Hejazi Arabic phonology

The phonological system of the Hejazi Arabic consists of approximately 26 to 28 native consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes:. Consonant length and vowel length are both distinctive in Hejazi.

Strictly speaking, there are two main groups of dialects spoken in the Hejaz region, one by the urban population originally spoken in the cities of Jeddah, Medina and Mecca where they constitute the majority and partially in Ta'if, and another dialect spoken by the rural or Bedouin populations which is also currently spoken as well in the mentioned cities. However, the term most often applies to the urban variety which is discussed in this article.


 * phonemes will be (written inside slashes ) and allophones (written inside brackets ).

Consonants
Hejazi consonant inventory depends on the speaker. Most speakers use 26 to 28 consonant phonemes in addition to the marginal phoneme, with the phonemes $⟨ث⟩$ and  $⟨ذ⟩$ being used partially due to the influence of Modern Standard Arabic and neighboring dialects. Being a Semitic language, the four emphatic consonants are treated as separate phonemes from their plain counterparts.

Phonetic notes:

A notable feature of Hejazi is the pronunciation of $⟨ج⟩$ as in Modern Standard Arabic. It is pronounced as which differentiates it from other dialects in the Arabian Peninsula that merge the phoneme into $⟨ر⟩$. Another feature which is shared by many Arabic dialects is the pronunciation of $⟨غ⟩$ as a voiced velar, which Ibn Khaldun states may have been the Old Arabic pronunciation of the letter. He has also noted that Quraysh and the Islamic prophet Muhammad may have had the pronunciation instead of.
 * the marginal phoneme (dark l) only occurs in the word الله  ('God') and words derived from it, it contrasts with  in والله  ('i swear') vs. ولَّا  ('or').
 * the phonemes $⟨خ⟩$ and the trill  $⟨ث⟩$ are realised as a  and a tap  respectively by a number of speakers or in a number of words.
 * the phonemes $⟨ذ⟩$ and  $⟨ظ⟩$ can be realised as uvular fricatives  and  in few instances.
 * the phoneme $⟨ض⟩$ is used as an alternative phoneme, while most speakers merge it with  or  depending on the word.
 * the phoneme $⟨ن⟩$ is used as an alternative phoneme, while most speakers merge it with  or  depending on the word.
 * can be analyzed as an alternative phoneme for $⟨ق, ك⟩$, while most speakers pronounce it distinctly as or merge it with $⟨ض⟩$  depending on the word.
 * $⟨ظ⟩$ has the velar allophone, which occurs before velar consonants $⟨ق⟩$ as in انكب [aŋkab] ('it spilled') and مِنقَل [mɪŋɡal] ('brazier').
 * Consonant clusters like and  occur only in foreign words and are not considered to be part of the phonemic inventory but as a sequence e.g.  ⟨ت⟩ and  ⟨ش⟩, in تْشَاد  ('Chad').

Due to the influence of Modern Standard Arabic, has been introduced as an allophone of  $⟨ق⟩$ in a few words borrowed from Modern Standard Arabic, such as اقتصاد  ('economy'), which can be pronounced  or, or religious terms as in قرآن  ('Quran') which can be pronounced as  by younger speakers or  by older speakers. The two allophones might contrast for a number of speakers, e.g. قرون ('horns') vs. قرون  ('centuries') which might suggest  as a marginal phoneme.

Two foreign phonemes ⟨پ⟩ and  ⟨ڤ⟩ are used by a number of speakers depending on their foreign language knowledge but many substitute them by  ⟨ب⟩ and  ⟨ف⟩ respectively, but in general  is more integrated and used by most speakers.

Illustrative words
Notes:
 * 1 pronounced or  (Allophones).
 * 2 is a distinct phoneme not a merger, while other alternative pronunciations include mergers with other phonemes.
 * 3 and  occur only in loanwords and can be substituted by  and  respectively depending on the speaker.

Glottal Stop
The glottal stop $⟨ء⟩$ was lost early on in the Old Hejazi Arabic period. This can be seen in Modern Hejazi as in يقروا "they read" and مايل  "diagonal" vs. Classical Arabic يقرؤوا  and مائل. In the initial position, the glottal stop's phonemic value is debatable and most words that begin with a glottal stop according to Classical Arabic orthography can be analyzed as beginning with a vowel rather than a glottal stop. For example, إسورة "bracelet" can be analyzed as or  and آكل "I eat" analyzed as  or, but it is still phonemic and distinguished in medial and final positions and distinguished as such in words, as in يسأل  "he asks" or words under the influence of Modern Standard Arabic such as بيئة  "environment" and مسؤول  "administrator, responsible".

Gemination
Long (geminate or double) consonants are pronounced exactly like short consonants; they occur between vowels and they are marked with a shaddah if needed, e.g. كَتَّب or  kattab "he made (someone) write" vs. كَتَب  katab "he wrote". They can also occur phonemically at the end of words but are pronounced as a single consonant, not geminated, e.g. فَمّ ('mouth') which is pronounced with a single final consonant.

Assimilation
Consonant assimilation is a phonological process which can occur between two consecutive consonants as in before  as in جَنْب  'next to' →  or , or between dental consonants;  before  as in أخذت  'I took' → , or  before  as in أَتْضَيَّف  'serve myself' → ,  before  as in أَنْبَسَطْت  'I enjoyed it' →  which is differentiated from أَنْبَسَطْ  "he was flattened / he enjoyed" by the stress, in the former the stress falls on the last syllable while on the latter it falls on the first.

Dental Assimilation
Notes:

The letter $⟨ت⟩$ came to be pronounced as in ذَهَب  'gold' or  as in ذاكر  'he studied', on the other hand $⟨ذ⟩$ is mostly pronounced  as in ثور  'bull' or rarely  as in ثابت  'stable'. $⟨ث⟩$ is pronounced distinctly as in ظاهرة  'phenomenon' or merges with  $⟨ظ⟩$ in other words like ظلام  'dark' and ظفر  'nail'. In contrast $⟨ض⟩$ is always pronounced as a except in words derived from the two trilateral roots $⟨ض⟩$ and $⟨ض ب ط⟩$ in which it is pronounced.
 * 1) is a distinct phoneme, not a merger, e.g. ظَنّ  ('he thought') vs. زَنّ  ('he nagged').
 * 2) The assimilation can also be reflected in the orthography, so ثلاثة 'three' becomes تلاتة with a  $⟨ض ر ط⟩$, but most writers keep the Modern Standard Arabic spelling of the words.

Mergers depend on each word, while most words have only one pronunciation, few words have two optional mergers e.g. كذب might be pronounced as  by some speakers or  by others. The partial merger between the phonemes has led to some homophones that did not exist in Modern Standard Arabic e.g. تظليل 'dimming' and تضليل 'mislead' both pronounced, while the assimilation of the word ثَانِيَة (second; number-two or unit of time) has made a split into two pronunciations (words)  (second; number-two) and  (second; unit of time).

Some speakers pronounce each consonant distinctly as in Standard Arabic while others might refrain from the usage of as a pronunciation for $⟨ث⟩$ and only merge  with  in most words while keeping  in others. This phenomenon might be due to the influence of Modern Standard Arabic and neighboring dialects. When speaking or reading Modern Standard Arabic, Hejazi speakers pronounce each consonant distinctly according to its modern standard phonemic value, and any mergers such as the merge between $⟨ض⟩$ and  $⟨ظ⟩$ can be stigmatized.

Vowels
Hejazi has eight vowel phonemes: three short, ,  and five long , , ,  and , with length as a distinctive feature, and four diphthongs: , ,  and  although they are not considered as separate phonemes. Unlike other Arabic dialects, it did not develop allophones for the vowels and  in the vicinity of emphatic consonants, and they are always pronounced as an open front  or open central  depending on the speaker. Hejazi also retains most of the long and short vowels of Classical Arabic with no vowel reduction, although in a few words and  are pronounced with an open back.

The main phonological feature that differentiates urban Hejazi from the neighboring dialects of the Arabian peninsula and the Levant is the constant use of full vowels and absence of vowel reduction (use of the schwa ). For example قلت لك 'I told you' (to a female), is pronounced or  in Hejazi with full vowels but pronounced with the reduced vowel  as  in most of the Gulf region or  in Lebanese and urban Syrian. It also retains the Classical mid breaking vowels as in بَناتَكُم ("your dauɡhters") in Hejazi as opposed to  or  in Egyptian and  Najdi and rural Hejazi.

Most inherited words with the diphthongs and  from the Old Arabic period underwent monophthongization in Hejazi and are realized as the long vowels  and  respectively. However, they are still preserved in many words such as حيوان 'animal', and have resurfaced in a number of words borrowed later from Modern Standard Arabic. This created a contrast with the inherited monophthongized words as in inherited صوتي 'my voice' vs. borrowed صَوْتي  'acoustic', and inherited عيني  'my eye' vs. borrowed عَيْني  'ophthalmic'. Not all instances of mid vowels are a result of monophthongization — some are from grammatical processes قالوا 'they said' → قالوا لها  'they said to her' (opposed to Classical Arabic  قالوا لها ), and some occur in portmanteau words e.g. ليش  'why?' (from Classical Arabic لأي  'for what' and شيء  'thing'). The pronunciation of word initial and medial and  depends on the nature of the surrounding consonants, whether the syllable is stressed or unstressed, the accent of the speaker, and rate of speech. As a general rule, word initial or medial is pronounced, but strictly as  at the end of a word or before  (as in هُوَّ ). Word initial or medial is pronounced, and strictly as an  at the end of the word or before  (as in هِيَّ ), though this complementary distribution in allophones is not found among all speakers of Hejazi and some use  and  in all positions.

Phonetic notes:


 * and are pronounced either as an open front vowel  or an open central vowel  depending on the speaker, even when adjacent to emphatic consonants.
 * is an allophone for and  in some words such as ألمانيا  ('Germany'), يابان  ('Japan'), بابا  ('dad') and Japan'), ماما  ('mom').
 * long and  are pronounced as true-mid vowels  and  respectively.
 * long and  are pronounced as  and  respectively.
 * short (also analyzed as ) has two main pronunciations:
 * lax or less likely  in word initial or medial syllables, e.g. فُك  ('unseal!') pronounced  and أُخْته  ('his sister') pronounced  with a lax initial  and a tense final.
 * tense at the end of words or before  or when isolate, although short  can occur at the end of a foreign word but that depends on the speaker's knowledge of the foreign language.
 * short (also analyzed as ) has two main pronunciations:
 * lax or less likely  in word initial or medial syllables, e.g. قِرْفَة  ('cinnamon') pronounced  and إنْتِ  ('you') pronounced  with a lax initial  and a tense final.
 * tense at the end of words or before  or when isolate, although short  can occur at the end of a foreign word but that depends on the speaker's knowledge of the foreign language.

The close vowels can be distinguished by tenseness with long and  being more tense in articulation than their short counterparts  and  in medial position, except at the end of words where they are all tense, e.g. short في  ('in') and long فيه  ('in him', 'there is').

Phonological processes
The linking conjunction و ('and') pronounced [u] is often linked with the consonant (before it) or the vowel (before or after it) or for emphasis only left as-is :-
 * ِانا و إنتِ ('me and you') is either pronounced as [anaw ɪnti], where [u] is connected to the vowel before it, or pronounced as [ana wɪnti], where [u] is connected to the vowel after it, or left as-is for emphasis [ana u ɪnti].
 * واحد و خمسين ('fifty one') is either pronounced [waːħɪdu xamsiːn] or for emphasis [waːħɪd u xamsiːn].
 * خمسة و سبعين ('seventy five') is either pronounced [xamsaw sabʕiːn] or for emphasis [xamsa u sabʕiːn].

Vowel Shortening
Medial vowel shortening occurs before indirect object pronouns (e.g., لي ,له ,لها), where a medial word long vowel (⟨ي⟩ ,⟨ا⟩ and ⟨و⟩) in verbs is shortened. For example, عاد /ʕaːd/ "he repeated" becomes عاد لهم /ʕadlahum/ "he repeated to them" and رايحين له "going to him" is pronounced /raːjħinlu/ with a shortened /i/ and rarely /raːjħiːnlu/. This can also affect the spelling of the words depending on the writer, e.g. نروح becomes نرح لهم without the long vowel or it can be written نروح لهم but this does not effect third person masculine past verbs as in the example below.

Vowel shortening also occurs only in few words as in جاي "I'm coming" pronounced /d͡ʒaj/ or /d͡ʒaːj/.

Vowel lengthening
Most word-final long vowels from the Classical period have been shortened in Hejazi but they are lengthened when suffixed, as in يزهموا "they call" →  يزهموها  "they call her".