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Gulf Arabic

Gulf Arabic (خليجي Ḵalījī local pronunciation: [χɑˈliːdʒiː] or اللهجة الخليجية il-lahja il-Ḵalījīya, local pronunciation: [(ɪ)lˈlæhdʒæ lχɑˈliːdʒiːjæ]) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in Eastern Arabia[2] around the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, southern Iraq,[3] eastern Saudi Arabia, northern Oman, and by some Iranian Arabs.[4]

Gulf Arabic can be defined as a set of closely related and more-or-less mutually intelligible varieties that form a dialect continuum, with the level of mutual intelligibility between any two varieties largely depending on the distance between them. Similar to other Arabic varieties, Gulf Arabic varieties are not completely mutually intelligible with other Arabic varieties spoken outside the Gulf.[5] The specific dialects differ in vocabulary, grammar and accent. There are considerable differences between, for instance, Kuwaiti Arabic and the dialects of Qatar and the UAE, especially in pronunciation, that may hinder mutual intelligibility.[6] The Gulf has two major dialect types that differ phonologically and morphologically, typically referred to as badawī ('Bedouin') and ḥadarī ('sedentary'), the differences marking important cultural differences between those who historically practiced pastoralism and those who were sedentary.[7]

Gulf varieties' closest related relatives are other dialects native to the Arabian Peninsula, i.e. Najdi Arabic, Mesopotamian Arabic and Bahrani Arabic.[8][9] Although spoken over much of Saudi Arabia's area, Gulf Arabic is not the native tongue of most Saudis, as the majority of them do not live in Eastern Arabia.[6] There are some 200,000 Gulf Arabic speakers in the country, out of a population of over 30 million, mostly in the aforementioned Eastern Province.[8][9]

Name

Peninsular Arabic varieties (Gulf Arabic indicated by dark maroon)

The dialect's full name el-lahja el-Khalijiyya (اللهجة الخليجية local pronunciation: [elˈlæhdʒæ lxɑˈliːdʒɪj.jæ]) can be translated as 'the dialect of the gulf'. However, it is most commonly referred to as Khaliji (خليجي Khalījī [xɑˈliːdʒi]), in which the noun خليج ([xɑˈliːdʒ]; Khalīj) has been suffixed with the Nisba, literally meaning 'of the bay' or 'of the gulf'.[10]

Phonology

Consonants

Phonetic notes:

Allophony

/k/ and /ɡ/ are often palatalized when occurring before front vowels unless the following consonant is emphatic. The actual realization is in free variation, and can be [kʲ ɡʲ] or, more commonly, [tʃ dʒ].[15][19] Speakers who exhibit variation between [ɡʲ] and [dʒ] do so in words derived from historical /q/ (e.g. مقابل [mɪgʲæːbɪl~mɪdʒæːbɪl] 'opposite'); [j] is a contemporary reflex of historical /dʒ/ and so there are also sets of words where [dʒ] and [j] appear in free variation (e.g. (e.g. جار [dʒæːr~jæːr] 'neighbor').[16][20]

Voiced stops tend to devoice in utterance-final position, especially as the final element in clusters, e.g. كلب ('dog') /kalb/ [tʃælp].[15]

A notable aspect of Gulf Arabic is the different realization of a number of phonemes inherited from Classical Arabic. These differences are the result, in part, of natural linguistic changes over time. After these changes occurred, the original sounds (or close approximations to them) were reintroduced as a result of contact with other dialects, as well as through influence of Modern Standard Arabic as a language of media, government, and religion. For many of these sounds, speakers exhibit free variation between the MSA form and the colloquial form.[20] The following table provides a rough outline of these differences:

Vowels

Gulf Arabic has five long vowels and three or four short monophthongs. Two recent studies point to a lack of phonemic contrast between [i] and [u], and Shockley (2020) argues that backness is not phonemically contrastive in short vowels.[28][29] The most recent grammar of Gulf Arabic similarly points to a reduced central vowel [ə] as a frequent reflex of all short vowels.[30]

Allophony

Regional variations in vowel pronunciation is considerable, particularly outside of educated speech. Unless otherwise noted, the following are major allophonic variants shared across the entire Gulf region.

Front vowels

In the context of emphatic consonants, long /iː/ and /eː/ exhibit centralized vowel onglides and offglides.[31] For example:

Similarly, the normal realization of short /i/ is [ɪ] except in final position, where it is [i]; when adjacent to emphatic, uvular, or bilabial consonants, /i/ is centralized to [ɨ].

When between two emphatic, uvular, or bilabial consonants, /i/ is fully backed to [ʊ].[32]

/ɡallib/ قَلِّب ('turn over!') → [gɑlˤlˤʊbˤ].[33]

The normal realization of short /a/ is a front [æ];[31] when adjacent to dorsal and pharyngeal consonants, the normal realization is a back [ɑ]; when adjacent to emphatic consonants (and, for some speakers, bilabial consonants), the realization is a back and rounded [ɒ]:[31]

When both a dorsal/pharyngeal consonant and emphatic consonant are adjacent to a vowel, the realization is [ɒ].[31]

For /aː/, the pattern is largely the same except that, when adjacent to dorsal/pharyngeal consonants, the realization is [aː].[31]

Word-finally, long /aː/ is shortened and subjected to the same phonological rules as short /a/. This shortening can lead to alternations based on morphological conditioning, e.g. [ɣadæ] ('lunch') vs. [ɣadæːk] ('your lunch').[31]

Back vowels

/uː/ is normally realized as [ʊː]. Similarly, /u/ is realized [ʊ] except when unstressed, in which case it is reduced to [ə] if it is not deleted altogether (e.g. /bujuːt/ → [bəjʊːt] or [bjʊːt] 'houses').[31]

The short vowel phoneme /o/ occurs rarely as a variant of the diphthong /aw/ in a handful of words (e.g. لو /lo/ 'if').[34]

Morphology

Similarly to other Arabic varieties, Gulf Arabic has lost much of the case inflection of Classical Arabic. Possession is marked with the particles /maːl-/ and /ħaɡɡ-/, which are attached to possessive enclitics.[35]

Pronouns

Gulf Arabic has 10 personal pronouns.[36] The conservative dialect has preserved the gender differentiation of the 2nd and 3rd person in the plural forms, whereas dual forms have not survived. The following table bears the generally most common pronouns:

Some pronouns, however, have other (less frequent, resp. local) forms:

Syntax

The normal word order in main clauses is the following:[37]

Subject – (Verb) – (Direct Object) – (Indirect Object) – (Adverbials)

The following sentence indicates the normal word order of declarative statements:

/ʔaħmad

Ahmad

xarrab

ruined-3msg

l-beːt/

the-house

/ʔaħmad xarrab l-beːt/

Ahmad ruined-3msg the-house

'Ahmad ruined the house'

When forming interrogative statements, any of these elements can be replaced by interrogative words. Holes (1990) identifies five such words in Gulf Arabic:[37]

Unless it is desired to stress one of these elements, this order of elements is preserved in the formation of interrogative questions.[38]

/min

xarrab

il-beːt/

who

ruined-3msg

the-house

/min xarrab il-beːt/ who ruined-3msg the-house

'who ruined the house?'

/ʔaħmad

Ahmad

xarrab

ruined-3msg

ʃinhu/

what

/ʔaħmad xarrab ʃinhu/

Ahmad ruined-3msg what

'what did Amad ruin?'

/ʔaħmad

Ahmad

xarrab

ruined-3msg

il-beːt

the-house

leːʃ/

why

/ʔaħmad xarrab il-beːt leːʃ/

Ahmad ruined-3msg the-house why

'why did Ahmad ruin the house?'

When placing emphasis on the questioned element, word order can change. Specifically, the element of a clause can be questioned by moving it, generally to initial position. With the subject (which is normally initial), it is moved to final position:[38]

/xarrab

ruined-3msg

il-beːt

the-house

min/

who

/xarrab il-beːt min/

ruined-3msg the-house who

'who ruined the house?'

The moved element receives strong stress; in the case of a question word, the intonation is a high fall. When the point is to seek clarification, the element questioned has a high rising intonation.[39]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Gulf Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Holes (2001), pp. xvi–xvii.
  3. ^ Arabic, Gulf Spoken – A Language of Iraq Ethnologue
  4. ^ Languages of Iran Ethnologue
  5. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. xvii.
  6. ^ a b Holes (2001), p. ?.
  7. ^ Versteegh (2006), p. 212.
  8. ^ a b Frawley (2003), p. 38.
  9. ^ a b Languages of Saudi Arabia Ethnologue
  10. ^ Awde & Smith (2003), p. 88.
  11. ^ Holes (1990), p. 260–4.
  12. ^ a b Holes (2001), p. 51.
  13. ^ Khalifa et al. (2016).
  14. ^ Holes (1990), p. 265.
  15. ^ a b c Holes (1990), p. 261.
  16. ^ a b Holes (1990), p. 262.
  17. ^ Holes (1990), p. 262, 265.
  18. ^ a b Holes (1990), p. 264.
  19. ^ Al-Rojaie (2013), p. 43.
  20. ^ a b Al-Amadihi (1985), p. 180.
  21. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 263.
  22. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 265.
  23. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 266.
  24. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 267.
  25. ^ Al-Rojaie (2013), p. 48.
  26. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 2.
  27. ^ Almuhannadi (2006).
  28. ^ Shockley (2020).
  29. ^ Leitner et al. (2021).
  30. ^ Leung, Ntelitheos & Al Kaabi (2020).
  31. ^ a b c d e f g Holes (1990), p. 264–5.
  32. ^ Shockley (2020), p. 38–39.
  33. ^ Bukshaisha (1985), p. 507.
  34. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 48.
  35. ^ Holes (1990), p. 170.
  36. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 159.
  37. ^ a b Holes (1990), p. 3.
  38. ^ a b Holes (1990), p. 4.
  39. ^ Holes (1990), p. 5.

Sources

Further reading