A socio-phonetic study of English loanword adaptation in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic

Abstract

The current study investigates the effect of gender, age, and English educational background on English loanword adaptation in colloquial Egyptian Arabic (CEA). The phonetic and phonological effects of these social variables are studied with respect to segments, syllables, and voicing exemplified in voice onset time (VOT). The speech sample consists of 120 well-established and online English loanwords collected from 60 native speakers of CEA from Alexandria. The results show that the source sounds are mapped to the closest phonemes. The adaptation of the syllables shows constructions that are not attested in CEA, specifically the complex onsets. Among the participant’s level of English education, age, and gender, only the impact of the English educational background is statistically significant. The results revealed no significant differences in the adaptation of the different age or gender groups. However, observation shows that the adult speakers showed the highest rate of faithful adaptation. Regarding gender, females tend to be more concerned with prestige and thus used more faithful adaptation.