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Experimental Arabic Linguistics
Edited by Dimitrios Ntelitheos and Tommi Tsz-Cheung Leung
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 10] 2021
► pp. 57–82

Affricate variation in Emirati Arabic

An exploratory study

| United Arab Emirates University
| University of Canterbury
ORCID logo | University of Toronto

Using a corpus analysis and an elicitation study, we provide evidence regarding the effects of lexical, phonological and socio-phonetic factors on the distribution of affricate variants in Emirati Arabic (EA). The corpus results indicate that the processes are only partially attributable to lexical factors; results reveal previously unreported patterns of vowel effects, and suggest a role of coronal consonants in determining affrication. The experimental results highlight significant within- and across-speaker variability that is not only lexically-determined, but also contradicts traditional hypotheses regarding the geographic distribution of the variants. This exploratory study presents a detailed descriptive analysis of the process in EA, providing suggestions for future investigations.

Keywords: Emirati Arabic, affrication, variation, coronals
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Arabic in the United Arab Emirates
    • 1.2 k-affrication
    • 1.3dʒ-deaffrication
    • 1.4Objectives
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Stimuli
    • 2.3Experimental data collection and procedure
    • 2.4Corpus study
    • 2.5Corpus study procedure
  • 3.Corpus study results
    • 3.1Phonological effects
    • 3.2Lexical effects
  • 4.Experimental study results
    • 4.1Lexical effects
    • 4.2Speaker effects
    • 4.3Sociophonetic factors
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Phonological factors
      • Sociolinguistic constraints
    • 5.2Lexical constraints
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.10.02szr
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