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In:Experimental Arabic Linguistics
Edited by Dimitrios Ntelitheos and Tommi Tsz-Cheung Leung
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 10] 2021
► pp. 23–56

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Articulatory and acoustic correlates of pharyngealization and pharyngealization spread in Cairene Arabic

A real-time magnetic resonance imaging study

 | University of Chicago
 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ORCiD logo with link | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Published online: 26 July 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.10.01her
Abstract
Pharyngealized speech sounds in Arabic are articulated with a secondary posterior constriction and a lowered tongue body. This articulatory configuration spreads to adjacent and neighboring segments and has the acoustic consequence of lowering F2 in affected vowels. This study demonstrates that real-time Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rtMRI) can be successfully used to examine the role of (1) vowel length and (2) direction of spread in the extent of the articulatory modifications that occur in the segments to which pharyngealization spreads. Parallel acoustic measurements are also acquired to examine and compare the extent of modifications in formant frequencies. Results from both articulatory and acoustic data demonstrate that the extent of pharyngealization spread significantly varies with respect to these two factors.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Review of literature
    • 2.1Acoustic correlates of pharyngealization
    • 2.2Articulatory correlates of pharyngealization
      • 2.2.1Early Arab grammarians
      • 2.2.2More recent literature
    • 2.3MRI in phonetic studies on Arabic
  • 3.Pharyngealization as a phonological feature
    • 3.1A discussion of coarticulation, coproduction, and spread
    • 3.2Phonological studies on the spread of pharyngealization
  • 4.Research statement
  • 5.Data acquisition
    • 5.1Articulatory data acquisition
    • 5.2Acoustic data acquisition
  • 6.Test material
  • 7.Data analysis
    • 7.1Articulatory data analysis
    • 7.2Acoustic data analysis
  • 8.Results
    • 8.1Results from articulatory data
    • 8.2Results from acoustic data
  • 9.Discussion
    • 9.1Discussion of articulatory results
    • 9.2Discussion of acoustic results
  • 10.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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