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Abstract
This dissertation investigates the potential effect of linguistic and non-linguistic factors on the variation and realization of Arabic marked consonants including /t/, /s/, //, //, //, / / and // by speakers of Gulf Pidgin Arabic (GPA), a variety spoken by immigrant workers living in the Gulf States (e.g., Saudi Arabia). GPA emerged due to a continual influx of immigrant workers after the discovery of oil in 1983, linguistic diversity among speakers, and a social gap between Gulf speakers and immigrants. The data was collected by short sociolinguistic interviews and a picture-naming task with 40 male GPA speakers from two linguistic backgrounds, Malayalam and Urdu. Five Arabic speakers served as a control. The GPA speakers were divided into two groups depending on their length of residency (LOR): short-stay and long-stay. I adopted auditory and acoustic analysis to categorize the target consonant and its variant. I compared the values of each group of GPA speakers to the values of the control group to determine similarities and differences in Arabic marked consonant realization. The results indicate that there is considerable inter-speaker variation among both groups across all consonants investigated. The alternations of GPA speakers include the local form vs. the L1 form (e.g., /t/ vs. /t/, // vs. /t/or /s/, /s/ vs. /s/or //, // vs. /k/or /h/, // vs. /g/or /h/ or /x/, // vs. /h/, // vs. /h/ or // or deletion). Differences in speakers L1 likely account for most of these alternations. As I hypothesized, Urdu speakers perform most Arabic consonants better than Malayalam speakers due to the partial influence of Arabic on Urdu. Moreover, the degree of variation of the Arabic marked consonants are linked to the degree of consonant difficulty. Age does not play a significant role in the realization of Arabic consonants. The LOR and amount of exposure are robust predictors that influence the realization of Arabic marked consonants. GPA speakers who have stayed longer in Saudi Arabia and have a high amount of exposure to GA demonstrated superior performance in realizing Arabic marked consonants compared to those who have stayed for less time in Saudi Arabia and have low exposure.