Chapter published in:
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXII: Papers selected from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Tempe, Arizona, 2018Edited by Elly van Gelderen
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 9] 2020
► pp. 55–68
A study of the place of articulation of the Arabic voiceless dorsal fricative
Noor Abo Mokh | Department of Linguistics, Indiana University
Steven M. Lulich | Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University
Abdullah Alfaifi | Department of Linguistics, Indiana University
Sarah Robinson | Department of Linguistics, Indiana University
Sherman Charles | Department of Linguistics, Indiana University | Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University
Kenneth De Jong | Department of Linguistics, Indiana University
Previous descriptions of the place of articulation of the
Arabic dorsal fricative suggest that it ranges from velar to uvular, and there
remains uncertainty in terms of identifying the place of articulation of this
fricative. If the dorsal fricatives are velar in articulation, this presents a
mismatch between their phonological class membership and their phonetic
manifestation, since the velar-uvular split is precisely where the guttural class
boundary is. If the natural class of gutturals excludes velars, then the common
patterning of the dorsal fricative with the gutturals suggests that it is not
underlyingly velar. This study seeks to empirically determine the place of
articulation of the voiceless dorsal fricative (/x/ or /χ/) in a speaker of each of
the following six Arabic dialects: Moroccan Darija, Algerian Darija (West side of
Algeria), Egyptian (Cairene), Triangle-Area Palestinian, Syrian (Aleppo), and Faifi
(Saudi Arabia). The study uses a state-of-the-art 3D/4D ultrasound machine,
digitized 3D palate impressions, and audio recordings to analyze the dorsal
fricatives of Arabic speakers. The results show a general tendency toward uvular
articulation or pre-uvular articulation across dialects, with some variation in some
speakers.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Methods
- 2.1Participants
- 2.2Stimuli
- 2.3Experimental procedure
- 2.4Analysis
- 3.Results
- 3.1Ultrasound traces – 2D midsagittal profiles
- 3.2Nearest Neighbor Distance (NND) from Velar and Uvular Stops to Dorsal Fricatives
- 4.Discussion and conclusions
-
References
Published online: 28 August 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.9.03abo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.9.03abo
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