Topics in the Phonology of Saudi Arabian Ghamdi and Zahrani Arabic: Unraveling the Threads of Regional Variation

The two Saudi Arabian dialects, Ghamdi and Zahrani Arabic (henceforth referred to as GA and ZA), have not received much attention linguistically. The current study provides a descriptive account of several aspects of the phonology of the aforementioned dialects. This study centers on three main topics. First, it describes stress assignment and shows regional variation of both dialects. It is shown that syllable weight, geminates as well as suffixation play significant roles in attracting stress in GA and ZA. Second, it deals with some deletion processes occurring in GA and ZA. Due to a language rule, it exhibits that word-final long vowels and geminates can be affected by final weight reduction. Also, it discusses and probes a phonological phenomenon of compensatory lengthening in the definite article of Arabic /ʔal-/ in ZA, which has never as yet been the subject of linguistic investigation before. It also analyzes cases of compensatory lengthening due to the deletion of the glottal stop /ʔ/ word-internally. And, as in many Arabic varieties, it also shows that /ʔ/ is deleted word-finally. Third, it sheds light on various cases of regressive and progressive assimilation. In particular, it investigates some assimilatory processes resulting from the interaction with some prefixes. It shows that root-initial consonants undergo assimilation with prefixes in GA and ZA. Finally, it shows that a prefixal vowel can also undergo vowel harmony when a prefix attaches to the root. The principal goals of this study are to enrich Arabic dialectology in general and Saudi Arabian Arabic dialectology in particular through examining data from two dialects spoken in a southwestern region in Saudi Arabia, Albaha region, and also to study and present phonological issues of GA and ZA that have not been under previous research or analysis in the literature.