Arabic-L:LING:pronunciation of 'defective' forms

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Thu 23 Aug 2001
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: pronunciation of 'defective' forms

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1)
Date:  23 Aug 2001
From: Kirk Belnap <rkb at email.byu.edu>
Subject: pronunciation of 'defective' forms

Let me preface this newest set of questions by saying that I appreciate
those of you who have responded to my recent questions.  So far, there's
really not much to summarize for the group.  No one reported any
non-commercial Arabic CALL software that is really up and running, that is,
being used regularly by their students.  I'm still waiting on responses to
my more recent query.

I am in the process of writing up the results of a survey we (Brian Bishop
and I) conducted that looked at L1 avoidance behavior in writing Arabic.
We asked 40 Arab students (mostly Egyptians, Jordanians and Palestinians)
what they do when writing "defective" nominals and verbs, forms whose final
root radical is a semivowel.  In the case of 'aGaaniy / 'aGaan(in) "songs"
and 'aaliy / 'aal(in) "high" most of the interviewees indicated they
typically prefer to write these forms with the letter yaa', even when it is
incorrect.  Some commented that they use the non-standard form because,
according to some of them, this is how it is pronounced.

That's my question.  How does one typically pronounce 'aghaan(in) "songs"
and @aal(in) "high" when one reads.  Does it sound rather strange to
pronounce them as 'aghaan  and @aal?  Would this only be done by a purist?
For example, imagine someone reading a newspaper article or letter out loud
to a friend.  What are we going to get?  How about if it is in pause
form position?

We also received similar responses concerning lam yad@(u) versus lam yad at uw
"he did not invite."  Most interviewees said that they prefer to write
this, even though it's incorrect," with a final letter waaw.  Are we likely
to hear lam yad@ from our friend reading the paper or letter?  How about
even higher up the formality scale, would a newscaster tend to say lam
yad at u, even where one might  otherwise expect pause form?  Oh for native
intuitions!  Thanks in advance for sharing yours.

Best wishes!

Kirk
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End of Arabic-L:  23 Aug 2001