Hejazi Arabic phonology

Hejazi consonant inventory depends on the speaker. Most speakers use 26 to 28 consonant phonemes in addition to the marginal phoneme /ɫ/, with the phonemes /θ/ ⟨ث⟩ and /ð/ ⟨ذ⟩ being used partially due to the influence of Modern Standard Arabic and neighboring dialects. Being a Semitic language, the four emphatic consonants /sˤ, dˤ, tˤ, zˤ/ are treated as separate phonemes from their plain counterparts.^[5]

Phonetic notes:

• the marginal phoneme /ɫ/ (dark l) only occurs in the word الله /aɫːaːh/ ('God') and words derived from it,^[6] it contrasts with /l/ in والله /waɫːa/ ('i swear') vs. ولَّا /walːa/ ('or').
• the phonemes /d͡ʒ/ ⟨ج⟩ and the trill /r/ ⟨ر⟩ are realised as a [ʒ] and a tap [ɾ] respectively by a number of speakers or in a number of words.
• the phonemes /ɣ/ ⟨غ⟩ and /x/ ⟨خ⟩ can be realised as uvular fricatives [ʁ] and [χ] in few instances.
• the phoneme /θ/ ⟨ث⟩ is used as an alternative phoneme, while most speakers merge it with /t/ or /s/ depending on the word.
• the phoneme /ð/ ⟨ذ⟩ is used as an alternative phoneme, while most speakers merge it with /d/ or /z/ depending on the word.
• /ðˤ/ can be analyzed as an alternative phoneme for ⟨ظ⟩, while most speakers pronounce it distinctly as /zˤ/ or merge it with ⟨ض⟩ /dˤ/ depending on the word.
• /n/ ⟨ن⟩ has the velar allophone [ŋ],^{[citation needed]} which occurs before velar consonants ⟨ق, ك⟩ /k, ɡ/ as in انكب [aŋkab] ('it spilled') and مِنقَل [mɪŋɡal] ('brazier').
• Consonant clusters like /ts/ and /tʃ/ occur only in foreign words and are not considered to be part of the phonemic inventory but as a sequence e.g. /t/ ⟨ت⟩ and /ʃ/ ⟨ش⟩, in تْشَاد /ˈtʃaːd/ ('Chad').

A notable feature of Hejazi is the pronunciation of ⟨ض⟩ as in Modern Standard Arabic. It is pronounced as /dˤ/ which differentiates it from other dialects in the Arabian Peninsula that merge the phoneme into ⟨ظ⟩ /ðˤ/. Another feature which is shared by many Arabic dialects is the pronunciation of ⟨ق⟩ as a voiced velar /ɡ/, 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 /g/ pronunciation instead of /q/.^[7]

Due to the influence of Modern Standard Arabic, [q] has been introduced as an allophone of /ɡ/ ⟨ق⟩ in a few words borrowed from Modern Standard Arabic, such as اقتصاد /igtiˈsˤaːd/ ('economy'), which can be pronounced [ɪqtɪˈsˤaːd] or [ɪgtɪˈsˤaːd], or religious terms as in قرآن /gurˈʔaːn/ ('Quran') which can be pronounced as [qʊrˈʔaːn] by younger speakers or [gʊrˈʔaːn] by older speakers.^[8] The two allophones might contrast for a number of speakers, e.g. قرون [gʊˈruːn] ('horns') vs. قرون [qʊˈruːn] ('centuries') which might suggest [q] as a marginal phoneme.

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

Notes:

¹ pronounced [jaraga] or [jaraqa] (Allophones).

² /zˤ/ is a distinct phoneme not a merger, while other alternative pronunciations include mergers with other phonemes.

³ /p/ and /v/ occur only in loanwords and can be substituted by /b/ and /f/ respectively depending on the speaker.

The glottal stop /ʔ/ ⟨ء⟩ was lost early on in the Old Hejazi Arabic period. This can be seen in Modern Hejazi as in يقروا /jigru/ "they read" and مايل /maːjil/ "diagonal" vs. Classical Arabic يقرؤوا /jaqraʔuː/ and مائل /maːʔil/. 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 /iswara/ or /ʔiswara/ and آكل "I eat" analyzed as /aːkul/ or /ʔaːkul/, but it is still phonemic and distinguished in medial and final positions and distinguished as such in words, as in يسأل /jisʔal/ "he asks" or words under the influence of Modern Standard Arabic such as بيئة /biːʔa/ "environment" and مسؤول /masʔuːl/ "administrator, responsible".

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 /katːab/ or /kattab/ kattab "he made (someone) write" vs. كَتَب /katab/ 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 /famː/ ('mouth') which is pronounced with a single final consonant [fam].

Consonant assimilation is a phonological process which can occur between two consecutive consonants as in /n/ before /b/ as in جَنْب /d͡ʒanb/ 'next to' → [d͡ʒamb] or [ʒamb] , or between dental consonants; /d/ before /t/ as in أخذت /axadt/ 'I took' → [axat], or /t/ before /dˤ/ as in أَتْضَيَّف /atdˤajːaf/ 'serve myself' → [adˤːajːaf], /tˤ/ before /t/ as in أَنْبَسَطْت /anbaˈsatˤt/ 'I enjoyed it' → [ambaˈsatˤ] which is differentiated from أَنْبَسَطْ /anˈbasatˤ/ "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.

Notes:

1. /zˤ/ is a distinct phoneme, not a merger, e.g. ظَنّ /zˤanː/ ('he thought') vs. زَنّ /zanː/ ('he nagged').
2. The assimilation can also be reflected in the orthography, so ثلاثة /talaːta/ 'three' becomes تلاتة with a /t/ ⟨ت⟩, but most writers keep the Modern Standard Arabic spelling of the words.

The letter ⟨ذ⟩ came to be pronounced /d/ as in ذَهَب /dahab/ 'gold' or /z/ as in ذاكر /zaːkar/ 'he studied', on the other hand ⟨ث⟩ is mostly pronounced /t/ as in ثور /toːr/ 'bull' or rarely /s/ as in ثابت /saːbit/ 'stable'. ⟨ظ⟩ is pronounced distinctly as /zˤ/ in ظاهرة /zˤaːh(i)ra/ 'phenomenon' or merges with /dˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ in other words like ظلام /dˤalaːm/ 'dark' and ظفر /dˤifir/ 'nail'. In contrast ⟨ض⟩ is always pronounced as a /dˤ/ except in words derived from the two trilateral roots ⟨ض ب ط⟩ and ⟨ض ر ط⟩ in which it is pronounced /zˤ/.

Mergers depend on each word, while most words have only one pronunciation, few words have two optional mergers e.g. كذب /kiðib/ might be pronounced as /kidib/ by some speakers or /kizib/ 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 /tadˤliːl/, while the assimilation of the word ثَانِيَة /θaːnija/ (second; number-two or unit of time) has made a split into two pronunciations (words) /taːnja/ (second; number-two) and /saːnja/ (second; unit of time).

Some speakers pronounce each consonant distinctly as in Standard Arabic while others might refrain from the usage of /s/ as a pronunciation for ⟨ث⟩ and only merge /θ/ with /t/ in most words while keeping /θ/ 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 /dˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ and /ðˤ/ ⟨ظ⟩ can be stigmatized.