Article published in:
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVII: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Bloomington, Indiana, 2013
Edited by Stuart Davis and Usama Soltan
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 3] 2016
► pp. 151–169

Lateral fricative ḍād in Tihāmat Qaḥtān

A quantitative sociolinguistic investigation

| University of Essex
| University of Essex
This article presents the results of a sociolinguistic investigation of the phonemic status of the emphatic lateral fricative [ɮʕ] in the dialects of Tihamat Qaḥtān, Saudi Arabia. The study is based on empirical data, obtained through sociolinguistic interviews, analyzed quantitatively, and correlated with age, gender, locality and linguistic environment. The statistical analysis reveals that (i), while the lateral fricative is used in considerable proportion, it is undergoing change to emphatic interdental [ðʕ]; (ii), many speakers use the lateralized variant in historically *ðʕ items, which suggests that while both sounds are present in the phonemic inventory of these dialects, they are treated as allophones of a single phonological unit; this result also suggests that the lateral variant has social meaning.
Keywords: lateral fricative, merger, sociolinguistics, southern Arabia, variation
Published online: 26 July 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.3.07alw
References
Al-Azraqi, M
(2007) Ad-dad in the southwest of Saudi Arabia as described by the Arab grammarians, In S. Prochazka & V. Ritt-Benmimoun (Eds.), Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans: Studies on the contemporary Arabic dialects. Proceedings of the 7th AIDA Conference (pp. 43-50). New Brunswick & London: Transaction Publishers.
(2010) The ancient Ḍād in southwest Saudi Arabia. Arabic, 57, 57-67. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Al-Essa, A
(2009) Najdi speakers in Hijaz: A sociolinguistic investigation of dialect contact in Jeddah. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Essex.Google Scholar
Al-Jallad, A
(2014) Graeco-Arabica I: The southern Levant. In L. Nehmé (Ed.), Ecrit et écriture dans la formation des identités en monde syriaque et arabe IIIe-VIIe siècles (pp. 1-60). Leuven: PeetersGoogle Scholar
Al-Nassir, A
(1993) Sibawayhi the phonologist: A critical study of the phonetic and phonological theory of Sibawayhi as presented in his treatise Al-Kitāb. London & New York: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
Al-Qahtani, K
2015). A sociolinguistic study of the Tihami Qahtani dialect in Asir, Saudi Arabia. Doctoral thesis, University of Essex.
Al-Wer, E
(1991) Phonological variation in the speech of women from three urban areas in Jordan. Doctoral dissertation, University of Essex, UK.Google Scholar
(2004) Variability reproduced: A variationist view of the Dhaa/Daad opposition in modern Arabic dialect. In M. Haak, R. De Jong, & K. Versteegh (Eds), Approaches to Arabic dialects (pp. 21-31). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Asiri, Y.M
(2009) Aspects of phonology and morphology of Rijal Alma’ dialect (south-west Saudi Arabia). Doctoral dissertation, University of Salford, UK.Google Scholar
Behnstedt, P
(1985) Die nordjemenitischen Dialekte. Teil 1: Atlas. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
(1997) Sprachatlas von Syrien. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.Google Scholar
Behnstedt, P. and Woidich, M
(1985-99) Die ägyptisch-arabischen Dialekte (5 vols). Wiesbaden: Reichert.Google Scholar
Brown, J
(2007) New data on the delateralization of Ḍād and its merger with Ẓāʾ in Classical Arabic: Contributions from old South Arabic and the earliest Islamic texts on Ḍ/Ẓ minimal pairs. Journal of Semitic Studies, 52, 335-368. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Corriente, F
(1978) D-L doublets in Classical Arabic as evidence of the process of de-lateralisation of Ḍād and development of its standard reflex. Journal of Semitic Studies, 23(1), 50-55. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Jong, R
(2000) A grammar of the Bedouin dialects of the Northern Sinai littoral: Bridging the linguistic gap between the Eastern & Western Arab World. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
(2011) A grammar of the Bedouin dialects of central and southern Sinai. Leiden: Brill. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eckert, P
(1989) Jocks and Burnouts: Social categories and identity in the high school. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
(2000) Linguistic variation as social practice. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
El-Gindi, A
(1983) ‘al-lahajaat l’arabiyya fi t-turaath [Heritage of Arabic dialects]. Tripoli: Addaar l’arabiyya lilkitaab.Google Scholar
Gal, S
(1978) Peasant men can’t get wives: Language change and sex roles in a bilingual community. Language in Society, 7(1), 1-16. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Giles, H., Taylor, D.M., & Bourhis, R.Y
(1973) Towards a theory of interpersonal accommodation through speech: Some Canadian data. Language in Society, 2, 177-192. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D
(2009) Getting off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixed effects variable rule analysis. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3, 359‐383. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kogan, L
(2011) Proto-Semitic Phonetics and Phonology. In W. Stefan (Ed.), The Semitic languages: An international handbook (54-150). Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W
(1963) The social motivation of a sound change. Word, 19, 273-309. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1994) Principles of Linguistic: Internal Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(1990) The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change. Language Variation and Change, 2, 205‐254. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lipsuis, R
(1861) Über die Arabischen Sprachlaute und deren Umschrift. Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Prochazka, T
(1988) Saudi Arabian dialects. London: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
Sibawayh, A
(2009) Al-Kitāb [the book]. E.B. Yaʼqūb (Ed.). Lebanon: Dar Al-Kotob Al-ilmiahGoogle Scholar
Steiner, R
(1977) The case for fricative laterals in Proto-Semitic. New Haven, CT. American Oriental Society.Google Scholar
Thomas, B
(1989) Differences of sex and sects: Linguistic variation and social networks in a Welsh mining village. In J. Coates & D. Cameron (Eds.), Women in their speech communities: New perspectives on language and sex (pp. 51-60). London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Van den Berg, L.W.C
(1886) Le Hadhramout et les colonies arabes dans l’archipel indien. Batavia: Imprimerie du Gouvernement.Google Scholar
Versteegh, K
(2006) Ḍād. In K. Versteegh, M. Eid, A. Elgibali, M. Woidich, & A. Zoborzski (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Arabic language and Linguistics, I (pp. 544–545). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Von Maltzan, H
(1973) Dialektische Studien über das Mehri in Vergleich mit verwandten Mundarten. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 27, 225-231.Google Scholar
Watson, J
(2012) The structure of Mehri. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Watson, J. & Al-Azraqi, M
(2011) Lateral fricatives and lateral emphatics in southern Saudi Arabia and Mehri. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies , 41, 425–432.