An autosegmental approach to some aspects of Arabic phonology

Abstract EN

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a number of phonological phenomena in Jordanian Arabic (JA), The general framework within which this paper is written is the autosegmental theory of phonology as spelled out by Goldsmith (1976 (1); 1979 (2); 1981(3); 1990(4).

Furthermore, the paper will utilize the prosodic theory of McCarthy (1979 (5); 1981(6); 1986 (7) which, in turn, uses the devices of autosegmental phonology.

In the first part of the paper, based on data from JA, evidence will be presented to support a proposal that maintains that morphophonemic rules take precedence over purely phonological rules.

In the second and third parts, several assimilatory processes in the phonology of JA will be analyzed.

Throughout, the paper will dembnstrate the superiority of the autosegmental, i.e., non-linear approach to the 'classical', i.e.

linear generative approach.