The Phonological Features of Arabic Spoken by Non-Arabs in the UAE

Abstract

Since the discovery of oil in the UAE and the economic boom that has followed, the population structure has changed dramatically. It has witnessed unprecedented jumps that are unparalleled anywhere in the world. Immigrants from different countries have started to find jobs in this country. Asians particularly those who come from India, Pakistan, and Iran have almost dominated the services sector in the country. It has been estimated that the UAE nationals have become a minority that does not exceed 10% of the total population of the country. This research has aimed to find out to what extent this new variety of language that has emerged could be referred to as Pidginized Arabic. It is based mainly on fieldwork, as there have been interviews with 100 people who represent the sample of the study. Thus, the study is descriptive and analytic by nature. The data of the interviews has been studied. It has been expected for this variety of Arabic to be affected by the UAE dialect, but it has been found out that there has been no significant influence on it. This research is restricted to the phonological aspect of Arabic. It has revealed that many Arabic sounds have been pronounced in a distorted way; some of them have been mispronounced; others are converted into many other alternatives. This has created the possibility of a state of misunderstanding to emerge.