Debuccalization in Gulf Pidgin Arabic: OT Parallelism or Harmonic Serialism

Abstract

The current study examines debuccalization in Gulf Pidgin Arabic (GPA), which targets pharyngeal fricatives, /ʕ/ and /ħ/, based on the analysis of feature geometry and Optimality Theory (henceforth OT). This study relies on data elicited from interviews with 10 GPA speakers from two linguistic backgrounds, Bengali and Malayalam. This study concludes that /ʕ/ is debuccalized to [ʔ] and /ħ/ to [h] in onset position. Debuccalization is also seen as a step prior to the deletion of pharyngeal fricatives in the coda position. The process of debuccalization is shown through a feature geometric representation of which the Retracted Tongue Root [RTR], as an articulator feature dominated by the pharyngeal place node in pharyngeal fricatives is prone to inertness. [RTR] inertness and the loss of pharyngeal place node are peculiar to the deletion of pharyngeal fricatives in the coda position. Parallelism, as an OT model, is shown to be able to account for debuccalization in the onset in GPA while Harmonic Serialism, as another OT model, is capable of accounting for a serial derivation of which debuccalization of pharyngeal fricatives in the coda position represents the first step prior to consonant deletion.