Gender and phonological variation in cairene arabic

Abstract EN

Gender in relation to social class and language variation among different speech communities has attracted a great deal of research.

Language use by men and women often reflects gender exclusive roles, social status and power.

If their social roles overlap, their use of speech forms overlaps by producing different quantities or frequencies of the same speech form.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of gender in the production of variants of the long vowel /aa/, /ee/, /ɑɑ/ among the lower working (LWC) in the Cairene speech community.

Open-ended interviews were conducted with 24 informants.

Five jurists completed a forced choice to judge the vowel length of the long vowel /aa/, /ee/, / ɑɑ/.

Results of the Z-test confirm that LWC women use the extra-long variants [aa: ], [ee: ] and [ɑɑ: ] significantly more than the LWC men.

Using the stigmatized extra-lengthened forms by women is considered a sign of showing solidarity with members of their local community and of constructing a social identity of the forceful and assertive women whose opinions should be valued.

Vowel lengthening is interpreted as an attempt to resist the sociocultural norms that describe their role as only subordinate to men in Arabic speaking communities.