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A Variationist Analysis of /ð/ in Ammani Arabic

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Abstract

This study examines the realizations of variable /ð/ sound in Ammani Arabic (AA) as well as the correlation between this variation and a number of sociolinguistic factors. Four phonetic variants ([ð], [d], [z] and [ðˤ]), four social factors (sex, age, region and educational attainment) and two linguistic factors (the position of the variant in the word and the syntactic category of the word) were investigated. To achieve the objectives of the study, 40 native speakers of AA were interviewed for approximately 30 min each. A multivariate analysis using GoldVarb X was carried out in order to discern the effects of the operationalized factors on the variant choice. The results confirmed that the social and linguistic factors condition the variant choice. Additionally, the study examined the possible social meanings of variation in pronouncing the variable /ð/ in AA adopting Silverstein’s (Lang Commun, 23(3–4), 193–229, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0271-5309(03)00013-2, 2003) concept of indexical order. The sociolinguistic investigation of the variable /ð/ in AA appears to suggest that it is an object of stylistic variation.

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Data availability

The data and code that support the findings of this study may be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Notes

  1. Range value is calculated by getting the difference between the highest and lowest weights of the constraints within each statistically significant factor group.

  2. A knockout means that one of the variants occurs with frequency 0% or 100. Thus, variable rule analysis cannot logically be applied in the presence of such knockouts. To get rid of knockouts, one should use the 're-code tokens' option in GoldVarb X in order to decrease the number of the subcategories within the factor group (for more details, see https://albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca/GoldVarb/GoldManual.dir/GVManual.html).

  3. A cross-tabulation of age & education shows that young speakers with low education use [d] and [z] more than [ð] and [ðˤ]. In addition, young speakers with low education (25%) use [ð] less than middle-aged (30%) and old (45%) speakers with low education. That is to say, the older the speaker is, the higher the percentage of [ð]. In addition, old highly educated speakers frequently use [ð] (73%) in their speech more than middle-aged highly educated (54%) and young highly educated (34%) speakers. Moreover, it is important to note that no example in the data is found where (ð) is pronounced as [ðˤ] in case of old highly educated speakers and middle-aged highly educated speakers. It is found that young low-educated speakers (9%) use [ðˤ] more than young middle-educated (7%) and young highly educated (4%) speakers.

  4. Another cross-tabulation of education & sex shows that highly educated males use [ð] (86%) more than middle-educated (63%) and low-educated (52%) males, respectively. However, the higher the level of education is, the less the percentage of [d], [z] and [ðˤ] in the speech of males in Amman. As for females, the results demonstrate that highly educated (22%) and middle-educated (29%) females use [ð] more than low-educated females (10%). Furthermore, [d] and [z] are highly frequent in the speech of females regardless of their level of education. Moreover, [d] and [z] are used by highly educated females more than highly educated males. These results are in line with Schmidt (1986) who assumes that a prestigious variety in a certain place is highly recognized by educated women more than educated men. Several studies in Western speech communities (e.g., Labov 1966; Levine & Crockett, 1966; Trudgill, 1997; among others) have shown that females’ speech is considered closer to a standard variety, while other studies in some Arabic speech communities (e.g., Abdel-Jawad 1981; Royal, 1985; among others) have found that males’ speech is more closely related to the standard variety.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editor-in-chief for their useful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

    Rozan Al-Hloul, Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh & Marwan Jarrah

  2. Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

    Ekab Al-shawashreh

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  1. Rozan Al-Hloul
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  2. Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh
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  3. Marwan Jarrah
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Contributions

ARA and RA contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was performed by RA. All authors contributed to data analysis and interpretation. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RA and ARA. Proofreading and copy-editing were performed by MJ, ARA and RA. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, and all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables

Table 7 Distribution of [ð], [d], [z] and [ðˤ] in AA in terms of the cross-tabulation of speaker’s sex and age
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Table 8 Distribution of [ð], [d], [z] and [ðˤ] in AA in terms of the cross-tabulation of speaker’s level of education and age
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Table 9 Distribution of [ð], [d], [z] and [ðˤ] in AA in terms of the cross-tabulation of speaker’s sex and education
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Al-Hloul, R., Altakhaineh, A.R.M., Jarrah, M. et al. A Variationist Analysis of /ð/ in Ammani Arabic. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 16, 381–409 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-023-00373-1

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