Syncope in Makkan Arabic Fast Speech: A Stratal-OT Analysis

Rawiah S Kabrah

doi:10.13189/lls.2019.070103

Abstract

Syncope is a pervasive phenomenon in Arabic, in general. In Makkan Arabic in particular, syncope occurs both in careful speech as well as in fast speech. This paper examines syncope in fast speech where it applies to initial syllables in words giving rise to syllables that contain complex onsets which are otherwise prohibited in the language. It further examines the phonotactic constraints that play a role in the application of syncope as well as the constraints that can block syncope in the same environments. Other Arabic dialects that manifest the same behavior of syncope in fast speech are considered. The analysis of the Makkan data is done within the framework of Stratal-Optimality theory. The paper lends evidence to the fact that postlexical level includes the level of careful speech and that of fast speech each with its own ranking of constraints.

Highlights

This paper aims at examining syncope in Makkan Arabic fast speech to determine whether it is a phonological or a phonetic process, to describe the context in which syncope occurs in a given rate of speech, and to provide an OT analysis of syncope at different rates of speech showing the different constraints that conspire to cause deletion at each level
The question that poses itself here is: what causes such disparity between complex onsets and complex codas to the extent that the former are allowed in postlexical level 2 while the latter are banned throughout the grammar? A possible answer to this question lies in the fact that when consonants stand in coda position they are counted towards syllable weight and the syllable in MA is maximally bimoraic with final consonant extrametricality
A process such as syncope in MA applies at both postlexical levels, it differs in the environments where each applies and the structures that each gives rise to

Summary

Introduction

She adds that syncope underapplies in the broken plurals and loan words from standard Arabic. Both Abu Mansour [8] and Kabrah [10] consider syncope as a postlexical process in the Makkan dialect. This paper aims at examining syncope in Makkan Arabic fast speech to determine whether it is a phonological or a phonetic process, to describe the context in which syncope occurs in a given rate of speech, and to provide an OT analysis of syncope at different rates of speech showing the different constraints that conspire to cause deletion at each level. Abu Mansour [8] observes that in Makkan Arabic all high vowels in open unstressed syllables are deleted. Syncope is blocked if it yields syllables with complex margins (complex onsets or codas)

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