An Account to n-realization in Standard and Jordanian Arabic

Abstract

This paper focuses on n-liaison which is a phonological process in Arabic. There are two types of liaison in Arabic: the case of the feminine -t and the -n of the sound masculine plural and the dual. Several proposals have been suggested to account for the (non-)application of t-liaison. It has been proposed that its application is determined by its distribution in its spell-out domain in Jordanian Arabic (Jaradat, to appear), its maximal syntactic projection in Standard Arabic (Abdelghani 2010) and its containing phonological phrase in both varieties (Yasin 2012). As for n-liaison, no previous studies accounted for this process. In this study, following Jaradat (to appear), I will show that n-liaison in Standard Arabic is relatively similar to t-liaison. Its realization and omission is adequately predicted by Phase Theory (Chomsky 2001). Its realization is determined based on its distribution in its spell-out domain: it must be omitted in a spell-out domain-internal position. Otherwise, it must be realized. As for n-liaison in Jordanian Arabic, it cannot be fully explained and predicted by the multiple spell-out algorithm since the -n with the dual form must be realized in all possible distributions. With regard to the sound plural, -n is optionally omitted in a spell-out domain-internal position and obligatorily preserved in final position