Abstract
The validity of stress as a criterion to distinguish between compounds and phrases has been investigated in many languages, including English (see e.g. Lieber 2005: 376; Booij 2012: 84). However, the possibility of using stress as a criterion in this way has not been investigated for Arabic. Siloni (1997: 21) claims that in N+N combinations in Semitic languages, stress always falls on the second element. However, the results of a study using PRAAT reveal that, in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Jordanian Arabic (JA), stress plays no role in distinguishing between various N+N combinations, i.e. compounds and phrases, e.g.ˈmuʕallim lfiizyaaʔ ‘the physics teacher’ vs.ˈbayt lwalad ‘the boy’s house’, respectively. Analysis shows that the default position of stress in N+N combinations in MSA and JA is on the first element. There is only one systematic exception, which is phonetically conditioned: in N+N combinations with assimilated geminates on the word boundary, a secondary stress or perhaps double stress is assigned.
Highlights
Stress has been the focus of a great deal of research in the last two decades, since it has been considered a useful criterion for distinguishing phrases from compounds in several languages (e.g. Chomsky and Halle 1968 (English); Bauer 2009: 402 (Danish); Don 2009: 379-380 (Dutch); Kiefer 2009: 531 (Hungarian); Szymanek 2009: 472-73 (Polish); Zamponi 2009: 587, 592 (Maipure-Yavitero) among others)
Even though the participants are not native speakers of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the data collected from MSA will be of importance in this experiment, since it may help provide a clearer picture of stress assignment in N+N combinations in Arabic in general
Since gemination plays a significant role in stress assignment, this section is divided into four sub-sections on the basis of the presence vs. absence of gemination
Summary
Stress has been the focus of a great deal of research in the last two decades, since it has been considered a useful criterion for distinguishing phrases from compounds in several languages (e.g. Chomsky and Halle 1968 (English); Bauer 2009: 402 (Danish); Don 2009: 379-380 (Dutch); Kiefer 2009: 531 (Hungarian); Szymanek 2009: 472-73 (Polish); Zamponi 2009: 587, 592 (Maipure-Yavitero) among others). Stress has been the focus of a great deal of research in the last two decades, since it has been considered a useful criterion for distinguishing phrases from compounds in several languages It has been shown that, in English, there are systematic exceptions to this simple picture (Plag 2003: 138), but stress assignment remains a potentially useful criterion for making this kind of distinction. Stress as a criterion to distinguish between compounds and phrases has not been investigated in Arabic. Siloni 1997: 21) claim that stress always falls on the right element of N+N combination in Semitic languages, including Arabic, without making a clear distinction between compounds and phrases. The examination of stress assignment as a criterion to distinguish compounds from phrases in Arabic remains an area worthy of further investigation. This study identifies the default position of stress within N+N combinations in Arabic and one exception to this pattern, which is phonetically conditioned
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