Ahmed Hamid Abdulrazzaq
English Department, Al Hikma University College, Baghdad, Iraq
This paper aimed to provide an explanatory account of the phonological adaptation patterns of diphthongs within English loanwords in Iraqi Arabic (IA). The Optimality-Theoretic framework was employed to identify the phonological constraints imposed on 346 English loanwords in IA and then examine the interaction and ranking of those constraints. Results revealed that five phonological constraints were involved in adapting English diphthongs into IA: four faithfulness constraints and one markedness constraint. The undominated ranking of the markedness constraint NoDIPH explained the complete lack of diphthongs in IA output forms. The unique importance of the distance between a diphthong's two elements in determining its adaptation to IA and the high ranking of the faithfulness constraint UNIFORMITY in adapting wide diphthongs explain the atypical tendency of IA output forms to maintain the two-element feature of wide GB diphthongs /aɪ/, /aʊ/, and /ɔɪ/, adapting them into vowel-plus-glide sequence The preservation of the [mid] feature of the GB diphthongs /eɪ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /əʊ/, and /ʊə/ and their reduction into monophthongs in their IA output forms were attributed to the undominated ranking of the faithfulness constraints IDENT V1 (mid) and IDENT V2 (mid) in narrow diphthong adaptation.
[1] Derakhshan, A., Malmir, A., Pawlak, M., et al., 2023. The use of interlanguage pragmatic learning strategies (IPLS) by L2 learners: the impact of age, gender, language learning experience, and L2 proficiency levels. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. 1–24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2022-0132
[2] McCarthy, J.J., 2008. Doing optimality theory: Applying theory to data. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ.
[3] Blumenfeld, L.A., 2006. Constraints on phonological interactions [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stanford University.
[4] Carr, P., Montreuil, J., 2013. Phonology, 2nd ed. Palgrave MacMillan: London.
[5] Prince, A., Smolensky, P., 2004. Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. Optimality Theory in phonology: A reader. 1–71.
[6] Archangeli, D., 1999. Introducing optimality theory. Annual Review of Anthropology. 28(1). 531–552.
[7] As-Sammer, M., 2015. Phonetic and Phonological Adaptations of English Loanwords into Iraqi Arabic: A Generative Study. Journal of the College of Arts. University of Basrah. 73, 1–46.
[8] Gussenhoven, C., Jacobs, H., 2017. Understanding phonology. Routledge: London.
[9] Kenstowicz, M., Kisseberth, C., 1977. Topics in phonological theory. Academic Press: Cambridge, MA.
[10] Jacobs, H., Gussenhoven, C., 2000. Loan phonology: perception, salience, the lexicon and OT. Optimality Theory: Phonology, syntax, and acquisition. 193–209.
[11] Silverman, D., 1992. Multiple scansions in loanword phonology: Evidence from Cantonese. Phonology. 9(2), 289–328.
[12] Yip, M., 1993. Cantonese Loanword Phonology and Optimality Theory Journal of Phonetics. Journal of Phonetics. 3.
[13] Archangeli, D., 1997. Optimality Theory: an introduction to linguistics in the 1990s. In: Archangeli, D., Langendoen, D.T. (Eds.). Optimality Theory: An Overview. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford. pp. 1–58.
[14] Kenstowicz, M., 2007. Salience and similarity in loanword adaptation: a case study from Fijian. Language Sciences. 29(2–3), 316–340.
[15] Cruttenden, A., 2014. Gimson's pronunciation of English. Routledge: London.
[16] Blanc, H., 1959. Iraqi Arabic Studies. Middle East Journal. 13(4), 449–453. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4323170
[17] Roach, P., 2009. English phonetics and phonology paperback with audio CDs (2): A practical course. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
[18] Roach, P., Hartman, J., Setter, J. (Eds.), 2006. Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
[19] Carley, P., Mees, I.M., Collins, B., 2018. English phonetics and pronunciation practice. Routledge: London.
[20] Ghalib, G.B.M., 1984. An experimental study of consonant gemination in Iraqi colloquial Arabic [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Leeds.
[21] Hassan, Z.M., 1981. An experimental study of vowel duration in Iraqi spoken Arabic [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Leeds.
[22] Abdulrazzaq, A.H., Al-Ubaidy, S.M., 2023. Patterns of diphthong adaptation within English loanwords in Iraqi Arabic. 3L: Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies. 29(2).
[23] Alhoody, M.M., 2019. Phonological adaptation of English loanwords into Qassimi Arabic: an optimality-theoretic account [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Newcastle University.
[24] Ingham, B., 1994. Najdi Arabic: Central Arabian. John Benjamins: Amsterdam.
[25] Rahim, A.J., 1980. The phonology of spoken Iraqi Arabic from the functional point of view [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Leeds.
[26] Watson, J.C., 2002. The phonology and morphology of Arabic. OUP Oxford.
[27] Abdulrazzaq, A.H., Al-Ubaidy, S.M., 2023. Models of Phonological Loanword Adaptation: The Optimality Model as Opposed to the Perceptual and Phonological Models. Al-Adab Journal. 3(144), 17–24.
[28] Peperkamp, S., 2005. A psycholinguistic theory of loanword adaptations. Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. 30(1), 341–352.
[29] Paradis, C., LaCharité, D., 2011. Loanword adaptation: From lessons learned to findings. In The Handbook of Phonological Theory. pp. 751–778.
[30] Calabrese, A., Wetzels, L., 2009. Loan phonology. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
[31] Boersma, P., Hamann, S., 2008. Loanword Phonology as First language Phonlogical Perception. In: Calabrese, A. (Ed.). Loan-Phonology: Issues and Controversies. John Benjamins.
[32] Kenstowicz, M., 2003. Salience and similarity in loanword adaptation: a case study. MIT.
[33] Yip, M., 2006. The Symbiosis between Perception and Grammar in Loanword Phonology. Lingua. 116, 950–175.
[34] Crawford, C.J., 2009. Adaptation and transmission in Japanese loanword phonology [Unpublished Ph.D. thesis]. Cornell University.
[35] Dohlus, K., 2005. Phonetics or phonology: asymmetries in loanword adaptations - French and German mid front rounded vowels in Japanese. ZAS Papers in Linguistics. 42, 117–135.
[36] Kang, Y., 2010. The emergence of phonological adaptation from phonetic adaptation: English loanwords in Korean. Phonology. 27(2), 225–253.
[37] Abdullah, A.B., Daffar, A.H.M., 2006. English loan words in the spoken Arabic of the southern part of Iraq: A sociolinguistic study. ADAB AL-BASRAH. (41), 19–36.
[38] Al-Quraishi, F.J.S., Mansour, M.S., 2020. Using English loanwords in Iraqi Arabic with reference to medical field jargon. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology. 17(5), 305–323.
[39] Mohammed, S.M., 2009. English loanwords in the Iraqi Arabic dialect. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Universiti Malaya.
[40] Mubarak, A.S., Kadhim, L.B.J., 2019. Domestication of English Expressions Used by Iraqi Arabic Speakers: A Sociolinguistic Study. Bulletin of Advanced English Studies. 3(1), 21–33.
[41] Salman, A.A., 2018. English loanwords in Iraqi Arabic: a phonological study. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arwa-Salman/publication/344386558_English_Loanwords_I_Iraqi_Arabic/links/5fbc174092851c933f5189da/English-Loanwords-I-Iraqi-Arabic.pdf
[42] Salman, Y.M., Mansour, M.S., 2017. English loanwords in Iraqi Arabic with reference to computer, internet, and mobile phone jargon. Cihan University-Erbil Scientific Journal. 1, 271–294.
[43] Abu Guba, M.N., 2016. Phonological adaptation of English loanwords in Ammani Arabic. University of Salford (United Kingdom).
[44] Aloufi, A., 2016. The Phonology of English Loanwords in UHA [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Sussex.
[45] Galal, M., 2004. An OT approach to loanword adaptation in Cairene Arabic. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics. 27, 1–20.
[46] Jarrah, A., 2013. English Loan Words spoken by Madinah Hijazi Arabic Speakers. Arab World English Journal AWEJ Special issue on Translation. 2, 67–85.
[47] Dresher, B.E., 2009. The contrastive hierarchy in phonology (No. 121). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
[48] Hussain, Q., Mahmood, R., Mahmood, M.A., 2011. Vowel substitution: A comparative study of English loans in Punjabi and Urdu. International Journal of Linguistics. 3(1), 1–13.
[49] Kambuziya, A., Hosseinzadeh, N.M., 2014. English loanwords in Persian: Vowel adaptation. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences. 4, 1–15.
[50] Ryu, N., Kang, Y., Han, H., 2017. Phonetic and phonological adaptation of loanwords: Mandarin falling diphthongs in Heritage Korean in China. In Workshop on Phonetics and phonology in loanword adaptation. Cologne: Germany.
[51] Phetkla, C., 2020. Vowel adaptation in English loanwords in Thai [Doctoral dissertation]. Newcastle University.
[52] Cohen, E.G., 2009. The role of similarity in phonology: Evidence from loanword adaptation in Hebrew [Doctoral dissertation]. Tel Aviv University.
[53] Kadenge, M., Mudzingwa, C., 2011. Diphthong simplification through spreading: An Optimality Theory account. Language Matters. 42(1), 142–161.
[54] den Ouden, D.B., 2004. Multi-level OT: An argument from speech pathology. Linguistics in the Netherlands. 21(1), 146–157.
[55] Casali, R.F., 1996. Resolving Hiatus [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. UCLA. ROA-215.
[56] Casali, R.F., 2011. Hiatus resolution. In: Oostendorp, M.V., Ewen, C.J., Hume, E.V., et al., (Eds.). The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Wiley-Blackwell: Medford, MA. pp. 1434–1460.
[57] Abdulrazzaq, A.H., 2025. Demystifying Monophthong Adaptation Patterns within English Loanwords in Iraqi Arabic. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Copyright © 2024 Ahmed Hamid Abdulrazzaq
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
