Cover not available

Article In: Arabic Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Reduplicative hypocoristics in makkan Arabic

An optimality theoretic account

ORCiD logo with link | Umm Al-Qura University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This paper offers an account of reduplicative hypocoristics in Makkan Arabic using Correspondence Theory couched in Optimality Theory. Reduplicative hypocoristics reference only one of the consonants present in the actual name, not the root. It consists of two identical heavy syllables C1V2V2.C1V2V2, phonetically realized as C1V2V2.C1V2. The vowels of the two syllables are identical, either ii, or uu. Within the syllable, the consonant and the vowel disagree in the features [labial] and [coronal] with some variation. Variation in this area is accounted for using floating constraints within Optimality Theory (Reynolds, Bill. (1994). Variation and Phonological Theory. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania].). Finally, while the first consonant of the name is usually used in the hypocoristic, velars, gutturals, emphatic consonants, and the glides are skipped and one of the remaining consonants, preferably a coronal, is used instead. Preference for coronals is explained as part of the OCP Hierarchy and the universal unmarkedness of coronal sounds (Prince, Alan & Paul Smolensky. (1993). Optimality theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology and data collection
    • 2.1Stage One: Preparation of appendices
      • 2.1.1Appendix I
      • 2.1.2Appendix II
      • 2.1.3Appendix III
      • 2.1.4Appendix IV
    • 2.2Stage two: Interviewing participants
    • 2.3Stage three: Data recording
    • 2.4Stage four: Checking the OCP data
    • 2.5Stage five: Transcription
    • 2.6Stage six: Checking names with initial /t/ and /n/ (Additional Step)
  • 3.Findings of the data
    • 3.1Appendix I
    • 3.2Appendix II
    • 3.3Appendix III
    • 3.4Appendix IV
  • 4.Patterns I and II of hypocoristic formation in Makkan Arabic
  • 5.Characteristics of reduplicative hypocoristics in Makkan Arabic
  • 6.An OT analysis of Makkan Arabic reduplicative hypocoristics
  • 7.Variation in reduplicative hypocoristics
    • 7.1Variation in the choice of consonants
    • 7.2Variation and the OCP [coronal]
      • 7.2.1Approaches to variation in Optimality Theory
      • 7.2.2Variation in Makkan Arabic reduplicative hypocoristics: A floating constraint
  • 8.Reduplicative hypocoristics and expressive morphology
  • 9.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (32)
References
Abu-Mansour, Mahasen Hasan. (1987). Arabic Syllabic Phonology, with Special Reference to Makkan. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida].
. (1995). Arabic names and nicknames: A linguistic study. “Paper Presentation” (The 22nd LACUS meeting,Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas).
. (2000). An OT analysis of Arabic hypocoristics. Talk given at MIT phonology circle (December 1st, 2000. Cambridge, Massachusetts).
. (2010). Hypocoristics in Arabic: An Optimality-Theoretic approach. “Paper presentation” (The 24th Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, 9–11 April).
. (2019). The role of the OCP and syllable structure in Makkan Arabic hypocoristics. Linguistic and Literature Studies, 7 (1), 31–38.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anttila, Arto & Young-mee Yu Cho. (1998). Variation and Change in Optimality Theory. Lingua, 1041, 31–56.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boresma, Paul & Bruce Hayes. (2001). Empirical tests of the Gradual Learning Algorithm. Linguistic Inquiry, 321, 45–86.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cutillas-Espinosa, Juan Antonio Cutillas. (2004). Meaningful variability: A sociolinguistically- grounded approach to variation in Optimality Theory. International journal of English studies, 4 (2), 165–184.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davis, Stuart, & Bushra Adnan Zawaydeh. (1999). A descriptive analysis of hypocoristics in colloquial Arabic. Languages and Linguistics, 31, 83–98.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Farwaneh, Samira. (2007). Hypocoristics revisited: Challenging the primacy of the consonantal root. In Mughazy, Mustafa (Ed.), Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XX1 (pp. 25–49). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gouskova, Maria. (2003). Deriving economy: Syncope in Optimality Theory. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst].
Humes, Elizabeth V. (1994). Front vowels, coronal consonants and their interaction in nonlinear phonology. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kabrah, Rawiah. (2004). Opacity and transparency in the phonology of Makkan Arabic: A stratal optimality-theoretic approach. [Doctoral dissertation, Boston University].
. (2011). Regressive voicing assimilation in CaireneArabic. In Broselow, Ellen & Hamid Ouali (Eds.), Perspectives on Arabic linguistics XXII–XXIII1 (pp. 21–33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kager, Rene. (1999). Optimality Theory. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. (1985). Some Consequences of Lexical Phonology. Phonology, 21, 85–138.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maddieson, Ian. (1984). Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mashaqba, Bassil, Al-Maani, Alaa, Huneety, Anas & Mutasim Al-Deaibes. (2023). Hypocoristics in the Ammani-Jordanian context: A construction morphology perspective. Cogent Art and Humanities, 101, 1–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCarthy, John. (1991). Guttural Phonology. In Comrie, Bernard & Mushira Eid (Eds.), Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics III (63–92).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2005). “The Length of Stem-Final Vowels in Colloquial Arabic.” Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics: Papers from the eighteenth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Alhawary, Mohammad T. & Elabbas Benmamoun (Eds.) (pp. 25–49), Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCarthy, John & Alan Prince. (1993). Prosodic Morphology I: Constraint interaction and satisfaction, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.BGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1996). Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In Beckman, Jill, Laura Walsh Dickey & Suzanne Urbanczyk (Eds.), University of Massachusetts occasional papers, vol. 181: Papers in Optimality Theory (pp. 249–384). University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nagy, Naomi & Bill Reynolds. (1997). Optimality Theory and variable word-final deletion in Faetar. In Stanford, James N. & Rena Torres Cacoullos (Eds.), Language variation and change (pp.37–55). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paradis, Carole & Jean-Francois Prunet. (1989). On Coronal Transparency. Phonology, 61, 317–348.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(Eds.). (1991). The Special Status of Coronals: Internal and External Evidence (Phonetics and Phonology, Vol.2). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prince, Alan & Paul Smolensky. (1993). Optimality theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reynolds, Bill. (1994). Variation and Phonological Theory. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania].
Reynolds, Bill & Hadass Sheffer. (1994). Variation and Optimality. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 1 (1), 103–110.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosenthall, Sam. (2006). Glide distribution in Classical Arabic verb stems. Linguistic Inquiry, 371, 405–440.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steriade, Donca. (1987). Redundant values. CLS, 23 (2), 339–363. Parasession on Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watson, Janet C. E. (2006). Arabic morphology: diminutive verbs and diminutive nouns in San’ani Arabic. Morphology, 161, 189–204.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwicky, Arnold M. & Geoffrey K. Pullum. (1987). Plain Morphology and Expressive Morphology. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, (1987), 330–340.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue