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The short vowel system of the Jewish Arabic dialect of ʿĀna. A struggle between phonetic and historical developments

Assaf Bar-Moshe


Pages 50 - 72



The short vowel system of the Jewish Arabic dialect of ʿĀna exhibits a variety of sounds whose phonemic status is unclear at first sight. This variety reflects historical vowel changes, phonetic vowel changes, and paradigmatic vowel changes that often operate in contradicting manners. The current research aims to explain the synchronic diversity by uncovering the different paths that the vowel system has taken along its development. Cases of vowel fluctuation will serve as the key to understand the mechanism behind the different vowel change operations. Examining them closely will finally enable us to distinguish independent phonemes from their allophones.

This article is written in English.



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