Word-Final Consonant Clusters In Three Dialects Of Arabic

2014
المجلد الأول
العدد الثاني
مجلة العلوم الإنسانية

This paper describes how word-final consonant clusters are treated in three different dialects of Arabic, Lebanese Arabic (LA), Jordanian Arabic (JA), and Asiri Arabic (AA) (spoken in southwestern Saudi Arabia).  In each dialect, consonant clusters in word-final CVCC syllables are treated differently: An epenthetic vowel is inserted between these two consonants across the board in JA; an epenthetic vowel is always prohibited in AA; and, an epenthetic vowel breaks up only some of the word-final clusters in LA.  It further seeks to analyze the different patterns of vowel epenthesis in CVCC consonant clusters in each of these dialects.  To explain the LA data, basic premises of Government Phonology will be adopted; to explain the differences between these dialects, a broader explanation of the data will also be demonstrated within the Optimality theory model. 

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