by about 50,000 people in the vicinity of the Fifa Mountains in the southwestern corner of Saudi Arabia and across the border in Jebel Minabbih, Yemen. Along with Razihi, it is possibly the only other possible surviving descendant of the Old South Arabian branch of Central Semitic.

References

  1. Kirchhoff & Vergyri (2005 :38)
  2. Kirchhoff & Vergyri (2005 :38–39)
  3. Holes (2004 :57)
  4. Lipinski (1997 :124)
  5. Al-Jallad, 42
  6. Watson (2002 :5, 15–16)
  7. 1 2 3 Watson (2002 :2)
  8. "Recently catalogued: an enigma in the Senior Library | Lincoln College Oxford". lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  9. 1 2 Thelwall (1990 :39)
  10. Holes (2004 :60)
  11. 1 2 3 Thelwall (1990 :38)
  12. Abd-El-Jawad (1987 :359)
  13. Abd-El-Jawad (1987 :361)
  14. 1 2 Watson (1999 :290)
  15. Davis (1995 :466)
  16. 1 2 Elementary Modern Standard Arabic: Volume 1, by Peter F. Abboud (Editor), Ernest N. McCarus (Editor)
  17. 1 2 Teach Yourself Arabic, by Jack Smart (Author), Frances Altorfer (Author)
  18. Holes (2004 :58)
  19. Watson (2002:44)
  20. Thelwall (1990:38), Al Ani (1970:32, 44–45)
  21. Al-Azraqi. (2019). Delateralisation in Arabic and Mehri. Dialectologia, 23: 123. https://raco.cat/index.php/Dialectologia/article/download/366597/460520/
  22. Hamdan, Jihad (2020). The Arabic /dˤ/ Revisited: A Critical Review. Zarqa University. p. 29.
  23. 1 2 3 Watson (2002:16)
  24. al Nassir, Abdulmunʿim Abdulamir (1985). Sibawayh the Phonologist (PDF) (in Arabic). University of New York. p. 80. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  25. Watson (2002:18)
  26. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:167–168)
  27. Thelwall (1990), citing Gairdner (1925), Al Ani (1970), and Kästner (1981).
  28. McCarthy (1994:194–195)
  29. Watson (2002:19)
  30. Holes (2004:95)
  31. Ferguson (1956:449)
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 Ryding, Karin C. (2005-08-25). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-77151-1.
  33. 1 2 3 Watson, Janet C. E. (2011). "Word stress in Arabic". In Marc van Oostendorp (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Vol. 5. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 2990–3019. ISBN   9781405184236.
  34. Versteegh, Kees (1997). The Arabic Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 90.
  35. 1 2 Hans Wehr, Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (transl. of Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart, 1952)
  36. Watson (2002 :60–62), citing Ṣan‘ā’ni and Cairene as examples with and without this phoneme, respectively.
  37. "The Arabic Sounds I. | Gulf Arabic E-learning System". www.gulfarabic.com.
  38. 1 2 Watson (2002 :22)
  39. 1 2 Watson (2002 :14)
  40. 1 2 Watson (2002 :23)
  41. Watson (2002 :21)
  42. Watson (2002 :40)
  43. Thelwall (1990 :37)
  44. 1 2 Thelwall (1990:40)

Bibliography