Article published in:
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVIII: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Gainesville, Florida, 2014
Edited by Youssef A. Haddad and Eric Potsdam
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 4] 2016
► pp. 3–36

Phonation and glottal states in Modern South Arabian and San'ani Arabic

| University of Leeds
| University of Leeds
This chapter examines phonation categories and glottal states in the Modern South Arabian language, Mehri, as spoken in southern Oman and eastern Yemen with reference also to its sister language, Śḥerɛ̄t, and in San’ani Arabic from an Emergent Features perspective (Mielke, 2008). Within the paper, we consider the extent to which these language varieties may inform research on the phonological categories of the early Arab grammarians. The innovation in this paper lies in addressing the relationship between phonological patterning, phonetics, and distinctive features. We present data to show that voiced and emphatic phonemes pattern together in these varieties in opposition to voiceless phonemes, leading us to postulate a phonological account in terms of two ‘emergent’ laryngeal features [open] and [closed], that draws on Morén’s Parallel Structures model (2003).
Keywords: glottal state, hams and jahr, Modern South Arabian, phonation, San'ani Arabic
Published online: 25 May 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.4.01wat
References

References

Behnstedt, P.
(1985) Die nordjemenitischen Dialekte. Teil 1: Atlas. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
(1987) Die Dialekte der Gegend von Ṣaʕdah (Nord-Jemen). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Bendjaballah, S. & Ségéral. P.
(2014) The phonology of ‘idle glottis’ consonants in the Mehri of Oman (Modern South Arabian). Journal of Semitic Studies, 59, 161–204. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bittner, M.
(1909) Studien zur Laut- und Formenlehre der Mehri-Sprache in Südarabien. I. Zum Nomen im engeren Sinne. Wien: Hölder.Google Scholar
Cantineau, J.
(1941, reprinted 1960). Cours de phonétique arabe. In Études de linguistique arabe (pp. 1–125). Paris: C. Klincksieck.Google Scholar
(1951–52, reprinted 1960). Le consonantisme du sémitique. In Études de linguistique arabe (pp. 279–294). Paris: C. Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Catford, J.C.
(1977) Fundamental problems in phonetics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Danecki, J.
(2012) Majhūra/Mahmūsa. In L. Edzard & R. de Jong (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Brill Online.Google Scholar
Duckworth, M., Allen, G., Hardcastle, W.J. & Ball, M.J.
(1990) Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for the transcription of atypical speech. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 4, 273–280. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
El-Saaran, M.H.
(1951) A critical study of the phonetic observations of the Arab grammarians. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Embarki, M., Ouni, S., Yeou, M., Guilleminot, C. & Al Maqtari, S.
(2011) Acoustic and electromagnetic articulographic study of pharyngealisation: Coarticulatory effects as an index of stylistic and regional variation in Arabic. In Z. Hassan & B. Heselwood (Eds.), Instrumental studies in Arabic phonetics (pp. 193–215). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Esling, J.H. & Harris, J.G.
(2005) States of the glottis: An articulatory phonetic model based on laryngoscopic observations. In W.J. Hardcastle & J. Mackenzie Beck (Eds.), A figure of speech: A festschrift for John Laver (pp. 347–383). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Fallon, P.
(2002) The synchronic and diachronic phonology of ejectives. New York & London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gallagher, G.
(2011) Auditory features in phonology—the case for [long VOT]. The Linguistic Review, 28, 281–233. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Glaser, E.
(1885) Die arabische Aussprache. Sitzungsberichte der Königlichen böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 12.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J.H.
(1970) Some generalizations concerning glottalic consonants, especially implosives. International Journal of American Linguistics, 36, 123–145. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heselwood, B.
(1996) Glottal states and emphasis in Baghdadi and Cairene Arabic: Synchronic and diachronic aspects. In J. Dickins (Ed.), Three topics in Arabic phonology (pp. 20–42). Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham, Occasional Paper 53.Google Scholar
Heselwood, B., Watson, J.C.E. & Maghrabi, R.
(2014) The Ancient Greek psilá–daséa distinction as a possible source for the majhūr–mahmūs distinction in Sībawayhi’s Kitāb. Historiographia Linguistica, 41, 193–217. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heselwood, B. & Maghrabi, R.
(2015) An instrumental-phonetic justification for Sībawayh’s classification of ṭā’, qāf and hamza as majhūr consonants. Journal of Semitic Studies, 60:1. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Honeybone, P.
(2005) Diachronic evidence in segmental phonology: thecase of laryngeal specifications. In M. van Oostendorp & J. van de Weijer (Eds.). The Internal Organization of Phonological Segments (pp. 319–354). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jahn, A.
(1902) Die Mehri-Sprache in Südarabien: Texte und Wörterbuch. Wien: Hölder.Google Scholar
(1905) Grammatik der Mehri-Sprache in Südarabien. Wien: Hölder.Google Scholar
Jastrow, O.
(1984) Zur Phonologie und Phonetik des Ṣanʕānischen. In H. Kopp & G. Schweizer (Eds.), Entwicklungsprozesse in der Arabischen Republik Jemen (pp. 289–304). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Johnstone, T.M.
(1975) The Modern South Arabian languages. Afroasiatic Linguistics, 1/5, 93–121.Google Scholar
(1980) Gemination in the Jibbali language of Dhofar. Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik, 4, 61–71.Google Scholar
(1981) Jibbāli lexicon. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(1987) Mehri lexicon and English–Mehri word-list. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. & Maddieson, I.
(1996) The sounds of the world’s languages. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lonnet, A.
(2009) South Arabian, Modern. In K. Versteegh, et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics, IV, Q–Z (pp. 297–300). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Lonnet, A. & Simeone-Senelle, M-Cl
(1997) La phonologie des langues sudarabiques modernes. In A.S. Kaye (Ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa, vol I. (pp. 337–371). Indiana: Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
Martinet, A.
(1959) La palatalisation ‘spontanée’ de ɡ en arabe. Bulletin de la Societé Linquistique de Paris, 54, 90–102.Google Scholar
Mielke, J.
(2008) The emergence of distinctive features. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Morén, B.
(2003) The parallel structures model of feature geometry. Working papers of the Cornell phonetics laboratory, 15, 194–270.Google Scholar
Müller, D.H.
(1909) Südarabische Expedition. Band IX. Mehri- und Ḥaḍrami-Texte gesammelt im Jahre 1902 in Gischin von Dr. Wilhelm Hein, bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Dav. Heinr. Müller. Wien: Hölder.Google Scholar
Naïm-Sanbar, S.
(1994) Contribution á l’étude de l’accent yéménite: Le parler des femmes de l’ancienne generation. Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik, 27, 67–89.Google Scholar
Odisho, E.Y.
(2010) An aerodynamic, proprioceptive and perceptual interpretation of Sībawayhi’s misplacement of /ط/ and /ق/ with majhūra consonants. Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 52, 39–52.Google Scholar
Pseudo-Aristotle
(1936 [3rd century BCE]). De Audibilibus. In W.S. Hett (Ed. and translated), Aristotle: Minor works (pp. 48–79). London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Rakas, M.S.
(1981) Phonological consonants and phonetic vowels in Eastern Libyan. New University of Ulster. Unpublished M.A. thesis.Google Scholar
Rubin, A.
(2010) The Mehri language of Oman. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
(2014) The Jibbali (Shaḥri) language of Oman. Leiden: Brill. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sībawayhi, A.U.
(1983 [8th century CE]). Kitāb Sībawayhi, Abdul Salām Hārūn (Ed.), 5 vols. Beirut: ‘Ālam al-Kutub. Google Scholar
Sima, A.
(2002) Der bestimmte Artikel in Mehri. In W. Arnold & H. Bobzin (Eds.), ‘Sprich doch mit deinen Knechten aramäisch, wir verstehen es!’ 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik: Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtstag (pp. 647–668). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
(2009)  Mehri-Texte aus der jemenitischen Sharqīyah: Transkribiert unter Mitwirkung von ʕAskari Saʕd Ḥugayrān . Edited, annotated and introduced by J.C.E. Watson & W. Arnold. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Simeone-Senelle, M-Cl
(1997) The Modern South Arabian languages. In R. Hetzron (Ed.), The Semitic languages (pp. 378–423). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sylak, J.
(2013) Pharyngealization in Chechen is gutturalization. In C. King, S. Kang & C.S. Sandy (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special session on languages of the Caucasus. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Wagner, E.
(1953) Syntax der Mehri-Sprache, unter Berücksichtigung auch der anderen neusüdarabischen Sprachen. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar
Watson, J.C.E.
(2002) The phonology and morphology of Arabic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2012) The structure of Mehri. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Watson, J.C.E. & Asiri, Y.
(2007) Pre-pausal devoicing and glottalisation in varieties of the south-western Arabian Peninsula. ICPhS , Freiburg.
Watson, J.C.E. & Bellem, A.
(2010) A detective story: Emphatics in Mehri. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies , 40, 345–356.
(2011) Glottalisation and neutralisation in Yemeni Arabic and Mehri. In Z. Hassan & B. Heselwood (Eds.), Instrumental studies in Arabic phonetics (pp. 235–256). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wright, R. Hargus, S. & Davis, K.
(2002) On the categorization of ejectives: data from Witsuwit'en. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 32, 43–77.Google Scholar
Zeroual, C.
(2012) Voice. In L. Edzard & R. de Jong (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Brill Online.Google Scholar