Vocalic labialization in Baghdadi Arabic: Representation and computation

Emphasis Harmony in Arabic: A Critical Assessment of Feature-Geometric and Optimality-Theoretic Approaches

“…The effect of back consonants along with labials causes the underlying /i/ to surface as [u] since they spread both [labial] and [dorsal] features to the underlying vowel. Youssef (2015) exemplifies this process as it occurs in epenthetic vowels in derived nouns and stem vowels in verbs. Regarding derived nouns, the epenthetic vowel in a final consonant cluster appears as [u] in specific consonantal environments as follows: "If the cluster consists of a labial [p, b, f, m] followed or preceded by a velar (Blanc 1964, p. 56;cited in Youssef 2015, p. 75).…”

“…The main strength that can be clearly seen is that all researchers agree that the process of emphasis harmony is an autosegmental spreading of a phonological feature from a consonant belonging to the guttural group to adjacent vowels and consonants. The second point is that recent studies adopting optimality theory still utilize the notion of feature spreading as used in feature geometry to propose some markedness constraints to account for emphasis harmony, as well as other phonological processes such as labialization (e.g., see Youssef 2015). Apart from these points, the FG approach suffers a number of weaknesses that can be argued as follows: Firstly, researchers cannot reach a consensus regarding which consonants belong to the guttural group and which features are shared between these consonants.…”

“…In Baghdadi Arabic, labialization seems the most complicated process which is influenced not only by emphatics but also by labial segments. Youssef (2015) points out that the epenthetic high front vowel /i/ appears as [u] in the environment of either one labial-velar glide or by the collective influence of neighboring labial and emphatic/velar/uvular consonants. The second environment involves the presence of back consonants (i.e., velars and uvulars in addition to emphatics, which are further distinguished from other back consonants for their primary and secondary articulation).…”

“…This requirement indicates the effect of specific features on the vowel. The spread of such features is analyzed by Youssef (2015) from two theoretical perspectives, namely, autosegmental (feature-geometric) and optimality-theoretic accounts.…”

“…Regarding the autosegmental representation, Youssef (2015) adopts the parallel structure model proposed by Morén (2003) which considers consonants and vowels to exhibit parallel structures and identical features for place, manner, and laryngeal articulations as below (Figure 7): To sum up, the labialization of [i] is determined by the existence of labial and back consonants. This requirement indicates the effect of specific features on the vowel.…”