Underspecification and vowel harmony in the north Jordanian Arabic of Ajloun

الملخص EN

The vowel harmony phenomenon has long been observed in many Arabic dialects.آل has been discussed by many scholars Kenstowicz, Abu-Salim, among others).

To explain this phenomenon, these scholars assumed two rules of vowel harmony: progressive and regressive.

In this paper I discuss vowel harmony in the North Jordanian Arabic ofAjloun and its interaction with Underspecification Theory.

I show that the utilization of Unerspecification Theory will account for harmonic processes without assuming harmony rules.