Pharyngeal and Pharyngealization Phonemic vs. Allophonic Variations in Modern Standard Arabic Phonology

Abstract

The terms of pharyngeal and pharyngealization are central to the phonology of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). While pharyngeal describes sounds produced at the pharynx (/ʕ/, /ħ/), pharyngealization distinguishes another class of Arabic consonants called emphatics (/tˁ/, /dˁ/, /sˁ/, /ðˁ/) from their consonantal counterparts (/t/, /d/, /s/, /ð/). Whereas the pharynx is a primary place of articulation for (/ʕ/, /ħ/), it is a secondary place for (/tˁ/, /dˁ/, /sˁ/, /ðˁ/), because emphatics are primarily coronal. Together with the retraction of the tongue root (RTR), pharyngealization acts as a distinctive feature that establishes (/tˁ/, /dˁ/, /sˁ/, /ðˁ/) as separate phonemes. Additionally, Arabic phonology employs the term pharyngealization to refer to an allophonic variation known in Arabic as tafkhim ‘sound thickening’. This phenomenon occurs to some sounds in the environment of a pharyngealized emphatic sound. These sound variations pose serious challenges for non-native speakers aiming to study Arabic as a foreign language. This paper aims to distinguish the concepts of pharyngeal and pharyngealization and sheds light on the phonemic and allophonic sides of the pharyngealization process in MSA phonology. It further aims to present some pedagogical implications for teaching Arabic as a foreign language. The study employs contrastive analysis of phonemic-allophonic variations based on linguistic data drawn from phonologically conditioned environments.