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Article published In: Selected Papers from the 37th Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics
Edited by Reem Khamis and Mira Goral
[Arabic Linguistics 1:2] 2025
► pp. 188–215

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Modeling distance-based variable sibilant harmony in Moroccan Arabic with a MaxEnt grammar

 | University of Massachusetts Amherst
Published online: 27 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/arli.00011.nir
Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine the variable patterns of regressive sibilant harmony in Moroccan Arabic. This process is triggered by the palatal fricative [ʒ], and targets the alveolar fricatives [z] and [s], changing them to [ʒ] and [ʃ] respectively (Harrell, Richard (1962). A Short Reference Grammar of Moroccan Arabic. Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Heath, Jeffrey (1987). Ablaut and Ambiguity: Phonology of a Moroccan Arabic dialect. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2002). Jewish and Muslim Dialects of Moroccan Arabic. Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). This paper examines how factors such as the distance between harmonizing segments, voicing of the target segment, and morphological complexity influence the likelihood of harmonization. The findings from an experimental study reveal that the distance between the two harmonizing sibilants significantly influences harmonization, with a shorter distance indicating a higher likelihood of harmonization. Moreover, while voicing of the target sound appears to affect harmonization, a closer examination of the experimental results attributes this effect to the exceptional behavior of some words whose harmonizing sound happens to be [s]. The study uses Maximum Entropy grammar (Goldwater, Sharon & Johnson, Mark (2003). Learning OT constraint rankings using a Maximum Entropy model. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Variation Within Optimality Theory: Stockholm University (pp. 111–120).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) to learn the variability in applying harmonization. The analysis incorporates Agreement-by-Correspondence constraints (Rose, Sharon & Walker, Rachel (2000). Consonant agreement at a distance. In Paper presented at NELS 31: Georgetown University., 2004) to account for the observed distance effects and lexically-indexed constraints (Pater, Joe (2000). Non-uniformity in English secondary stress: the role of ranked and lexically specific constraints. Phonology, 17(2), 237–274. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2009). Morpheme-Specific Phonology: Constraint Indexation and Inconsistency Resolution. Publisher: Equinox Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) to capture the exceptional behavior of certain lexical items that do not follow the general trends.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Variable harmony systems and proposed factors impacting harmonization
    • 2.1Variable harmony systems and proposed factors impacting harmonization
    • 2.2Analyses of consonant harmony systems
    • 2.3Examined factors affecting harmonization
  • 3.Experiment
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Materials
    • 3.3Procedure
    • 3.4Participant responses
    • 3.5Results
    • 3.6Logistic regression analysis
      • Model with exceptional items included
      • Model with exceptional items excluded
  • 4.Modeling the sibilant harmony patters
    • 4.1MaxEnt and learning algorithm
    • 4.2ABC constraints and long-distance effects
    • 4.3Applying MaxEnt and ABC to the harmony patterns
    • 4.4Handling the exceptional cases
    • 4.5Learning simulation
      • Training data
      • Simulation
      • Results
    • 4.6Conclusion
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • The following glossing conventions are used throughout the paper
  • References
References (59)
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