Tongue Retraction in Arabic: An Ultrasound and Acoustic Study

Abstract

This thesis deals with the phonetic aspects of tongue retraction in Arabic emphatics compared to those of the pharyngeals and uvulars. The study uses ultrasound imaging of the tongue coupled with the first three formants to investigate the articulation of Arabic emphatics, pharyngeals and uvulars in five dialects (Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian, Saudi and Yemeni). The total number of subjects participating in this study was fifteen. The articulatory and acoustic results indicate that tongue retraction exhibited in the Arabic emphatic coronals differs from that of the pharyngeals and the uvulars. While the emphatics are produced with simultaneous raising of the tongue dorsum and retraction of the tongue root, the pharyngeals are articulated with a lowering of the tongue dorsum and inconsistent tongue root retraction. Although both the emphatics and uvulars share the quality of tongue dorsum raising, the raising in the uvulars is greater than that of the emphatics, and the tongue root in the emphatics is further retracted. The tongue retraction of emphatics has acoustic correlates in lowering and raising of the second and third formants of the neighbouring vowels, respectively. Pharyngeals are associated with raising the first formant of the immediately following vowels. Uvulars pattern with the emphatics in terms of tongue retraction manifested in lowering the second formant of the adjacent vowels, but they pattern with the pharyngeals in relation to raising the first formant of neighbouring vowels. Based on these findings, tongue retraction in emphatics is more robust and prominent than it is in the uvulars and pharyngeals. The phonetic findings warrant the rejection of the phonological assumption that the emphatics, uvulars and pharyngeals are assigned the feature [RTR] and the study proposes alternative representations. The current study deepens our understanding of the physiological and acoustic aspects of tongue retraction in Arabic.