of Arabic, viz, MSA spoken by those who are specialists in the language like MA and PhD holders and a variety ..... they verbs, nouns, adjective etc. However, in ...
Syllable Structure and Syllabification in Yemeni and Indian Arabic 1 Mohammed Shormani Hyderabad University, April, 2009 1. Introduction The syllable as a universal phonological concept has been shown to have a well-defined status in phonological theories. Early as well as recent studies have revealed that phonological systems of many languages cannot be properly described without reference to syllables and higher level units, and that phonotactic constraints and distributional statements on the way segments cluster together are best expressed, in many cases, in terms of syllables rather than morphemes or words. In addition, there is also good evidence for the fact that syllable is a structural unit including, for instance, morphological rules and suprasegmental or prosodic units such as stress (Benhallam, 1980; Abu-Salim, 1982, Watson, 2007). As such a syllable must be the domain on which such units are defined. There are also some related processes to syllable such as syllabification, consonant clustering and gemination. The stress rules of many languages, for instance, draw a distinction between light and heavy syllables and hence assign stress to heavy syllables that meet certain conditions. Being a Semitic language, syllable structure and syllabification in Arabic have their own properties. In this paper, I will try to present a brief account of syllable structure and syllabification in Yemeni Arabic (YA) and Indian Arabic (IA). Yemen has two major dialects of Arabic, viz, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and YA. Likewise, in India, there are two varieties of Arabic, viz, MSA spoken by those who are specialists in the language like MA and PhD holders and a variety called Indian Arabic spoken by Muslims due to the influence of the Holly Qur’an. Some related processes to syllable and syllabification such as gemination, consonant clustering and stress placement and how these processes work in both YA and IA will be investigated. The framework employed here is Moraic Theory. 2. Syllable Structure MSA Several researchers (e.g. Al-Ani, 1978; Broselow, 1979; McCarthy, 1979) among others have attested that MSA has the syllable patterns in (1) below: (1)
a. CV
la
‘no’
b. CVV
raa.sal
‘he correspond’
c. CVC
kul
‘all’
d. CVVC
naal
‘he got’
1
This research article was presented in several international conferences in UoH, Osmania and CIEFL. Thanks to my Indian informants and the audience in these conferences.
1
e. CVCC
‘sister’
?uxt
In fact, there are several studies that tackle the syllable structure in Arabic in general. For instance, (Kiparsky, 2003; McCarthy, 1979; Holes, 2004; Al-Ani, 1978; Abu-Salim, 1982) among others have asserted that syllables in Arabic have internal immediate constituent structures of their own that can be represented in primary-branching tree diagrams. Thus, the first major division is into onset and rime. The onset consists of any consonant or consonant cluster preceding the syllable nucleus and the rime includes all remaining elements. The rime in turn divides into two parts, viz, the syllable nucleus and the coda. The coda is said to be the final consonant or consonant cluster. Thus, such a syllable structure can be represented as in (2): (2) Syllable Template in MSA
Source: Abu-Salim (1982: 62) Now, given the syllable template in (2) above and the terminology associated with it, the syllable patterns in (1) above will have the internal structures as in (3), where O, R, N and K stand for onset, rime, nucleus and coda respectively, (3)
Source: modified from Abu-Salim (1982: 64) 3. Syllable Structure in YA The syllable structures in (3) demonstrate different characteristics of syllable structure in Arabic. First, the onset, as opposed to the coda, is an obligatory constituent of all the syllable 2
structures in (1), i.e. each syllable must begin with a consonant which implies that vowel-initial syllables are not allowed in Arabic. There are cases, however, where the onset consists of more than one consonant especially in YA. In addition to the syllable patterns noted in (1), the following are the most notable syllable patterns in YA. (4)
a. CCV
sta.lam
‘to receive’
b. CCVV
blaa.di
‘my home country’
c. CVCC
qult
‘I said’
d. CCVC
staq.bal
‘to welcome’
e. CCVVC
blaad
‘one’s country’
f. CVVCC
maarr
‘passer-by’
The syllable types in (4a), i.e. CCV occurs in word-initial positions as in sta.lam (to receive), word medial positions as in ?istaraq (was stolen) and word-final positions as in kalalmtu. The syllable pattern CCVV is highly respected, i.e. it occurs only in word initial positions as represented in (4b). CCVC occurs in word-initial positions as in staq.bal (to welcome), word-medial positions as in ?i.štum.hu (abuse him) and word-final as in ?i.drib (beat). CCVVC occurs word initially as in blaad.na (our home country) and word finally as in?i.jtaaħ (invaded) but it does not occur word medially. CVVCC is usually restricted to phonological word-final positions in YA. As presented in (1), MSA has no consonant cluster in word-initial positions and only up to two consonants can be clustered in word-final positions. However, in (4) above, YA has initial consonant clusters up to two consonants. Historically, words with initial consonant clusters in YA as well as in many dialects of Arabic like Hijazi, have developed from corresponding words with no such clusters in MSA. Such a development in Abu-Salim’s (1982: 13) words is a result of “the applications of some diachronic rules: deleting vowels or consonants or both in some environments.” In addition, the syllable structure CVVCC occurs in YA specially the dialect spoken in Sana’a as in maarr (passer-by) and saamm (poisonous) which is a kind of gemination. However, it is less frequent in its occurrence. Thus, the syllable template underlying all syllable structures shown in (4) above can be thus formulated as in (5) below. This template shows that syllable structure in YA is also bimoraic.
3
(5) Syllable Template in YA
Condition: if a ~ b Abu-Salim (1982: 17) remarks that the condition means that “the nucleus and the coda cannot both be branching in the same syllable.” In addition to the syllable structures considered in (4) above, there is a third syllable type, so-called by Watson (2007) a ‘superheavy’ syllable, which is usually restricted to domain-final position represented in (6) below. This superheavy, viz, CVCCC is restricted to phonological word-final position in YA. However, an apparent problem arises with the analysis of this syllable. If we claim that only the final consonant in the domain is extrasyllabic we end up with an apparent trimoraic syllable, as in (6) below which is not in line with the underlying syllable structure which is bimoraic. Such a syllable structure as in ma:kuntš (I was not) is represented by (6) below: (6)
Source: (Watson, 2007: 59) 4
The CVCCC syllable type is, however, extremely restricted in occurrence and almost all potential sequences of CVCCC. In fact, CVCCC syllables are restricted, therefore, not only in terms of phonological position, but also in terms of which consonants can occupy the final two positions. The only surface tokens of final CVCCC syllables in YA involve final tš from the concatenation of the perfect aspect subject suffixes {first person singular} or {second person masculine singular} + {negative}. This is exemplified below in (7) (7) /ma: + libist + š/ ma:libistš /ma: + gult + š/ ma:gultš
‘I/you m.s. didn’t wear’ ‘I/you m.s. didn’t say’
4. Syllable Structure in IA Arabic in India carries an almost absolute Islamic identity. This is in Qutbuddin’ s (2007) views due to the Islamic influence under which Indians learn or speak Arabic. Qutbuddin adds that this results in speaking a variety she calls IA. Regarding MSA spoken in India, it has the same syllable structures discussed in (1) above. However, it has been found that IA has the syllable structures in (8) below: (8) a.VC
il
‘the definite article: the’
b. CV
katap
‘he wrote’
c. CVC
rapna
‘our God’
d. CVCC
kult
‘I said’
e. CVV
laa
‘no’
f. CVVC
suum
‘you (sg. m.) fast’
g. CVVCC
kaalpi
‘my heart’
Before discussing the different syllable structures in IA, there is a very significant point that has to be paid attention to. From the respondents I have met, I have found that Indians speaking Arabic were not able to pronounce some Arabic sounds such as the uvular /q/, the pharyngeals, /؟/ and /ħ/, the emphatic dentals /ŧ/ and /ð/, /ş/ and /D`/, the velars /γ/ and /x/ and the glottal /?/. This phenomenon has been ascribed by some researchers (e.g. Qutbuddin, 2007) to the fact that these sounds do not exist in Indian languages whether Indo-European or Dravidian. In fact, the influence of Indian languages is extended to affect the pronunciation of some Arabic sounds which are possessed by Indian languages. For instance, almost all Indian languages have the phoneme /b/ yet we notice that Indians pronounce the Arabic /b/ as /p/ as in (8g) above where /b/ in qalb (heart) is pronounced /p/ irrespective of the way it is syllabified. In addition, there is a difference between YA CVVCC and IA CVVCC. While in YA, the last CC are geminates, they 5
are not so in IA. Further, unlike YA, IA does not have initial consonant clusters and in this it resembles MSA.
5. Syllabification in YA Syllabification can be simply defined as a phonological process by means of which words and/or phrases are divided into syllables. As far as YA is concerned, the main domain of syllabification is the phonological word. The phonological word in YA consists of the word stem plus any affixes. In the imperfect verb, for instance, the phonological word comprises the stem, any subject and object pronoun suffixes, the negative suffix and the imperfect prefix. A number of monomoraic particles including conjunctions and the habitual/continuous and future verbal prefixes may be procliticized to the phonological word, and have no effect on word stress. For instance, fa-bi-tiktubu:ha: (so you m.pl. are writing it f.) consists of the phonological word tiktubu:ha: and the proclitics fa- (conjunction) and bi- (habitual/continuous). However, a prepositional phrase complement can either be incorporated within the phonological word of the verb or function as a separate phonological unit. This phenomenon is exemplified in (9) below: (9)
(i) /ma: + katab + lana: + š/ or /ma: + katab + š + lana:/ (ii) /ma: + katab + lak + š/ or /ma: + katab + š + lak/
ma: katablana:š ma: katabš lana: ma:katablakš ma: katabš lak
‘he did not write to us’ ‘he did not write to us’ ‘he did not write to you m.s.’ ‘he did not write to you m.s.
where preposition complements lana: (to us) and lak (to you) are demonstrated to have been added either immediately to the verb katab or function as separate phonological units. Syllabification is usually discussed in terms of syllable repair processes such as epenthesis, closed syllable shortening and syncope (Watson, 2007). These are briefly discussed below. 5.1. Epenthesis Epenthesis is defined by Watson (2007) as the insertion of a vowel into a word to make its pronunciation easier. While sequences of three consonants may occur in YA, in general epenthesis of [a] occurs when three consonants are juxtaposed within the phonological word as in (10) (10) a. /ħajj + na:/ ħajj [a]na: b. /ba ؟d + m:a/ ba؟d [a]ma: c. /gabl + mƒ/ gabl[a]ma: d. /gult + lih/ gult[a]lih e. /dafact + lak/ dafa ct [a]lak
‘our pilgrim m.’ ‘after’ ‘before’ ‘I told him’ ‘I paid you m.s.’ 6
5.2. Closed Syllable Shortening When the morphology concatenates a domain-final CVVC syllable to a consonant-initial morpheme within the phonological phrase, the long vowel is shortened to prevent the appearance of non-phonological-phrase-final CVVC syllables. In closed syllables, /a:/ is shortened to [a], /i:/ to [i], and /u:/ to [u]. Example (11b) exemplifies vowel shortening within the phonological word; (11a) exemplifies vowel shortening within the phonological phrase: (11) a. /ba:b + kum/ b. /ji: + na/
‘your pl. door’ ‘we came’
babkum jina
This process is described as Closed Syllable Shortening (CSS) and can be understood as the final consonant crowding out the vowel from the second mora. However, CSS is optional in YA before the negative suffix -š. This is exemplified in (12) below. (12) a. /(ma: +) ka:n + š/ b. /(ma: +) diri:t + š/
(ma:) kanš ~ ka:nš (ma:) diritš ~ diri:tš
‘he was not’ ‘I/you m.s. didn’t know’
In YA, CSS also occurs between verbs and prepositional complements as in (13) below. (13) a. /ra:ħ + lih/ raħlih ‘he went off ’ ‘he said to me’ b. /ga:l + li:/ galli: where lih (off) and li: (to me) are added to the verbs ra:ħ (went) and ga:l (said). 5.3. Syncope Syncope can be simply defined as a type of elision in which a word is contracted by removing a vowel in a syllable. In YA, syncope targets vowels in monomoraic syllables which are flanked by vowel-final syllables across words to reduce the number of syllables and maximize bimoraicity (Watson, 2007: 71). Now, consider (14) below: (14)
a. /tišti: + tisi:r/ b. /gadu:+ kubur/
‘she wants to go’ ‘he has grown up’
tišti tsi:r gadu kbur
where /i/ has been removed from tisi:r in (a) and /u/ from kubur in (b). 6. Syllabification in IA
7
Syllabification in IA works only in epenthesis. Other syllabification processes such as CSS and syncope do not apply. For instance, in the case of syncope, I have not found vowel deletion in IA. However, it seems that epenthesis largely applies to IA and this may account for the nonexistence of initial consonant cluster in IA as shown in (8) above. 6.1. Epenthesis in IA If we reexamine (8) above, we notice that unlike YA and MSA, IA has VC which does not exist even in Classical Arabic (CL). As has been stated above, the dominant use of epenthesis accounts for the nonexistence of initial consonant clusters in IA. In this aspect I have asked my respondents to pronounce the YA words exemplified in (4) above in addition to ma:kuntš (I was not) whose final syllable structure is CVCCC and the result was (15) below: (15) YA a. sta.lam
IA [i]sta.lam
Gloss ‘to receive’
b. blaad.di
b[i]laa.di
‘my home country’
c. qult
qult
‘ I said’
d. staq.bal
[i]staq.bal
‘to welcome’
e. blaad
b[i]laad ‘one’s country’
f. maarr
maar[i]r ‘passer-by’
g. ma:kuntš
ma:kunt[i]š ‘I was not’
In (15) (a) through (g), epenthesis affects the pronunciation of such words. That is, there is an insertion of the short vowel /i/ which makes consonant clustering in word initial positions impossible in IA. Other possible consonant clusterings in IA will be discussed later on. The difference between YA and IA regarding epenthesis is that while in the former there is an insertion of [a], there is an insertion of [i] in the latter. 7. Consonant Clustering in YA As we have seen above, MSA has only one consonant cluster which is …CC in wordfinal position as in qalb (heart). However, YA has several consonant clusters. Now consider the patterns in (16) below: (16) Pattern
example
gloss 8
(i) CC….
stalamtu
‘I receive’
(ii) …CC…
halamtu
‘I spoke’
(iii) …CC
kalb
‘dog’
(iv) …CCC
ma:šuftš
‘I didn’t see’
These are the clustering patterns in YA which have been argued for by many researchers (e.g. Abu-Salim, 1982; Broselow, 1979, 1997; McCarthy, 1979; Watson, 2007) among others. Historically, words with consonant clusters in YA, as well as in other Arabic dialects, whether word-initial, word-medial or word-final positions, have developed from corresponding words with no clusters in CA or MSA. McCarthy (1986) attributes this phenomenon to the diachronic and synchronic developments by means of syllabification and other phonological processes. 8. Consonant Clustering in IA As has been stated above, in IA there is no initial consonant (cf. (6). However, there are two types of consonant clusters in IA, viz, medial and final. In both only up two to consonants can be clustered. There are exemplified in (17) below: (17) a. katabtu
‘I wrote’
b. bintuna
‘our daughter’
c. ?uxt
‘sister’
d. kalp
‘dog’
In (17) above, (a) and (b) exemplify medial consonant clustering in IA while (c) and (d) exemplify final one. Here it should be noted that in (d), IA speakers pronounce the Arabic sound /b/ as /p/ which may be ascribed to the influence of the aspirated /p/ in Indian languages as noted above. 9. Gemination in YA Gemination is one way of clustering in Arabic whether in MSA or YA. Geminates are included in the class of permissible initial, internal and final clusters. As far as MSA is concerned, many researchers (e.g. Al-Ani, 1979; Broselow et al, 1997; McCarthy, 1979) among others have argued that MSA does not allow initial gemination. However, Watson (2007) in the course of describing YA has ascertained that YA has the three types of gemination mentioned above. Most often arising from assimilation, initial geminates occur only in YA, they can be dissolved by epenthesis in the same way as other onset clusters (Kiparsky 2003). 9
9.1. Initial Gemination. Kiparsky (2003) has argued that YA has initial gemination which is a characteristic of what has been called by him C-Dialects of which YA is one. He has seen initial geminates as to “constitute fairly direct evidence for unsyllabified moras” (p. 13). Now, consider the following examples taken from him (see also Hayes, 1995): (18) a. llandan ‘London’ b. mmid ‘extend In (a) above, /l/ has been geminated in the loan word London. In (b) /m/ has been geminated in the YA word mmid, the root of the verb M A D (to extend). What has to be stated here is the fact that initial gemination in YA is very limited and its occurrence is limited to a few words including loan words. 9.2. Medial Gemination Unlike initial gemination, medial gemination in Arabic is very common. Abu-Salim (1982: 219) describing medial gemination states that “[o]ne of the cases where epenthesis consistently fails to apply is with geminate consonants.” He adds that geminates “may not be dissolved by epenthesis even if they occur in contexts where the rule [of epenthesis] is expected to apply.” However, he ascertains that final geminates can be dissolved by epenthesis. (19) a. xuŧŧaaa:f b. mudarrisi:n c. wazza؟ d. jamma؟
‘clasp’ ‘teachers ‘he distributed’ ‘he collected’
In (19) above, (a&b) represent medial gemination in the case of nouns where ŧ has been geminated in (a) and r has been geminated in (b). However, (c&d) illustrate medial gemination in verbs especially past form. As has been discussed above, epenthesis fails to apply due to the fact that if epenthesis applies, it will result in a VC syllable which is not possible in Arabic at all. For instance, if we syllabify and apply epenthesis to the word jamma ؟, (he collected), we will get jam[a]m. a ؟and thus resulting with am and a ؟each of which start with V which is not possible in Arabic. Thus, medial gemination in Arabic cannot be dissolved by means of an epenthesis rule. This actually contrasts, as maintained by Kiparsky(2003), with languages like Swedish where such an epenthesis rule can be applied.
9.3. Final Gemination 10
Geminates also occur in word-final positions. Watson (2007) holds that there are two types of final gemination. The first type is that which takes place in verbs which are derived from nouns as in (20) below: (20) Noun a.؟adad b.ħaj
Gloss ‘number’ ‘pilgrimage’
verb ؟add ħajj
Gloss ‘to number’ ‘he did pilgrimage’
In (a), we notice that the verb ؟add (to number) in which /d/ has been geminated has been derived from the noun.؟adad (number). In (b), /j/ has been geminated in the verb ħajj which has been derived from the noun ħaj. The second type of final gemination mentioned by Watson is that which results from concatenating the negative particle š to a verb in YA. Consider (21) below: (21) a. ma:ħib+š b. ma:sa:r +š
ma:ħi[bb]š ma:sa[rr]š
‘I didn’t like’ ‘he didn’t go’
Here, we notice that in YA, the negative particle ma:….š consists of two affixes. One is ma:- which is prefixed to the verb and –š which is suffixed to the verb and because of this gemination takes place. In (a) the final /b/ is geminated and in (b) the final /r/ is also geminated. In fact, ma:….š as a negative particle is confined only to YA and is not found in MSA at all. Thus, this type of gemination is found only in YA. However, the first type of final gemination is very common in MSA. 10. Gemination in IA What I have observed regarding gemination in IA is that gemination in its real sense is rarely found in IA. This observation lies in the fact that epenthesis plays a crucial role in geminates in IA. Wherever there are two sounds geminating, epenthesis applies to which I have no reason. Needless to say that such an area needs much research to investigate its hidden secrets. However, I have come across only two consonant sounds /ŧ/ and /d/ that can be geminated word finally. These are shown in (22) below: (22) a. qaŧŧ b. madd
‘never’ ‘he extended’
In addition, I have found one medial geminate in the word ?allah (God) where /l/ is geminated. Again, this area needs further investigation. 11
11. Stress Placement in YA Of all the several properties of segmental strings, syllable structure is the one that stress rules most often refer to. In fact, they refer to a quite specific aspect of syllable structure, i.e. syllable weight. Generally, it is this distinction between heavy and light syllables that affects the placement of stress. The richness of this problem is apparent from its ramifications. First, in many languages the notion “heavy syllable” invokes a disjunction of syllables containing a long vowel or diphthong and syllables with a short vowel but closed by a consonant. Second, though heavy syllables often attract the stress, they sometimes reject it or attract it subject to some limitations of, say, distance from a boundary. Third, the weight of some syllables may itself vary in a particular language, perhaps again under some boundary conditions. Thus, McCarthy (1979: 446) states three rules of stress in Arabic both in MSA and YA. These are stated briefly and simply as follows: (i) Stress the ultima if it is a superheavy syllable (CVCC or CVVC) as in: a. kat’abt ‘I wrote’ b. sakak'i:n ‘knives’ (ii). Otherwise stress the antepenultimate syllable if the antepenult and penult are light syllables (CV), unless the preantepenult is also light as in: a. bu'xala ‘misers’ b. muxt'alifa ‘different’ (f. sg.)' (ii) Otherwise stress the penultimate syllable as in: a. mar'taba ‘mattress’ b. ?isttaq'bala ‘welcomed’ 12. Stress Placement in IA I have found that Indians speaking Arabic tend to stress the first syllable in monosyllabic and disyllabic words. They do not differentiate between heavy and light syllables in words be they verbs, nouns, adjective etc. However, in polysyllabic words, Indians tend to stress the second syllable. Examples in (23) illustrate the former and those in (24) illustrate the latter. (23) a. 'man
‘who’
b. 'maat
‘he died’
c. 'katab
‘he wrote’ 12
d. 'kalam
‘pen’
(24) a. ti 'lifu:n
‘telephone’
b. ja'majim
‘skulls’
c. ri'salaatakum
‘your (pl.m.) letters’
13. Conclusion Thus, this paper has dealt with the syllable structure and syllabification in YA and IA. Processes related to syllable structure and syllabification such as consonant clustering, gemination, stress placement in both dialects have also been discussed. However, there are some differences in the way these processes work in each dialect. It has been found, for instance, that gemination applies in word-initial, word-medial and word-final positions in YA while it applies only word-finally and only few limited examples in word-medial positions. In addition, while there are certain fixed rules of stress placement in YA, IA speakers tend to stress the first syllable in monosyllabic and disyllabic words and second syllable in polysyllabic words. As far as syllabification is concerned, only epenthesis applies to IA while epenthesis, CSS and syncope apply in YA. These are among many differences which have been discussed throughout the paper. Needless to say that, much research work has to be done in IA to reveal the hidden secrets this dialect has which will be my concern in future work. References Khan, A. 2006. Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide African Heritage, Mesopotamian Roots, Indian Culture & British Colonialism. Algora Publishing Abu-Salim, I. 1982. A Reanalysis of Some Aspects of Arabic Phonology. Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Al-Ani, S. ed. 1978. Readings in Arabic Linguistics. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Linguistics Club. Benhallam, A. 1980. Syllable Structure and Rule Types in Arabic. Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, the University of Florida. Broselow, E. 1976. The Phonology of Egyptian Arabic. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts. Broselow, E , Su-I Chen, and M. Huffman 1997. Syllable weight: Convergence of phonology and phonetics’, Phonology 14: 47–82. 13
Hayes, B. 1995. Metrical stress theory: principles and case studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Holes, C. 2004 Modern Standard Arabic: structures, functions, and varieties, Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C. Kiparsky, P. 2003. Syllables and Moras in Arabic. In Fery, C. and Vijver, R (ed.) the Syllable in Optimality Theory. 2003. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 161-182. McCarthy, J. 1979, Formal Problems in Semitic Phonology and Morphology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT. (Published by Garland Press, New York, 1985.) Qutbuddin, T. 2007. Arabic in India: A Survey and Classification of Its Uses, Compared with Persian. Journal of the American Oriental Society 127.3. 315-338 -------1979, ‘On stress and syllabification’, Linguistic Inquiry 10: 443–65. -------1986, ‘Ocp effects: Gemination and antigemination’, Linguistic Inquiry 17: 207–63. Watson, J. 2007. The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, Oxford University Press Inc., New York
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