Understanding the Phonotactics and Coda Clusters by Different Jordanian Speakers

Abstract

This study aims to explore and tackle different phenomena of syllable structure and syllabification patterns in Jordanian Arabic (JA). The study compares and contrasts the permissible syllable structures in different Jordanian dialects. It also presents a comprehensive analysis of how speakers of different Jordanian dialects tackle the consonantal sequence in CVCC and the three moraic structures in CVVCC within the framework of the Optimality Theory. Data were collected from 15 females aged between 45 and 60 from the north, the south, and the middle of Jordan. These participants were asked to pronounce certain target words written on a sheet of paper in their daily dialects. Their productions of the words were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed within the framework of the Optimality Theory in Tableaux.  The findings revealed that given CVCC, coda clusters are admissible in Ammani and Karaki but not in Ajluni Arabic. On the other hand, given CVVCC, in which the consonantal sequence in the coda position is geminate, Karaki speakers tend to preserve the geminate, and Ajluni speakers tend to degeminate the cluster. However, Ammani speakers tend to insert an epenthetic vowel to split the geminate. Since the study was limited to only two syllable structures from three Jordanian forms, further studies are recommended to investigate other syllable structures in such forms or even the same syllable structures in other Arabic dialects.