Living Arabic Project

Letters
- The letter ء
  - The hamza, or the glottal stop, is often dropped in certain positions and replaced with other words
    - Replacement with long vowel
      - رَأْس -- raas (head)
      - بِئْر -- biir (well)
      - يأكل -- yaakul (to eat)
    - Replacement with ي after the long vowel /aa/
      - نائِم -- نايِم naayim (sleeping)
      - دائِم -- دايِم daayim (lasting, continuous)
    - Dropping at the end of a word, particularly with اء becoming ا , as in:
      - خضراء -- خضرا xaDra (green, feminine form)
      - صَحْرَاء -- صحرا SaHra (desert)
    - In the UAE, sometimes in words that start with أَ , it will be dropped and a vowel will be added after the first letter
      - أَخْضَر becomes خَضَر
      - أَحْمَر becomes حَمَر
        
        This also applies to some verbs in the UAE, in which in present tense verbs like
        
        يعرف are said y3araf
        
        يضرب is said yDHarab
        
        يدرس is said ydaras
    - In the UAE, sometimes the hamza is replaced with an ع and vice versa
      - عَهَد may be said أَهَد
      - أَن may be said عَن
- The letter ب
  - The letter ب often replaces the letter /p/ in loan words, such as كُمْبْيُوْتَر (computer).
- The letter ت
  - The letter ت will sometimes be said as the emphatic ط when in the vicinity of an ع and in the cardinal numbers, as in:
    - سِتَّعش -- siTTA3∫ (sixteen)
    - ثَلَتَّعْش -- thalaTTa3∫ (thirteen)
- The letter ث
  - The letter ث is preserved in most Gulf dialects. However, in some dialects, particularly the Shiite dialects of Saudi Arabic and Bahrain, it varies with a ف .
- The letter ج
  - The letter ج is often said ي , which is one of the distinctive features of the Gulf dialects. For example:
    - جا -- yaa (to come)
    - وجه -- weeh (face)
    - حجر -- Hayar (rock)
  - But the ج is preserved in some words, such as جامِع (jaami3, meaning mosque)
  - The letter ج is sometimes said /dj/, particularly in Kuwait (although Kuwait is also one of the ones the commonly changes the ج to a ي ).
  - The letter ج is said as a hard /g/ in some inland Omani dialects. However, Feghali notes this is more common in older speakers’ dialects, whereas younger people seem to freely change between the hard /g/ and a /j/ . Like other Gulf dialects, the ج can also be said as a ي in some words.
    - جَامِع -- gaami3 (mosque)
    - جَلَس -- galas (he sat)
- The letter ذ
  - The letter ذ is preserved in most Gulf dialects.
  - However, in certain dialects it can be changed to a د , particularly in the Shiite dialects of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
  - At times, the letter ذ will be said ز , such as:
    - رذيل -- raziil (mean, despicable, lowly)
    - ذفر -- zfur / zufur (stench, reeking smell, pungent aroma)
- The letter س
  - The letter س is sometimes pronounced as the emphatic ص , particularly in the vicinity of خ، ط، ق، and ع . For example:
    - بَسِيْطَة -- baSiiTah (simple)
    - سطل -- SaTl (bucket)
    - سلخ -- Salax (to skin)
- The letter ش
  - Sometimes realized as a variant of ك (like when the ك becomes a ch and then a ∫ ). This is most common in some of the Bahraini, as well as some of the Yemeni, dialects, in the second person feminine. For instance:
    - أبوك -- أبوش (your father, second person feminine)
- The letter ض
  - The letter ض is often said ظ , and some Gulf speakers will not differentiate between ض and ظ even in formal speech. Examples:
    - ضرب → DHarab
    - ظُلْمَة → DHulma
    - بعض → ba3DH
    - لغة الضاد → Lughat-e-l-DHaad
- The letter ظ
  - The letter ظ will sometimes be said as a ض , as in Sitra (Bahrain) and parts of Oman
    - نَظَر -- naDar (to see)
    - حَفَظ -- HafaD (to preserve)
- The letter غ
  - Just as ق can be realized as a غ , the reverse can also happen: a غ said as a ق .
    - غَصْبًا --< qasban (against one’s will)
    - غَسَّل --< qassal (to wash)
- The letter ق
  - The letter qaf (ق) can be realized as a hard /g/ (گ ), a /j/ (ج), a /k/ (ك), a /gh/ (غ), and of course as a true qaf.
  - The true qaf will most commonly be heard in formal speech and in certain Classical words, such as القُرْآن (al-Qur’aan).
  - The usage of a hard /g/ or گ is probably the most common realization of the ق , as in:
    - شرق → ∫arg (east)
    - حقّ → Haqq (truth)
    - قال → gaal (he said)
    - حقيقة → hagiiga (truth, fact)
  - The change to ج is common in many dialects, and in particular the Kuwaiti dialect. It is common after the front vowels /i/ and /a/ (long and short forms) and when a silent consonant falls between the front vowels and the ق / ج .
    - رفيق → rafiij (friend, companion)
    - حلق → halj (mouth)
    - قاسم → jaasim (Male given name)
  - The letter ق being said as ك is common in some words in Gulf dialects, but is quite common in some Bahraini dialects.
    - قدر → kidr (pot)
    - قال → kaal (he said)
    - وقت → wakt (time)
    - قَعَد → ka’ad (he sat)
  - The letter ق is also sometimes pronounced as a غ (as occurs in other dialects outside of the Gulf, like the realization of يقدر as يغدر, meaning he is able, in some rural Levantine dialects. This also happens some in the Sudanese dialect.). Examples:
    - قرار → gharaar (decision)
    - قَرْيَة → gharya (village)
- The letter ك
  - The letter ك is sometimes said /ch/, particularly when near short and long front vowels (a, e, i) and the back vowel /uu/ in non-emphatic environments (so not with a ض، ط، etc.).
    - كيف → cheef (how)
    - ديك → diich (rooster)
    - بِرْكَة → bircheh (swimming pool)
- The letter ي
  - Note that in Omani dialects, the letter ي or the alif maqsurah is preserved on 3rd person plural verbs, like سَوّْيُوا، يْسَوّْيُوا (they did, do)
Epenthesis / Helping Vowels / Consonant Clusters
- Helping vowels or epenthetic vowels are added to break up consonant clusters, groups of 3 or more consonants, that occur when speaking. The helping vowel is most commonly an /i/ or an /e/. This is most common at the boundary between two words, such as when the first word ends with two consonants and the next word starts with a consonant. Common examples are:
  - وْلاد صْغَار -- wlaad Zghaar (young kids, small children)
    - The syllable structure without the helping vowel is CVVC-CCVVC. Because of the cluster of three consonants, the CCC, a helping vowel is added, making it CVV CVC CVVC, as in: wlaa-diZ-ghaar.
    - note the ص becomes voiced under the influence of the غ, like an emphatic ز, not like a ظ
  - You can also end up with a cluster of four consonants:
    - فَرق كْبِير -- farg kbiir
      - Without the helping vowel, the syllable structure is CVCC CCVVC. To resolve this, a helping vowel is added between the two words, making the syllables CVC-CVC-CVVC, as in far-gik-biir.
  - The definite article often results in a helping vowel being added before or after the ل , depending the syllable structure
    - If a word starts with one consonant, like رَئِيس , and then the definite article is added, when said with a preceding word, the helping vowel comes before the ال .
      - مَكْتَبِ الرَّئِيس maktab-i-rra2iis (the president’s office)
    - However, if a word starts with two consonants without a vowel and the definite article is added to the word, a helping vowel is added after the definite article’s ل , like:
      - مِدْرَسَة الِوْلاد midrasat lew-laad (the kids’ school)
- Consonant Clusters in Bahrain
  - Sunni speakers tend to break up consonant clusters with a helping vowel, whereas Shiite speakers tend to might eliminate a word to deal with it, as in:
    - عندنا
      - Sunni: 3indana
      - Shiite: 3idna / 3idne
    - عندهم
      - Sunni: 3indahum
      - Shitte: 3idhum
    - كلّهم
      - Sunni: killahum
      - Shitte: killhum
Pronouncing /a/ as /e/ (إمالة)
- The pronunciation of /a/ as /e/ , which is called إمالة in Arabic, is common in Gulf dialects. It can happen on internal vowels and ending vowels. The presence of emphatic letters typically eliminates the إمالة .
  - End vowels
    - شَوَى -- ∫awe (he grilled)
    - بَيْتها -- beethe (her house)
    - بَيتنا -- beetne (our house)
    - مدرسة -- madrase (school) (however, it is said madrasat lewlaad when said in an إضافة )
  - Middle vowel
    - مشى -- mi∫e (he walked)
- Note that in Bahrain, a distinctive feature is that speakers will sometimes added a stressed /e/ at the end of a sentence to show a question, like:
  - أَبُوچ في البَيْت ي؟ : abuuch fi-l-beet-e? (Is your dad at home?)
Tanwiin
- Tanwiin exists in the Gulf dialects only to mark certain indefinite nouns. The variations of tanwiin dumma, kasra, and fatha do not mark case endings as they do in Classical Arabic. Certain fixed words, like طَبْعًا , always take a take a fixed tanwiin.
- Tanwiin is common in proverbs and sayings
- Tanwiin is common on active participles that have pronoun suffixes, such as:
  - شايْفٍه -- ∫ayfinu or ∫ayfinnu (seeing him) (notice how the /n/ can be doubled to better carry the /u/)
  - ضاربٍهُم -- DHaarbinhum (hitting them)
  - عارفٍهَا -- ‘aarfinha (he knows her)
  - عارِفْتٍهُم -- ‘aariftinhum (she knows them)
Imperfect Tense Markers
- Note the following
  - The 2nd person female singular ending can be said ـِي or ـِين , like تِشْرَبِي or تِشْرَبِين .
  - The second and third person collective / masculine plurals have variants /u/ and /uun/ (written ـُوا and ـُوْن respectively), such as تْرُوحُوا and تْرُوْحُون . The ن form is not common in Omani dialects.
  - The second and third person female plurals can be said /u/ or /an/, such as تْبِيعَن and يْبِيعُوا .

Phonetic notes on the Gulf dialects

Letters

Epenthesis / Helping Vowels / Consonant Clusters

Pronouncing /a/ as /e/ (إمالة)

Tanwiin

Imperfect Tense Markers