Abstract
This paper describes the vowels of the Qassimi dialect and explores the characteristic features of those vowels. To achieve this goal, the researcher has compiled a list of Qassimi words. Each word represents a major allophone of each vowel phoneme. These words were then repeated by Qassimi female speakers from Buraidah and recorded by the researcher. The data was subjected to acoustic analysis, and the results were compared to the acoustic results of English vowels. The analysis showed many similarities in the characteristics of both Qassimi and English vowels. However, it also showed some significant differences that distinguish the vowel system of Qassimi from the English vowel system as well as other Saudi dialects. This study sheds light on those differences, however it is left to future studies to investigate further and possibly compare other aspects of these dialects. This study contributes to the theoretical description of Saudi dialects, an area that needs many more contributions. In addition, this paper could be a part of the contrastive studies of Arabic and English, second language acquisition studies, or various other applied studies.
Highlights
Much attention in linguistic research has been given to variation studies
This study shows some of the significant differences between Qassimi and English vowel inventories
By analyzing the Qassimi vowels, the researcher found that they can be divided to three groups, a group of vowels that are shared by almost all dialects and languages, and these are the basic peripheral vowels /a/, /a:/, /i/, /i:/, /u/ and /u:/
Summary
Much attention in linguistic research has been given to variation studies. It is known that variation occurs among languages as well as among dialects. The main focus of this study will be on sounds, and on the vowels of one dialect spoken in Saudi Arabia. This is a descriptive study of the Qassimi dialect, but it does not cover all aspects of this dialect; this study presents a description of its vowels. The study is concerned with the major vowel allophones of the Qassimi dialect It will shed light on some major similarities and differences between the Qassimi dialect and other dialects and languages. This study explores areas of both phonology and phonetics Regarding the former, it describes the Qassimi vowel system, and which sounds it contains, and regarding the latter, it addresses the acoustics of these sounds
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