Arabic-L:LING:Medieval pronunciation of jiim/giim query

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 02 Jan 2003
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1) Subject:Medieval pronunciation of jiim/giim query

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1)
Date:  20 Jan 2003
From: Mathias van den Bossche <m.vdb at free.fr>
Subject:Medieval pronunciation of jiim/giim query

Dear list members,

A message of the list mentionned lately a historical
Arabic phonetical details "masjid being pronounced
[masgid] in the medial era North Africa as in Egypt
today".

I would like to know in this context what is known
about the phonetical evolution of Arabic (dialects)
since, say, 2000 years.

For instance, do we know whether the [g] realization
of /jim/ in Cairo and Aden is a conservation of Semitic
/g/ (as in Aramaic, Hebrew, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician
  ...) or whether it is a regression through eg.
[dZ] > [dj] > [gj] > [g] ?

Are there good references available on the subject?

Last question, what is the status of this knowledge ?
Well attested or highly conjectural ?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Mathias

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End of Arabic-L:  20 Jan 2003