Velar, Uvular and Pharyngeal Alternations in Hasawi Arabic: A Harmonic Serialism Optimality Theoretic Approach

This thesis investigates three phonological phenomena in Hasawi Arabic (HA), a dialect spoken in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. First, is the pharyngealisation, which is triggered by the pharyngealised coronal segments /tˤ, ðˤ, sˤ/. Second, is the uvularisation, which is triggered by the uvular segments /q, ɢ, χ, ʁ/. The acoustic cues of the emphasis spread are measured via PRAAT and are represented by the feature [RTR]. The third phenomenon is the uvular segment alternations /ʁ/ and /q/. All three phonological phenomena are accounted for within a Harmonic Serialism Optimality Theoretic analysis (HS-OT). With its harmonic and gradual derivational steps, HS-OT, as the framework of the phonological analysis throughout the thesis, examining all the attested phenomena, demonstrates its capa-bilities of gracefully capturing such complicated phonological phenomena. A fixed ranking of the con-straints is established and an interaction between the phonological processes is exhibited. These interacting phonological processes include: resyllabification, insertion, voice assimilation, Manner of articulation as-similation and emphasis spread. The results of the study reveal a distinctive characteristics and pattern of HA. Although both the pharyn-gealised and the uvular segments exhibit an emphasis spread on neighbouring segments in different do-mains and directions, the uvular segments, however, have a long-distance and a heavier emphasis effect on the adjacent vowels than the pharyngealised segments in HA. Based on the minimal pairs and local items that invariably surface with /q/ in the dialect, I also argue for the inclusion of the segments / and / in the consonantal inventory of HA. The alternation of the uvular segments /ʁ/ and /q/ is actually a conditioned phonological alternation not a free variation phenomenon as assumed by the previous research where a pat-tern is found and presented in HA.