Shihhi Arabic
Shihhi Arabic | |
---|---|
Native to | United Arab Emirates, Oman |
Speakers | 38,000 (2020)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ssh |
Glottolog | shih1239 |
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Shihhi Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة الشحية, romanized: Al-Lahjah Al-Shihhiyya, also known as Shehhi, Khasabi, Musandam Arabic, or Ruʾūs al-Jibāl Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Musandam Governorate of Oman and Ras al Khaimah emirate of UAE.[1] The Al Shehhi, Al Hebsi, Al Dhuhoori and Al Shemaili tribes speak it.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | emph. | |||||||||
Nasal | m | n | ||||||||
Stop/ Affricate | voiceless | t | tˤ | k | q | ʔ | ||||
voiced | b | d | dˤ | d͡ʒ | (ɡ) | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sˤ | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | ||
voiced | z | ʁ | (ʕ) | |||||||
Tap | ɻ ~ ɽ | |||||||||
Approximant | l | (wˤ) | j | w |
- Sounds /ɡ, ʕ/ are mainly heard in loan-words.
- /ħ/ may be heard as a voiced glottal [ɦ] when before voiced consonants.
- The retroflex /ɻ/ may have four different allophones; as a flap [ɽ] when in intervocalic positions, as an alveolar [ɹ] when before front vowels, or as an alveolar tap or trill [ɾ, r] when in word-medial position following a consonant.[2]
- In some dialects *ġ has been replaced by a pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ].<ref>Shockley, Mark. Ruʾūs al-Jibāl Arabic in Context: A Proposal for an Expanded Typology of Southeastern Arabian Dialects. Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume 69, Issue 1, Spring 2024, Pages 657, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgad026
Vowels
[edit]Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | i iː | u uː |
Mid | eː | (o) oː |
Open | a aː |
Phoneme/Sound | Allophones | Notes |
---|---|---|
/i/ [i] | [ɪ] | when in closed syllables |
/a/ [æ] | [æ] | as the standard relisation, when in neutral environments or open syllables |
[ɐ] | in closed syllables | |
[a] | when occurring after a pharyngeal or glottal consonant | |
[ɑ] | when within the vicinity of the velarized or pharyngealized, or uvular consonants | |
/o/ [o] | [ɔ], [ʊ] | in free variation |
/u/ [u] | [ʊ] | in free variation |
[ɔ] | when preceded by a pharyngeal or velarized consonant | |
/iː/ [iː] | [ɨː] | when preceded by /q/ |
[iːᵊ] | offglide, when followed by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant | |
[ᵊiː] | onglide, when preceded by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant | |
/eː/ [eː] | [ɘː] | when preceded by /q/ |
[ɪː] | when preceded by /b/ | |
[iː] | when preceding or following /j/ | |
[eːᵊ] | offglide, when followed by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant | |
[ᵊeː] | onglide, when preceded by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant | |
/aː/ [æː] | [æː] | when in neutral environments or open syllables |
[aː] | when after a glottal stop /ʔ/ | |
[ɑː] | within the position of a velarized/pharyngealized consonant or /ɻ/ consonant | |
/oː/ [ɔː] | [ɔː] | as the standard realization |
[oː] | when preceded be a labial, alveolar, or palatal consonant | |
[ʊː] | when preceded by /ɻ/ | |
/uː/ [uː] | [ʊː] | in free variation |
[oː] | within the position of a velarized/pharyngealized consonant |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Shihhi Arabic at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b Bernabela, Roy S. (2011). A phonology and morphology sketch of the Šiħħi Arabic dialect of əlǦēdih (Oman). Leiden University.
External links
[edit]