Gemination in Child Egyptian Arabic: A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

This paper examines patterns of gemination in child Egyptian Arabic, with a focus on how gemination functions as a repair strategy, using data from the Egyptian Arabic Salama Corpus. The findings show that the phonological development of Egyptian Arabic-speaking children of geminated consonants correlates with previously established developmental stages. Initial stages involve the acquisition of labial geminates, transitioning through an increased use of alveolar and velar geminates, to the acquisition of rhotic and lateral geminates in later phases. The findings also suggest that gemination is not merely a phonetic phenomenon in child phonology, but also shows the children’s awareness of the phonology of the dialect, especially the moraicity of vowels and consonants.