Syllable Structure and Syllabification in Yemeni and Indian Arabic

Mohammed Q. Al-Shormani
CALTS, University of Hyderabad
Jan/10/2010
Introduction
The syllable as a universal phonological concept has been shown to have a well-defined
status in phonological theories. Early as well as recent studies have revealed that phonological
systems of many languages cannot be properly described without reference to syllables and
higher level units, and that phonotactic constraints and distributional statements on the way
segments cluster together are best expressed, in many cases, in terms of syllables rather than
morphemes or words. In addition, there are several evidences for the fact that syllable is a
structural unit including, for instance, morphological rules and suprasegmental or prosodic units
such as stress (Benhallam, 1980; Abu-Salim, 1982, Watson, 2007). As such a syllable must be
the domain on which such units are defined. There are also some related processes to syllable
such as syllabification, consonant clustering and gemination. The stress rules of many languages,
for instance, draw a distinction between light and heavy syllables and hence assign stress to
heavy syllables that meet certain conditions.
Being a Semitic language, syllable structure and syllabification in Arabic have their own
properties. In this paper, I will try to present a brief account of syllable structure and
syllabification in Yemeni Arabic (YA) and Indian Arabic (IA). Yemen has two major dialects of
Arabic, viz, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and YA. Likewise, in India, there are two varieties
of Arabic, viz, MSA spoken by those who are specialists in the language like MA and PhD
holders and a variety called Indian Arabic spoken by Muslims due to the influence of the Holly
Quran. Some related processes to syllable and syllabification such as gemination, consonant
clustering and stress placement and how these processes work in both YA and IA will be
investigated. The framework employed here is Moraic Theory.
Syllable Structure MSA
Several researchers (e.g. Al-Ani, 1978; Broselow, 1979; McCarthy, 1979) among others
have attested that MSA has the syllable patterns in (1) below:
(1)

a. CV

la

no

b. CVV

raa.sal

he correspond

c. CVC

kul

all
1

d. CVVC

naal

e. CVCC

?uxt

he got
sister

In fact, there are several studies that tackle the syllable structure in Arabic in general. For
instance, (Kiparsky, 2003; McCarthy, 1979; Holes, 2004; Al-Ani, 1978; Abu-Salim, 1982)
among others have asserted that syllables in Arabic have internal immediate constituent
structures of their own that can be represented in primary-branching tree diagrams. Thus, the first
major division is into onset and rime. The onset consists of any consonant or consonant cluster
preceding the syllable nucleus and the rime includes all remaining elements. The rime in turn
divides into two parts, viz, the syllable nucleus and the coda. The coda is said to be the final
consonant or consonant cluster. Thus, such a syllable structure can be represented as in (2):
(2) Syllable Template in MSA

Source: Abu-Salim (1982: 62)

Now, given the syllable template in (2) above and the terminology associated with it, the
syllable patterns in (1) above will have the internal structures as in (3), where O, R, N and K
stand for onset, rime, nucleus and coda respectively,
(3)

Source: modified from Abu-Salim (1982: 64)

Syllable Structure in YA

The syllable structures in (3) demonstrate different characteristics of syllable structure in

Arabic. First, the onset, as opposed to the coda, is an obligatory constituent of all the syllable
structures in (1), i.e. each syllable must begin with a consonant which implies that vowel-initial
syllables are not allowed in Arabic. There are cases, however, where the onset consists of more
than one consonant especially in YA. In addition to the syllable patterns noted in (1), the
following are the most notable syllable patterns in YA.
(4)

a. CCV

sta.lam

to receive

b. CCVV

blaa.di

my home country

c. CVCC

qult

I said

d. CCVC

staq.bal

to welcome

e. CCVVC

blaad

ones country

f. CVVCC

maarr

passer-by

The syllable types in (4a), i.e. CCV occurs in word-initial positions as in sta.lam (to
receive), word medial positions as in ?istaraq (was stolen) and word-final positions as in
kalalmtu. The syllable pattern CCVV is highly respected, i.e. it occurs only in word initial
positions as represented in (4b). CCVC occurs in word-initial positions as in staq.bal (to
welcome), word-medial positions as in ?i.tum.hu (abuse him) and word-final as in ?i.drib
(beat). CCVVC occurs word initially as in blaad.na (our home country) and word finally as
in?i.jtaa (invaded) but it does not occur word medially. CVVCC is usually restricted to
phonological word-final positions in YA. As presented in (1), MSA has no consonant cluster in
word-initial positions and only up to two consonants can be clustered in word-final positions.
However, in (4) above, YA has initial consonant clusters up to two consonants. Historically,
words with initial consonant clusters in YA as well as in many dialects of Arabic like Hijazi,
have developed from corresponding words with no such clusters in MSA. Such a development in
Abu-Salims (1982: 13) words is a result of the applications of some diachronic rules: deleting
vowels or consonants or both in some environments.

In addition, the syllable structure CVVCC occurs in YA specially the dialect spoken in
Sanaa as in maarr (passer-by) and saamm (poisonous) which is a kind of gemination. However,
it is less frequent in its occurrence. Thus, the syllable template underlying all syllable structures
shown in (4) above can be thus formulated as in (5) below. This template shows that syllable
structure in YA is also bimoraic.

(5) Syllable Template in YA

Condition: if a
~ b
Abu-Salim (1982: 17) remarks that the condition means that the nucleus and the coda cannot
both be branching in the same syllable. In addition to the syllable structures considered in (4)
above, there is a third syllable type, so-called by Watson (2007) a superheavy syllable, which is
usually restricted to domain-final position represented in (6) below. This superheavy, viz,
CVCCC is restricted to phonological word-final position in YA. However, an apparent problem
arises with the analysis of this syllable. If we claim that only the final consonant in the domain is
extrasyllabic we end up with an apparent trimoraic syllable, as in (6) below which is not in line
with the underlying syllable structure which is bimoraic. Such a syllable structure as in ma:kunt
(I was not) is represented by (6) below:
(6)

Source: (Watson, 2007: 59)

The CVCCC syllable type is, however, extremely restricted in occurrence and almost all
potential sequences of CVCCC. In fact, CVCCC syllables are restricted, therefore, not only in
terms of phonological position, but also in terms of which consonants can occupy the final two
positions. The only surface tokens of final CVCCC syllables in YA involve final t from the
concatenation of the perfect aspect subject suffixes {first person singular} or {second person
masculine singular} + {negative}. This is exemplified below in (7)
(7) /ma: + libist + / ma:libist
/ma: + gult + / ma:gult

I/you m.s. didnt wear

I/you m.s. didnt say

Syllable Structure in IA
Arabic in India carries an almost absolute Islamic identity. This is in Qutbuddin s (2007)
views is due to the Islamic influence under which Indians learn or speak Arabic. Qutbuddin adds
that this results in speaking a variety she calls IA. Regarding MSA spoken in India, it has the
same syllable structures discussed in (1) above. However, it has been found that IA has the
syllable structures in (8) below:
(8)
a.VC

il

the definite article: the

b. CV

katap

he wrote

c. CVC

rapna

our God

d. CVCC

kult

I said

e. CVV

laa

no

f. CVVC

suum

you (sg. m.) fast

g. CVVCC

kaalpi

my heart

Before discussing the different syllable structures in IA, there is a very significant point
that has to be paid attention to. From the respondents I have met, I have found that Indians
speaking Arabic were not able to pronounce some Arabic sounds such as the uvular /q/, the
pharyngeals, // and //, the emphatic dentals // and //, // and /D`/, the velars // and /x/ and the
glottal /?/. This phenomenon has been ascribed by some researchers (e.g. Qutbuddin, 2007) to
the fact that these sounds do not exist in Indian languages whether Indo-European or Dravidian.
In fact, the influence of Indian languages is extended to affect the pronunciation of some Arabic
5

sounds which are possessed by Indian languages. For instance, almost all Indian languages have
the phoneme /b/ yet we notice that Indians pronounce the Arabic /b/ as /p/ as in (8g) above where
/b/ in qalb (heart) is pronounced /p/ irrespective of the way it is syllabified. In addition, there is a
difference between YA CVVCC and IA CVVCC. While in YA, the last CC are geminates, they
are not so in IA. Further, unlike YA, IA does not have initial consonant clusters and in this it
resembles MSA.

Syllabification in YA
Syllabification can be simply defined as a phonological process by means of which words
and/or phrases are divided into syllables. As far as YA is concerned, the main domain of
syllabification is the phonological word. The phonological word in YA consists of the word stem
plus any affixes. In the imperfect verb, for instance, the phonological word comprises the stem,
any subject and object pronoun suffixes, the negative suffix and the imperfect prefix. A number
of monomoraic particles including conjunctions and the habitual/continuous and future verbal
prefixes may be procliticized to the phonological word, and have no effect on word stress. For
instance, fa-bi-tiktubu:ha: (so you m.pl. are writing it f.) consists of the phonological word
tiktubu:ha: and the proclitics fa- (conjunction) and bi- (habitual/continuous). However, a
prepositional phrase complement can either be incorporated within the phonological word of the
verb or function as a separate phonological unit. This phenomenon is exemplified in (9) below:
(9)

(i) /ma: + katab + lana: + /

or /ma: + katab + + lana:/
(ii) /ma: + katab + lak + /
or /ma: + katab + + lak/

ma: katablana:
ma: katab lana:
ma:katablak
ma: katab lak

he did not write to us

he did not write to us
he did not write to you m.s.
he did not write to you m.s.

where preposition complements lana: (to us) and lak (to you) are demonstrated to have been
added either immediately to the verb katab or function as separate phonological units.
Syllabification is usually discussed in terms of syllable repair processes such as epenthesis,
closed syllable shortening and syncope (Watson, 2007). These are briefly discussed below.
Epenthesis
Epenthesis is defined by Watson (2007) as the insertion of a vowel into a word to make
its pronunciation easier. While sequences of three consonants may occur in YA, in general
epenthesis of [a] occurs when three consonants are juxtaposed within the phonological word as
in (10)
(10)
a. /ajj + na:/ ajj [a]na:

our pilgrim m.
6

b. /ba d + m:a/ bad [a]ma:

c. /gabl + m/ gabl[a]ma:
d. /gult + lih/ gult[a]lih
e. /dafact + lak/ dafa ct [a]lak

after
before
I told him
I paid you m.s.

Closed Syllable Shortening

When the morphology concatenates a domain-final CVVC syllable to a consonant-initial
morpheme within the phonological phrase, the long vowel is shortened to prevent the appearance
of non-phonological-phrase-final CVVC syllables. In closed syllables, /a:/ is shortened to [a], /i:/
to [i], and /u:/ to [u]. Example (11b) exemplifies vowel shortening within the phonological word;
(11a) exemplifies vowel shortening within the phonological phrase:

(11) a. /ba:b + kum/

b. /ji: + na/

your pl. door

we came

babkum
jina

This process is described as Closed Syllable Shortening (CSS) and can be understood as the final
consonant crowding out the vowel from the second mora. However, CSS is optional in YA
before the negative suffix -. This is exemplified in (12) below.
(12) a. /(ma: +) ka:n + /
b. /(ma: +) diri:t + /

(ma:) kan ~ ka:n

(ma:) dirit ~ diri:t

he was not
I/you m.s. didnt know

In YA, CSS also occurs between verbs and prepositional complements as in (13) below.
(13) a. /ra: + lih/ ralih
he went off
b. /ga:l + li:/ galli:
he said to me
where lih (off) and li: (to me) are added to the verbs ra: (went) and ga:l (said).
Syncope
Syncope can be simply defined as a type of elision in which a word is contracted by
removing a vowel in a syllable. In YA, syncope targets vowels in monomoraic syllables which
are flanked by vowel-final syllables across words to reduce the number of syllables and
maximize bimoraicity (Watson, 2007: 71). Now, consider (14) below:
(14)

a. /titi: + tisi:r/
b. /gadu:+ kubur/

she wants to go
he has grown up

titi tsi:r
gadu kbur

where /i/ has been removed from tisi:r in (a) and /u/ from kubur in (b).
7

Syllabification in IA
Syllabification in IA works only in epenthesis. Other syllabification processes such as
CSS and syncope do not apply. For instance, in the case of syncope, I have not found vowel
deletion in IA. However, it seems that epenthesis largely applies to IA and this may account for
the nonexistence of initial consonant cluster in IA as shown in (8) above.
Epenthesis in IA
If we reexamine (8) above, we notice that unlike YA and MSA, IA has VC which does
not exist even in Classical Arabic (CL). As has been stated above, the dominant use of epenthesis
accounts for the nonexistence of initial consonant clusters in IA. In this aspect I have asked my
respondents to pronounce the YA words exemplified in (4) above in addition to ma:kunt (I was
not) whose final syllable structure is CVCCC and the result was (15) below:
(15)
YA
a. sta.lam

IA
[i]sta.lam

Gloss
to receive

b. blaad.di

b[i]laa.di

my home country

c. qult

qult

I said

d. staq.bal

[i]staq.bal

to welcome

e. blaad

b[i]laad ones country

f. maarr

maar[i]r passer-by

g. ma:kunt

ma:kunt[i] I was not

In (15) (a) through (g), epenthesis affects the pronunciation of such words. That is, there is an
insertion of the short vowel /i/ which makes consonant clustering in word initial positions
impossible in IA. Other possible consonant clusterings in IA will be discussed later on. The
difference between YA and IA regarding epenthesis is that while in the former there is an
insertion of [a], there is an insertion of [i] in the latter.
Consonant Clustering in YA
As we have seen above, MSA has only one consonant cluster which is CC in wordfinal position as in qalb (heart). However, YA has several consonant clusters. Now consider the
patterns in (16) below:
8

(16) Pattern

example

gloss

(i) CC.

stalamtu

I receive

(ii) CC

halamtu

I spoke

(iii) CC

kalb

dog

(iv) CCC

ma:uft

I didnt see

These are the clustering patterns in YA which have been argued for by many researchers
(e.g. Abu-Salim, 1982; Broselow, 1979, 1997; McCarthy, 1979; Watson, 2007) among others.
Historically, words with consonant clusters in YA, as well as in other Arabic dialects, whether
word-initial, word-medial or word-final positions, have developed from corresponding words
with no clusters in CA or MSA. McCarthy (1986) attributes this phenomenon to the diachronic
and synchronic developments by means of syllabification and other phonological processes.
Consonant Clustering in IA
As has been stated above, in IA there is no initial consonant (cf. (6). However, there are
two types of consonant clusters in IA, viz, medial and final. In both only up two to consonants
can be clustered. There are exemplified in (17) below:
(17)
a. katabtu

I wrote

b. bintuna

our daughter

c. ?uxt

sister

d. kalp

dog

In (17) above, (a) and (b) exemplify medial consonant clustering in IA while (c) and (d)
exemplify final one. Here it should be noted that in (d), IA speakers pronounce the Arabic sound
/b/ as /p/ which may be ascribed to the influence of the aspirated /p/ in Indian languages as noted
above.
Gemination
Gemination is one way of clustering in Arabic whether in MSA or YA. Geminates are
included in the class of permissible initial, internal and final clusters. As far as MSA is
concerned, many researchers (e.g. Al-Ani, 1979; Broselow et al, 1997; McCarthy, 1979) among
others have argued that MSA does not allow initial gemination. However, Watson (2007) in the
course of describing YA has ascertained that YA has the three types of gemination mentioned
9

above. Most often arising from assimilation, initial geminates occur only in YA, they can be
dissolved by epenthesis in the same way as other onset clusters (Kiparsky, 2003).

Initial Gemination.
Kiparsky (2003) has argued that YA has initial gemination which is a characteristic of
what has been called by him C-Dialects of which YA is one. He has seen initial geminates as to
constitute fairly direct evidence for unsyllabified moras (p. 13). Now, consider the following
examples taken from him:
(18) a. llandan
London
b. mmid
extend
In (a) above, /l/ has been geminated in the loan word London. In (b) /m/ has been
geminated in the YA word mmid, the imperative of the verb M A D (to extend). What has to be
stated here is the fact that initial gemination in YA is very limited and its occurrence is limited to
a few words including loan words.
Medial Gemination
Unlike initial gemination, medial gemination in Arabic is very common. Abu-Salim
(1982: 219) describing medial gemination states that [o]ne of the cases where epenthesis
consistently fails to apply is with geminate consonants. He adds that geminates may not be
dissolved by epenthesis even if they occur in contexts where the rule [of epenthesis] is expected
to apply. However, he ascertains that final geminates can be dissolved by epenthesis.
(19)
a. xuaaa:f
b. mudarrisi:n
c. wazza
d. jamma

clasp
teachers
he distributed
he collected

In (19) above, (a&b) represent medial gemination in the case of nouns where has been
geminated in (a) and r has been geminated in (b). However, (c&d) illustrate medial gemination
in verbs especially past form. As has been discussed above, epenthesis fails to apply due to the
fact that if epenthesis applies, it will result in a VC syllable which is not possible in Arabic at all.
For instance, if we syllabify and apply epenthesis to the word jamma , (he collected), we will
get jam[a]m. a and thus resulting with am and a each of which start with V which is not
possible in Arabic. Thus, medial gemination in Arabic cannot be dissolved by means of an
10

epenthesis rule. This actually contrasts, as maintained by Kiparsky(2003), with languages like
Swedish where such an epenthesis rule can be applied.

Final Gemination
Geminates also occur in word-final positions. Watson (2007) holds that there are two
types of final gemination. The first type is that which takes place in verbs which are derived from
nouns as in (20) below:
(20)
Noun
Gloss
verb
Gloss
a.adad
number
add
to number
b.aj
pilgrimage
ajj
he did pilgrimage
In (a), we notice that the verb add (to number) in which /d/ has been geminated has been
derived from the noun.adad (number). In (b), /j/ has been geminated in the verb ajj which has
been derived from the noun aj. The second type of final gemination mentioned by Watson is
that which results from concatenating the negative particle to a verb in YA. Consider (21)
below:
(21)
a. ma:ib+

b. ma:sa:r +

ma:i[bb]
ma:sa[rr]

I didnt like
he didnt go

Here, we notice that in YA, the negative particle ma:. consists of two affixes. One is
ma:- which is prefixed to the verb and which is suffixed to the verb and because of this
gemination takes place. In (a) the final /b/ is geminated and in (b) the final /r/ is also geminated.
In fact, ma:. as a negative particle is confined only to YA and is not found in MSA at all.
Thus, this type of gemination is found only in YA. However, the first type of final gemination is
very common in MSA.
Gemination in IA
What I have observed regarding gemination in IA is that gemination in its real sense is
rarely found in IA. This observation lies in the fact that epenthesis plays a crucial role in
geminates in IA. Wherever there are two sounds geminating, epenthesis applies to which I have
no reason. Needless to say that, such an area needs much work to investigate its hidden secrets.
However, I have come across only two consonant sounds // and /d/ that can be geminated word
finally. These are shown in (22) below:
(22)
11

a. qa
b. madd

never
he extended

In addition, I have found one medial geminate in the word ?allah (God) where /l/ is geminated.
Again, this area needs further investigation.
Stress Placement in YA
Of all the several properties of segmental strings, syllable structure is the one that stress
rules most often refer to. In fact, they refer to a quite specific aspect of syllable structure, i.e.
syllable weight. Generally, it is this distinction between heavy and light syllables that affects the
placement of stress. The richness of this problem is apparent from its ramifications. First, in
many languages the notion heavy syllable invokes a disjunction of syllables containing a long
vowel or diphthong and syllables with a short vowel but closed by a consonant. Second, though
heavy syllables often attract the stress, they sometimes reject it or attract it subject to some
limitations of, say, distance from a boundary. Third, the weight of some syllables may itself vary
in a particular language, perhaps again under some boundary conditions. Thus, McCarthy (1979:
446) states three rules of stress in Arabic both in MSA and YA. These are stated briefly and
simply as follows:
(i) Stress the ultima if it is a superheavy syllable (CVCC or CVVC) as in:
a. katabt
I wrote
b. sakak'i:n
knives
(ii). Otherwise stress the antepenultimate syllable if the antepenult and penult are light syllables
(CV), unless the preantepenult is also light as in:
a. bu'xala
misers
b. muxt'alifa
different (f. sg.)'
(ii) Otherwise stress the penultimate syllable as in:
a. mar'taba
mattress
b. ?isttaq'bala
welcomed
Stress Placement in YA
I have found that Indians speaking Arabic tend to stress the first syllable in monosyllabic
and disyllabic words. They do not differentiate between heavy and light syllables in words be
they verbs, nouns, adjective etc. However, in polysyllabic words, Indians tend to stress the
second syllable. Examples in (23) illustrate the former and those in (24) illustrate the latter.
(23)
12

a. 'man

who

b. 'maat

he died

c. 'katab

he wrote

d. 'kalam

pen

(24)
a. ti 'lifu:n

telephone

b. ja'majim

skulls

c. ri'salaatakum

your (pl.m.) letters

Conclusion
Thus, this paper has dealt with the syllable structure and syllabification in YA and IA.
Processes related to syllable structure and syllabification such as consonant clustering,
gemination, stress placement in both dialects have also been discussed. However, there are some
differences in the way these processes work in each dialect. It has been found, for instance, that
gemination applies in word-initial, word-medial and word-final positions in YA while it applies
only word-finally and only few limited examples in word-medial positions. In addition, while
there are certain fixed rules of stress placement in YA, IA speakers tend to stress the first syllable
in monosyllabic and disyllabic words and second syllable in polysyllabic words. As far as
syllabification is concerned, only epenthesis applies to IA while epenthesis, CSS and syncope
apply in YA. These are among many differences which have been discussed throughout the
paper. Needless to say that, much research work has to be done in IA to reveal the hidden secrets
this dialect has which will be my concern in future work.
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