Sonority and Epenthesis in Najdi Arabic: From An OT Perspective

Violation of the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) in coda clusters of the superheavy syllable CVCC is one of the motivations for epenthesis in some Arabic dialects in general and in Najdi Arabic (NA) in particular, according to Ingham (1994), who states that epenthetic vowels occur between the last two consonants to create a new syllable in NA. According to him, epenthetic vowels occur in words that have final clusters, where the second member of these clusters is /r/, /l/, /w/, /j/, and /n/ (sonorants). Examining Ingham's examples, I observe that epenthetic vowels occur in the final clusters that include these sonorants as the second member and which therefore violate the Sonority Sequencing Principle. Take, for example, /masˤr/ ‘Egypt’ in which the final cluster violates the Sonority Sequencing Principle due to the final voiced continuant liquid /r/ being more sonorous than the voiceless fricative /sˤ/. This cluster has been broken up by inserting the vowel /u/; i.e., /masˤr/→ [ma.sˤur].

This paper will shed the light on several aspects of the phonology of NA such as syllable structure and sonority in the language, OT constraints on sonority, lexical distinctness, and the identity of epenthetic vowels. First, the relationship between the syllable and sonority will be demonstrated in this study by identifying the syllable types that adhere to the SSP, and those that represent potential violations of the SSP by having consonant clusters finally. Also, I will show how syllable types that have potentially SSP violating complex clusters motivate epenthesis. Third, vowel epenthesis prompted by the violation of the SSP will be accounted for within the framework of OT; hence, I will examine the interaction of certain universal constraints to account for the SSP and epenthesis including ONS, DEP-IO, MAX-IO, SON-SEQ, *COMPLEX, and NO-CODA. Also, I will refer to the family of Generalized Alignment of Constraints introduced by McCarthy and Prince (1993). Fourth, with reference to lexical distinctness, I will show cases in which vowel insertion leads to homonymy, and thus has an impact on the lexical category of words and their meanings. Finally, the identity of epenthetic vowels will be explained, exploring a connection between the identity of the epenthetic vowel and the factors conditioning it. In other words, I will show how cases in which the identity of the
epenthetic vowel is determined by underlying vowels and the second members of final consonant clusters. Furthermore, I will show a case in which the identity of epenthetic vowel is neither determined by the underlying vowel nor the second member of the final consonant clusters, rather it is determined by grammatical and semantic conditions.

MUFLEH SALEM M. ALQAHTANI

Alqahtani, Mufleh Salem . 2013