في الوضع الفونيمي للهمزة في اللغة العربية = On the Phonemic Status of the Glottal Stop in Arabic

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to use the theoretical framework of empty categories that deals with the various aspects of modern generative phonology, so as to demonstrate that the glottal stop is not a phoneme of Arabic. We will show that it has always been a phonetic realization (gesture) in old Arabic dialects as well as Moroccan Arabic. We take it that this is the natural status of the glottal stop, though Standard Arabic stands as an exception. With a view to developing a new concept of the status of the glottal stop, the article puts forth a set of phonetic and phonological arguments and evidence, both old and recent, along with the behavior of the glottal stop in many natural languages, including Standard Arabic. Such behavior is constrained by phonetic and suprasegmental contexts, though the constraint was originally optional and shifted, via the process of standardization, to a constraint ranging between optional and obligatory.