A Synchronic Study of Metathesis in Eastern Arabic

A Synchronic Study of Metathesis in Eastern Arabic, with Reference to Makkan and Cairene Dialects

2003

Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

Abstract

The present study focuses on metathesis as the phonological process whereby in certain languages and under certain conditions, sounds appear to exchange position with one another. This reordering of segments within the phonological string is discussed in details to give a formal account for metathesis. A synchronic analysis is carried out to provide evidence that describe the sequential change involving metathesis in Eastern Arabic with reference to Makkan and Cairene dialects at the beginning of the twenty first century. Makkan and Cairene Arabic are known to be the most understood Arabic varieties and thus they were chosen to be analyzed as representatives of Eastern Arabic. A synchronic description of the interchanging of sounds is illustrated in tables and a statistical result is tabulated. As a conclusion, the study recorded phonological variation presented in two different output of Eastern Arabic. Most of the metathesised sounds are the same in both varieties. Adjacent and non-adjacent metatheses are found. Synchronic metatheses occur between root radicals within the root itself. Root-infix metathesis took place too. This causes a change in verb pattern and thus an infix turned into a prefix. Finally, sonorant consonants are reported to be more frequent within the metathesised sounds.