Non-metrical vowel optimization and iambic unevenness in Arabic

Abstract

In this paper, I propose a constraint-based analysis for three processes affecting short vowels. In the Zilfaawi, Negev, and Jordanian dialects, syncope targets [i, u] in non-final open syllables, while raising targets [a] in the same environment in Negev and Zilfaawi. I analyze deletion of [i, u] and raising of [a] as a pressure to reduce the duration of short vowels in open syllables (Kirchner, 1996). Zilfaawi also has deletion of [a], which only happens in the dependent syllable of an iamb, which I analyze as promoting the unevenness of the iamb (McCarthy, 2003). Gouskova (2003) claims that vowel processes must be due to either metrical or sonority constraints on nuclei and foot branches. Moreover, she argues that while the marked segment can be banned, the least marked segment cannot be. I will show that high vowel deletion and low vowel raising in these dialects cannot be attributed to these constraints but rather must be attributed to a Reduce constraint that minimizes vowels duration in open syllables. In Zilfaawi, low vowel deletion applies before a light syllable: in an open syllable followed by another non-final open syllable, and in an open syllable followed by a final CVC (where the word-final C is weightless). However, deletion is blocked before a heavy syllable. This deletion process is metrical, because low vowels delete to improve the duration contrast inside iambs, making the dependent syllable as short as possible, leaving the preceding consonant as a semi-syllable.