AN ACOUSTIC STUDY OF COARTICULATION IN MODERN STANDARD ARABIC AND DIALECTAL ARABIC: PHARYNGEALIZED vs NON-PHARYNGEALIZED ARTICULATION

The present study carries out an acoustic investigation of coarticulation in the context of pharyngealized /t d s / vs non- pharyngealized consonants /t d s / both in MSA and in four Arabic dialects (Yemeni, Kuwaiti, Jordanian and Moroccan). The speech material, produced by four males per country, consisted of 24 words in symmetrical VCV contexts [iCi, uCu, aCa] where C is either pharyngealized or non-pharyngealizd, in both MSA and Dialectal Arabic. The results from 4608 CV sequences showed a substantial regularity in coarticulation. Comparison of the two contexts – pharyngealized vs non-pharyngealized – indicated quite different acoustic cues. Speakers presented comparable cues, allowing an effective classification by geographical area. Intraspeaker variation showed that the transition from MSA to the native dialect was realized by different strategies of programming and production