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This paper argues against the view that the unusual reflex of ṣād as [st] in Faifi Arabic stems from a metathesized version of the Proto-Semitic glottalized affricate *cʾ ([tsʾ]), as in Alfaifi and Behnstedt (2010: 53-4), where [st] is assumed to pattern as monosegmental. Instead we propose that the [st] reflex of ṣād in Faifi Arabic reflects a South Arabian ejective or glottalized fricative *sʾ as a substrate feature. We first argue that Faifi Arabic [st] patterns as bisegmental based on linguistic argumentation internal to the dialect. We then discuss *s' as a feature of South Arabian varieties that can be considered as part of the Faifi substrate. We then detail how it is phonetically plausible for ejective sʾ to 'break' into a sequence of a fricative followed by a stop, such as [st], accounting for its bisegmental patterning and its realization as pharyngealized [ṣ] where [st] is phonotactically impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharyngealization, also known as emphasis, is phonologically a very productive process in most Arabic varieties. This study first overviews the typology of pharyngealization in Arabic dialects and then focuses on the analysis of pharyngealization (i.e., emphasis spread) in a subvariety of rural Jordanian Arabic, which differs considerably from other dialects. The preferred structure in this subvariety of Jordanian Arabic is the emphatic syllable (the domain of emphasis) which is the driving force behind the spread of emphasis from underlying emphatics to other segments. This study also offers an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of ES in this Jordanian subvariety, where EMPHATIC-s is an undominated constraint whose hierarchical interaction with other high ranked and lower ranked constraints always favors candidates with an emphatic syllable over other candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses incipient /aI/-raising in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Acoustic analysis of word list data from 27 participants targets both typical items (e.g., write, writing) and monomorphemic trochaic words often overlooked in previous research (e.g., Nike, bison, cyber, tiger). It reports four major /aI/ production patterns in the Fort Wayne data, which range on a continuum from no /aI/-raising to phonological raising of /aI/ (i.e., raising before t-flaps, a pattern of Canadian raising referred to as Dialect A). In the middle of the continuum is found the elusive Dialect B, a pattern of Canadian raising first documented by Martin Joos in 1942 in which raising occurs in write but not before t-flaps. The authors find that speakers of this type of raising tend not to raise in any trochaic words. In fact, raising in monomorphemic trochaic words, such as Nike or bison, is exceedingly rare in the Fort Wayne data. In tandem with the variation observed within Fort Wayne, the fact that raising has not yet extended into monomorphemic trochaic words further suggests that raising is incipient in this variety. The authors propose that Dialect B is not a separate dialect at all but an incipient variety of Dialect A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]