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Title:
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Identity Effects and Opacity in Syrian Arabic: An Optimality Theory Analysis
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Author:
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Mohamed Adra
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
, Department of Linguistics
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Degree Date:
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1999
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Phonetics
Phonology
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Subject Language(s):
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Arabic, Standard
Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken
Arabic, Egyptian Spoken
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Director(s):
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Charles Kisseberth
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Abstract:
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This study is an attempt to show that a number of phonological phenomena in Syrian Arabic (SA) can be accounted for by a set of constraints on metrical organizations (syllable, foot, etc.). It is, in particular, an attempt to show that relationships between output forms can shed light on important issues in phonological theory such as opacity and morphological relatedness. In addition, SA is compared to other varieties of Arabic. The goal is to test a central claim of Optimality Theory, namely that differences among languages (or dialects) reflect different prioritization of the constraints that are part of Universal Grammar. This dissertation falls into five chapters. Chapter one discusses the phonological processes of closed syllable shortening, epenthesis, and syncope. It is shown that these phenomena are subject to input-output, as well as base-output constraints. Chapter two provides an account of the stress pattern in SA, with an emphasis on the dialect of Damascus. It explains opaque stress and opaque syncope by resorting to output-output constraints. Chapter three discusses the morphological relations between perfective and imperfective, as well as between imperfective and imperative. A set of correspondence constraints relating the forms at issue is proposed. In chapter four the discussion focuses on the phonology of emphatics. It is shown that emphasis spread is domain-driven; thus, the analysis is based on Optimal Domains Theory. The opaque behavior of some segments with respect to emphasis spread is explained. Chapter five demonstrates how interdialectal differences stem from constraint ranking. Epenthesis and syncope in Iraqi and Egyptian Arabic are accounted for by permuting the constraint set that is present in SA. Similarly, it is shown that parametrization is effective in explaining the difference in emphatic rounding between SA and Lebanese Arabic.
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