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Part of
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXIV: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Tucson, Arizona, 2020
Edited by Mahmoud Azaz
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 12] 2023
► pp. 57–78

Production and perception of consonant clusters in nonwords by Southern Iraqi and Najdi Speakers

| University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
ORCID logo | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

We investigate the production and perception of Arabic consonant clusters in word-initial and word-final positions, from two dialects, Southern Iraqi and Najdi, which differ in their phonological constraints in allowing consonant clusters. An AX discrimination task and a reading task were conducted using nonsense Arabic words to evaluate perception and production, respectively. The results indicate that Najdi speakers performed better than Southern Iraqi speakers in both production and perception tasks, only for the word-initial position. We also observed a close production-perception link existing at an individual level.

Keywords: Southern Iraqi, Najdi, consonant clusters, dialects, production, perception
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Current study
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Stimuli
    • 3.3Perception: AX discrimination task
    • 3.4Production: Reading task
    • 3.5Procedure
    • 3.6Perception: AX discrimination task
    • 3.7Production: Reading task
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Perception: AX discrimination task
    • 4.2Production: Reading task
    • 4.3Production and perception relationship
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 6 January 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.12.03alb
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