The Faifi Arabic [St] Reflex of Ṣād: Proto-Semitic or Substrate?
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...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2022
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| In: |
Journal of Semitic studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 67, Issue: 1, Pages: 289-303 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-8556 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Semitic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgab031 |