LINGUIST List 19.2323
Tue Jul 22 2008
Diss: Typology/Phonology: Bellem: 'Towards a Comparative Typology ...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
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1. Alex
Bellem,
Towards a Comparative Typology of Emphatics: Across Semitic and into Arabic dialect phonology
Message 1: Towards a Comparative Typology of Emphatics: Across Semitic and into Arabic dialect phonology
Date: 21-Jul-2008
From: Alex Bellem <alexbellem-hussein.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Towards a Comparative Typology of Emphatics: Across Semitic and into Arabic dialect phonology
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Institution: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2007
Author: Alex Bellem
Dissertation Title: Towards a Comparative Typology of Emphatics: Across Semitic and into Arabic dialect phonology
Dissertation URL: http://www.bellem-hussein.demon.co.uk/
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
Linguistic Theories
Phonetics
Phonology
Sociolinguistics
Typology
Subject Language(s): Arabic, Standard (arb)
Language Family(ies): Semitic
Dissertation Director:
Monik Charette
Dissertation Abstract:
This thesis investigates the role of emphatics within the Semitic soundsystem as the basis for a typology of Semitic emphatics.
In seeking to define the term 'emphatic', since emphatics are realised insome Semitic languages as ejectives, and in others as 'pharyngealised', or'backed', the phonetic aspects of both are investigated. I present acousticanalyses of Tigrinya and Arabic (Peninsula Arabian and Iraqi) emphatics,paying particular attention to perceptual salience. Firstly, the notions of'noise-lag' and 'stop-lag' are discussed and exemplified in relation toejectives; secondly, I present and evaluate analyses of VOT in Arabic,showing that there is dialectal variation in the voicing series (i.e.two-way vs three-way). Further to this, I discuss the phonologicalcomposition of the various emphatics and gutturals, proposing structuralrepresentations broadly within an element-theoretic framework.
I then take a diachronic angle, looking at Proto-Semitic and thedevelopment of the sound systems of the Semitic languages, in particularthe Semitic triads, and the development of 'backed' emphatics as a productof changing sound systems. I argue that Proto-Semitic laterals were notpart of the 'triad' system and that the voiced lateral fricative was'backed'. The emphatic trajectory hypothesis is evaluated and theoreticallycontextualised, and I show that dialectal variation in the voicing seriesof Arabic is relevant to the variant phonological systems of the dialecttypes discussed.
A preliminary comparative investigation into Arabic dialect sound systemsis then presented. I discuss dialect classification and detail a set of keyvariables for each dialect group. The thesis then discusses the issue of'emphasis spread', analysing data from four different dialect types. Thedata is discussed in terms of sound systems, and the traditional analysisof 'emphasis spread' is disputed. I show how the various sound systems ofArabic are characterised by resonance patterns, which are a crucial part ofwhat is normally taken to be 'emphasis spread', and that there is an activeprocess of 'fronting' (imala) which is crucial to an analysis of 'emphasis'(tafxim).
The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the research, stressing the needfor systematic and consistent cross-dialectal analyses of both thephonetics and the phonology of Semitic emphatics. I outline how I aim touse this in future work to develop a comprehensive comparative typology,towards which this thesis is a preliminary contribution.
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