The phonology and morphology of Wadi Ramm Arabic

Almashaqba, BM

Abstract

The study is subdivided into key sections that consider the following aspects: major melodic and prosodic phonological features, acoustic analysis of consonants and vowels, major morphological features and grammatical categories, relationship with North West Arabian Bedouin group, and basic thematic lexicon. The dialect has been noted for its retention of conservative linguistic features that have disappeared from other urban, rural, and Bedouin Jordanian dialects (such as: ʕAmmāni, Ṣalṭi, Maʕāni, ʕAjlōn, Bani Ḥassan, Bani Ṣaxar, ʕAjārmah, ʕAbbādi, Ġawārnih) as well as the Bedouin dialects of the north Arabian type (including ʕAnizi, Šammari, and Syro-Mesopotamian [Cantineau’s Groups A, B, and C]), such as: the regular occurrence of the glottal stop [Ɂ] after final stressed [a] in pause, variable levels of vowel raising (especially buṣalah pattern), the gahawah syndrome, [guttural] opacity to monophthongization, iambic stress CaCáC, the use of the preposition fi to the exclusion of bi-, third person masculine singular pronominal suffix -ah, third person feminine singular suffix allomorphs (-ih/ah), the form of plural demonstratives (ḥaḏ̣aḷḷ ‘these’, haḏ̣aḷḷāk ‘those’), absence of the final -n in the imperfect, second person feminine singular, second/third person masculine plural. WR Arabic shows parallels with the Negev Bedouin and the Ḥwēṭāt dialects, maintaining a conservative consonant system, lack of affrication of /g/ and /k/, retention of gender distinction in the second/third person plural inflections, productivity of the Form IV verb, absence of voice distinction through internal vowel change, and sharing a number of typical lexical entries. This suggests that WR Arabic falls under the greater non-homogenous North West Arabian type of Bedouin dialects. Though WR Arabic distinguishes itself from the Negev in the absence of the b-imperfect and the absence of vowel harmony in the verb Form I in the imperfect, the typological mapping of the Eastern-Western classification establishes that WR Arabic is closer to the Negev type (Western branch) than the Ḥwēṭāt type.

Citation

Almashaqba, B. (in press). The phonology and morphology of Wadi Ramm Arabic. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Acceptance Date: Apr 16, 2015
• Deposit Date: May 13, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 13, 2016
• Additional Information: Funders : Funder not known