Information about Arabic speech

1. A comparison between Arabic and English phonology

Aspect
Consonants

Language

Number

Details

Source

Arabic
Jordanian

28/29consonants

/b, t, t, d, d, k, q, , m, n, r, f, , , , s, s, z,

Dyson&
Amayreh
(2007)

Arabic
Lebanese

27consonants

, , , , , h, j, l, w, , / with six
additional consonants used by some speakers
/, , v, v, z, /
/(p), b, t, t, d, d, (k), , (q), , m, n, r, , f,
(v), (), (), s, s, z, z, , , x, , (), (), ,

Khattab
(2007)

, h, j, l, w/

English

24consonants

/p, b, t, d, k, , m, n, , , , f, v, s, z, , , h,

Smit(2004)

, , j, w, , l/
Consonant
clusters

Arabic
Jordanian

Mainlysyllable
final

Dyson&
Amayreh
(2007)

Arabic
Lebanese

Syllableinitialand
syllablefinal

consonantclustersarephonetically
commonindialectalvarieties[ofStandard
Arabic],includingLebaneseArabicoften
theresultofvowelreduction

Khattab
(2007,p.304)

English

Approx.29
syllableinitialand
manysyllablefinal
consonantclusters

Many2and3elementconsonantclustersin
initialpositionincluding/pl, bl, kl, l, fl, sl,

McLeod
(2007)
Smit(2004)

p, b, t, d, k, , , f, , pj, tj, fj, mj, nj,

sm, sn, sp, st, sk, spl, sp, st, skw/andmany
2to4elementconsonantclustersinfinal
position

Vowelsand
diphthongs

Arabic
Jordanian

6vowels+2
diphthongs

Vowels:/i, i, u, u, a, a/

Arabic
Lebanese

13vowels+
4diphthongs

Vowels:/i, , e, e, , , , a, , , u, o, o/

English

14vowels+
3diphthongs

Vowels:/i, , e, , , , , , u, , o, , , /

14vowels+
3diphthongs

Vowels:/i, , e, , , , , , , , o, , , /

12vowels+
8diphthongs

Vowels:/i, , , , a, , , u, , , , /

12vowels+
8diphthongs

Vowels:/i, , e, , , , , o, , , , /iOR

(USGeneral
American)

English
(Canadian)

English
(UKReceived
Pronunciation)

English
(Australian)

Diphthongs:/aj, aw/(or/e, o/)

Diphthongs:/a/, a, , /

Dyson&
Amayreh
(2007)
Khattab
(2007)
Smit(2007)

Diphthongs:/a,a,/
(Smitalsolists5rcoloreddiphthongs)
Diphthongs:/, , /
Diphthongs:/a, a, , e, o, , , /
/i, , , , a, , , , , u, , /ii
Diphthongs:/, e, , , , , e, /iOR

McLeod,S.(2012).InformationaboutArabicspeech.Bathurst,NSW,Australia:CharlesSturtUniversity.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingualspeech/languages.PublishedNovember2012.

Bernhardt,&
Deby(2007)
Howard
(2007)
i

Harrington,
Cox,&Evans,
(1997)
ii
Mitchell

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English
(NewZealand)

12vowels+
8diphthongs

/e, a, o, a, , , , /ii

(1946)

Vowels:/i, , , , , , u, , , , , /iOR

/ i, , e, , a, , , , , , /ii

Diphthongs:/a, a, i, e, o, i, e, /iOR
/ai, a, i, ei, o, i, e, /ii

Bauer&
Warren
(2004)
ii
Maclagan
(2009)

Tones

Arabic

0tones

English

0tones

Syllableshape

Arabic

C(12)V(12)C(02)

Dyson&
Amayreh
(2007)
Khattab
(2007)

English

C(03)VC(04)

ThesmallestsyllableisVandthelargestis
CCCVCCCCstrengths.

Smit(2004)
McLeod
(2007)

Stresstimed
orsyllable
timed?

Arabic
Jordanian

Stresstimed

Syllablesarelightorheavy

Dyson&
Amayreh
(2007)

Arabic
Lebanese

Stresstimed

Trochaicwordstresspattern

Khattab
(2007)

English

Stresstimed

Syllablescanbestrongorweak.Stressalsois
usedforemphasis.

Varieties

Arabic

Manydialects

ManydialectsincludingEgyptian,Jordanian,
Kuwaiti,Lebanese

English

Manydialects

ManydialectsincludingGeneralAmerican
English,ReceivedPronunciation(England),
ScottishEnglish,IrishEnglish,Australian
English,NewZealandEnglish,SouthAfrican
Englishetc.

Writing
system

Arabic

Arabic(Semitic)
script

Arabic(Semitic)scriptwith28letters(rightto
left).1:1phonemetographeme
correspondence

English

Latinalphabet

Romanscriptlooselyrelatedtophonetic
realizationsoftheconsonantsandvowels.

Dyson&
Amayreh
(2007)
Khattab
(2007)

References

Arabicstudies
Dyson,A.T.,&Amayreh,M.M.(2007).JordanianArabicspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguide
tospeechacquisition(pp.288299).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.
Khattab,G.(2007).LebaneseArabicspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguidetospeechacquisition
(pp.300312).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.

McLeod,S.(2012).InformationaboutArabicspeech.Bathurst,NSW,Australia:CharlesSturtUniversity.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingualspeech/languages.PublishedNovember2012.

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Englishstudies
Bauer,L.,&Warren,P.(2004).NewZealandEnglish:Phonology.InE.Schneider,K.Burridge,B.Kortmann,R.Mesthrie&
C.Upton(Eds.).AhandbookofvarietiesofEnglish:Vol.1.Phonology(pp.580602).Berlin,Germany:Moutonde
Gruyer.
Bernhardt,B.M.H.,&Deby,J.(2007).CanadianEnglishspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguideto
speechacquisition(pp.177187).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.
Harrington,J.,Cox,F.,&Evans,Z.(1997).Anacousticphoneticstudyofbroad,general,andcultivatedAustralianEnglish
vowels.AustralianJournalofLinguistics,17,155184.
Howard,S.(2007).Englishspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguidetospeechacquisition(pp.188
203).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.
Maclagan,M.(2009).Reflectingconnectionswiththelocallanguage:NewZealandEnglish.InternationalJournalof
SpeechLanguagePathology,11(2),113121.
McLeod,S.(2007).AustralianEnglishspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguidetospeech
acquisition(pp.241256).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.
Mitchell,A.G.(1946).ThepronunciationofEnglishinAustralia.Sydney,Australia:Angus&Robertson.
Smit,A.B.(2004).Articulationandphonology:Resourceguideforschoolagechildrenandadults.CliftonPark,NY:
ThomsonDelmarLearning.
Smit,A.B.(2007).GeneralAmericanEnglishspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguidetospeech
acquisition(pp.128147).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.

Comparativesummaries
Smith,B.(2001).Arabicspeakers.InM.Swan&B.Smith(Eds.),LearnerEnglish:Ateacher'sguidetointerferenceand

otherproblems(pp.195213).Cambridge,UK:CambridgeUniversityPress.

2. Arabic speech assessments

ForalistofspeechassessmentsinArabicsee:www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingualspeech/speechassessments
IntelligibilityinContextScale:Arabicwww.csu.edu.au/research/multilingualspeech/ics

3. Monolingual speech acquisition (summaries and studies written in English)

SummariesofmonolingualArabicspeechacquisition
Ammar,W.,&Morsi,R.(2006).Phonologicaldevelopmentanddisorders:ColloquialEgyptianArabic.InZhuHua&B.
Dodd(Eds.),Phonologicaldevelopmentanddisordersinchildren:Amultilingualperspective(pp.204232).
Cleavdon,UK:MultilingualMatters.
Dyson,A.T.,&Amayreh,M.M.(2007).JordanianArabicspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguide
tospeechacquisition(pp.288299).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.
Khattab,G.(2007).LebaneseArabicspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguidetospeechacquisition
(pp.300312).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.

StudiesofmonolingualArabicspeechacquisition
Amayreh,M.M.,&Dyson,A.T.(1998).TheacquisitionofArabicconsonants.JournalofSpeech,LanguageandHearing
Research,41,642653.
Amayreh,M.M.,&Dyson,A.T.(2000).PhoneticinventoriesofyoungArabicspeakingchildren.ClinicalLinguisticsand
Phonetics,14,193215.
Amayreh,M.M.,Hamdan,J.,&Fareh,S.(1999).FrequencyofoccurrenceofconsonantphonemesinArabicandEnglish
discourse.Dirasat,207220.
Ammar,W.(2002).AcquisitionofsyllabicstructureinEgyptiancolloquialArabic.InF.Windsor,M.L.Kelly&N.Hewlett
(Eds.),Investigationsinclinicalphoneticsandlinguistics(pp.153160).Hillsdale,NJ:LawrenceErlbaum.
Ayyad,H.,&Bernhardt,B.M.(2009).PhonologicaldevelopmentofKuwaitiArabic:Preliminarydata.ClinicalLinguistics
&Phonetics,23(11),794807.

McLeod,S.(2012).InformationaboutArabicspeech.Bathurst,NSW,Australia:CharlesSturtUniversity.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingualspeech/languages.PublishedNovember2012.

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Hamdan,J.M.,&Amayreh,M.M.(2007).ConsonantprofileofArabicspeakingschoolagechildreninJordan.Folia
PhoniatricaetLogopaedica,59(2),5564.
Saleha,M.,Shoeiba,R.,Hegazia,M.,&Alib,P.(2007).EarlyphonologicaldevelopmentinArabicEgyptianchildren:1230
months.FoliaPhoniatricaetLogopaedica,59,234240.

4. Multilingual speech acquisition (summaries and studies written in English)

Generalsummaries
Goldstein,B.A.,&McLeod,S.(2012).Typicalandatypicalmultilingualspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod&B.A.Goldstein
(Eds.),Multilingualaspectsofspeechsounddisordersinchildren(pp.84100).Bristol,UK:MultilingualMatters.
Grech,H.,&McLeod,S.(2012).Multilingualspeechandlanguagedevelopmentanddisorders.InD.Battle(Ed.),
Communicationdisordersinmulticulturalandinternationalpopulations(4thed.,pp.120147).StLouis,MO:
Elsevier.
ZhuHua&Dodd,B.(Eds).(2006).Phonologicaldevelopmentanddisordersinchildren:Amultilingualperspective.
Cleavdon,UK:MultilingualMatters.
Yava,M.(2007).Multilingualspeechacquisition.InS.McLeod(Ed.),Theinternationalguidetospeechacquisition(pp.
96100).CliftonPark,NY:ThomsonDelmarLearning.

SummariesofmultilingualArabicspeechacquisition
Khattab,G.(2006).PhonologicalacquisitionbyArabicEnglishbilingualchildren.InZhuHua&B.Dodd(Eds.),
Phonologicaldevelopmentanddisordersinchildren:Amultilingualperspective(pp.383412).Cleavdon,UK:
MultilingualMatters.

StudiesofmultilingualArabicspeechacquisition
Languages

Country

Study

Ageof
children

Total
numberof
children
(no.of
multilingual
children)**

Typically/
atypically
developing
children

Speech
/language

Production/
perception

Arabic
Swedish

Sweden

Salameh,E.K.,
Nettlebladt,U.,&
Norlin,K.(2003).
Assessingphonologies
inbilingualSwedish
Arabicchildrenwith
andwithoutlanguage
impairment.Child
LanguageTeaching
andTherapy,19,338
364.

3;10 6;7

20(20)

typical
atypical

speech

production

Note.*StudiesoftypicallyandatypicallydevelopingmultilingualchildrenpublishedinEnglishwereincluded;however,studiesthatonlyincludedmonolingual
childrenwereexcluded.
**Thetotalnumberofchildrenmayhaveincludedbothmultilingualandmonolingualchildren,sothenumberinbracketsprovidesthetotalnumberofmultilingual
children.

McLeod,S.(2012).InformationaboutArabicspeech.Bathurst,NSW,Australia:CharlesSturtUniversity.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingualspeech/languages.PublishedNovember2012.

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