A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties
<p>Modern Arabic colloquial varieties exhibit significant phonological variation that has only partially been incorporated into previous typological efforts. This thesis motivates a phonological typology of sixteen modern varieties, exploring not just the crucial ingredients of the phonological...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2021
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| _version_ | 1797106590532239360 |
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| author | Lindsay-Smith, E |
| author2 | Lahiri, A |
| author_facet | Lahiri, A Lindsay-Smith, E |
| author_sort | Lindsay-Smith, E |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Modern Arabic colloquial varieties exhibit significant phonological variation that has only partially been incorporated into previous typological efforts. This thesis motivates a phonological typology of sixteen modern varieties, exploring not just the crucial ingredients of the phonological grammar including syllable and foot structure, but also the lexical and postlexical nature of prosodic structure. </p>
<p>I argue that there are two axes for phonological variation in Arabic: Tolerance and Repair, that is, varieties differ in terms of which types of syllables they tolerate and in how they repair violations of syllable structure, and these axes do not covary. In terms of Tolerance, varieties differ in acceptance of quantity. Varieties that permit long segments have restrictions on the segmental level, whereas varieties that do not have restrictions on the moraic level, and varieties that allow long consonants or clusters but not long vowels have restrictions on the X-slot tier. In addition to the canonical 2 or 3 elements, individual varieties may also permit an extra element in their medial syllable rime according to variety-specific restrictions including coronality, fast speech, and sonority. As such, this typology provides mechanisms to account for the data in each and every variety, rather than merely providing a canonical set of features that not all varieties fit.</p>
<p>Repair is concerned with how violations of syllable structure are repaired in terms of epenthesis direction and the licensing of word edge extrasyllabic segments. I propose that catalectic moras are required to incorporate extrasyllabic material across the word. The Onset/Coda distinction can therefore be expressed as whether the extrasyllabic material is incorporated as the onset or coda of a syllable containing a catalectic mora. Epenthesis occurs where the catalectic mora is not permitted to surface without overt segmental material. The difference between domain edge behaviour therefore follows from this — where the catalectic mora is the peripheral element, the surface cluster is permitted; but where it is non-peripheral, epenthesis occurs as the catalectic mora is filled by an epenthetic vowel. ‘Extreme’ Onset/Coda varieties are those that permit catalectic moras word-internally in domain edge syllables. </p>
<p>Furthermore, I explore the prosodic word structure of Arabic, finding that there is a preference for affixes to attach after a stressed syllable that accounts for lengthening phenomena and apparent stress exceptions.</p>
<p>This thesis demonstrates that there are constraints on both the input and output of the phonological grammar, and that the variation rests on the acceptability or violation of the constraints. Thus, the Arabic typology emphasizes two aspects: first, variation in phonology is not just on the surface, and second, abstract quantitative analyses including catalexis are fundamental to our understanding of how prosodic structure can survive across a range of dialects.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:03:07Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:5a840f39-c780-4727-950f-429048e50baf |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:03:07Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:5a840f39-c780-4727-950f-429048e50baf2022-04-12T07:46:06ZA phonological typology of modern Arabic varietiesThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:5a840f39-c780-4727-950f-429048e50bafLinguisticsPhonologyEnglishHyrax Deposit2021Lindsay-Smith, ELahiri, A<p>Modern Arabic colloquial varieties exhibit significant phonological variation that has only partially been incorporated into previous typological efforts. This thesis motivates a phonological typology of sixteen modern varieties, exploring not just the crucial ingredients of the phonological grammar including syllable and foot structure, but also the lexical and postlexical nature of prosodic structure. </p> <p>I argue that there are two axes for phonological variation in Arabic: Tolerance and Repair, that is, varieties differ in terms of which types of syllables they tolerate and in how they repair violations of syllable structure, and these axes do not covary. In terms of Tolerance, varieties differ in acceptance of quantity. Varieties that permit long segments have restrictions on the segmental level, whereas varieties that do not have restrictions on the moraic level, and varieties that allow long consonants or clusters but not long vowels have restrictions on the X-slot tier. In addition to the canonical 2 or 3 elements, individual varieties may also permit an extra element in their medial syllable rime according to variety-specific restrictions including coronality, fast speech, and sonority. As such, this typology provides mechanisms to account for the data in each and every variety, rather than merely providing a canonical set of features that not all varieties fit.</p> <p>Repair is concerned with how violations of syllable structure are repaired in terms of epenthesis direction and the licensing of word edge extrasyllabic segments. I propose that catalectic moras are required to incorporate extrasyllabic material across the word. The Onset/Coda distinction can therefore be expressed as whether the extrasyllabic material is incorporated as the onset or coda of a syllable containing a catalectic mora. Epenthesis occurs where the catalectic mora is not permitted to surface without overt segmental material. The difference between domain edge behaviour therefore follows from this — where the catalectic mora is the peripheral element, the surface cluster is permitted; but where it is non-peripheral, epenthesis occurs as the catalectic mora is filled by an epenthetic vowel. ‘Extreme’ Onset/Coda varieties are those that permit catalectic moras word-internally in domain edge syllables. </p> <p>Furthermore, I explore the prosodic word structure of Arabic, finding that there is a preference for affixes to attach after a stressed syllable that accounts for lengthening phenomena and apparent stress exceptions.</p> <p>This thesis demonstrates that there are constraints on both the input and output of the phonological grammar, and that the variation rests on the acceptability or violation of the constraints. Thus, the Arabic typology emphasizes two aspects: first, variation in phonology is not just on the surface, and second, abstract quantitative analyses including catalexis are fundamental to our understanding of how prosodic structure can survive across a range of dialects.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Linguistics Phonology Lindsay-Smith, E A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties |
| title | A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties |
| title_full | A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties |
| title_fullStr | A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties |
| title_full_unstemmed | A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties |
| title_short | A phonological typology of modern Arabic varieties |
| title_sort | phonological typology of modern arabic varieties |
| topic | Linguistics Phonology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lindsaysmithe aphonologicaltypologyofmodernarabicvarieties AT lindsaysmithe phonologicaltypologyofmodernarabicvarieties |