A Contrastive Phonological Study of Linking in English and Arabic

Abstract

The present study is concerned with identifying and contrasting the phonological phenomenon of linking in English and Arabic.This study hypothesizes that there are more differences than similarities concerning this phonological phenomenon between both languages. The hypotheses of the present study are verified through a qualitative analysis of some selected data. The results of the present study shed light on how English and Arabic speakers link words together in the rapid casual speech. The present study concludes that English speakers use [w], [j], [r], or intrusive[r] to avoid the occurrence of two vowels and to make the speech easier. Arabic speakers, on the other hand, use kasrah [ɪ], fat-ha [e], and dhamma [ʊ] to avoid the occurrence of two saakins (iltiqaa al-sakinyian) and to facilitate the connected speech.

Keywords: Linking, English and Arabic, Contrastive Phonology