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--- In westasianconlangs@yahoogroups.com, "Eamon" <eamongraham21@y...> wrote: > Salaam everyone! > > , I'm looking first for examples of simplification in > As for phonology, I'm influenced a lot by the way Arabic words have > been changed in > This leads me to my request for suggestions. YUnAC will not have > [q], so I need to decide what its reflex will be. Yemeni and > Sudanese have and Andalusian Arabic had a delicious precedent in [q] > > [g]. I think some Algerian dialects do this as well, but I don't > know about Morocco. Maltese, I believe, turns [q] > [?]. Turkish > and Swahili seem to turn it to [k]; Indonesian, as near as I can > tell, turns it to [k] with front vowels being pulled to back vowels. > > I was tempted very much to turn [q] in to [k] with front vowels > becoming back vowels; thus a pair like "heart" vs. "dog" would be: > > kolb "heart" > kalb "dog" > > But the [q] > [g] option is tempting as well, especially as it > actually occurs in Arabic dialects. I would be even more tempted by > it if it happens in Morocco. Would this cause front vowels to > become back vowels as well or should I leave them alone? > > I think one of my prejudices against [q] > [g] is the fact that, to > me, [q] sounds more like a [k] and the non-Semitic languages that > have borrowed from Arabic seem to agree. > > Any suggestions welcome! Sorry if it's not entirely clear; I'm > suffering from a sinus infection. :) > > Cheers, > Eamon Habarakhe Theophilus writes: Try buying a Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic language guide (and a Maltese one). I can't advise you on websites. I think that the development [q] > [g] in some Arabic dialects may arise from the emptiness of the /g/ slot in Classical Arabic. This absence meant that for those who did hear a distinction between [q] and [k] there was a close phonological slot.