Patterns of Consonant Clusters in Word Initial, Medial, and Final Positions in Yemeni Arabic

Muhammed Jubran Al-Mamri

doi:10.32505/jl3t.v7i1.2821

Abstract

Yemeni Arabic (YA) has a significant number of consonant clusters in word initial, medial, and final positions. However, their frequency of usage is not uniform. This study aims to investigate the patterns of consonant clusters in word initial, medial, and final positions in YA and also to find out the most and least frequent clusters in terms of their percentage. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in data analysis in this study. All the words were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). There are features of consonant clusters in Yemeni Arabic which differ from Modern Standard Arabic and some other Arabic dialects. In Yemeni Arabic, there are 29 consonants and 10 vowels, 5 long and 5 short vowels. The maximum number of onset cluster is three (e.g. /∫tsu:q/ “she will drive” while coda cluster is two (e.g. /satˤħ/ “roof”). Furthermore, the maximum number of medial clusters are also two (e.g. /muχ.lsˤu/ “sincere”. The analysis undertaken will throw light on the frequency and percentages of the occurrences of the consonant clusters on the basis of a word list, which is justified with the help of statistical support.

Highlights

There are no initial and medial consonant clusters in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic and many other Arabic dialects
This study aims to investigate the patterns of consonant clusters in word initial, medial, and final positions in YA and to find out the most and least frequent clusters in terms of their percentage
He mentioned that this patterns are limited in Najdi dialect such as /str/. (Daana, 2009) pointed that initial- consonant cluster patterns in Classical Arabic are prohibited but in some Arabic dialects such as Palestinian, Cairene and Ammani Arabic onset clusters are not prohibited

Summary

Introduction

There are no initial and medial consonant clusters in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic and many other Arabic dialects They are permitted only word- (coda position) as in /bint/ “girl”, /kalb/ “dog” and /ʔardʕ/ “land”. According to (Abboud, 1979) three- initial consonant clusters occur in Najdi dialect He mentioned that this patterns (three onset clusters) are limited in Najdi dialect such as /str/. (Daana, 2009) pointed that initial- consonant cluster patterns in Classical Arabic are prohibited but in some Arabic dialects such as Palestinian, Cairene and Ammani Arabic onset clusters are not prohibited. According to (Al-Mamri, 2018) consonant clusters occur in all positions of word in Zabidi Yemeni dialect and the maximum number of clusters is three- word initial, two- word medial and final

Objectives

Methods

Results