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Towards a Phonological Model of Intonation in Qassimi Arabic: An Acoustic Study.

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Title: Towards a Phonological Model of Intonation in Qassimi Arabic: An Acoustic Study.
Authors: Aljamaan, Lamya1, Aljutaily, Mohammad1 mjtiely@qu.edu.sa
Source: Journal of Language Teaching & Research. Jan2026, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p98-111. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Intonation (Phonetics), *Dialects, *Phonology, Arabic language, Acoustics, Prosodic analysis (Linguistics)
Geographic Terms: Saudi Arabia
Abstract: This study investigates the intonational patterns of Qassimi Arabic (QA), a dialect spoken in central Saudi Arabia, using the Autosegmental-Metrical (AM) framework. It identifies characteristic intonational contours in declarative and yes/no questions and compares these with patterns found in other Arabic dialects. Twenty native QA speakers (10 male, 10 female) participated by reading structured stimuli designed to elicit natural declarative and interrogative prosody. Acoustic analysis was conducted using Praat to examine fundamental frequency (F0) contours and boundary tones. Results indicate that declarative sentences in QA typically end with low boundary tones (L-L%, L%), while yes/no questions display rising contours (L-H%, HH%). Statistical analysis confirmed that F0 values in interrogative sentences were significantly higher than those in declaratives across all speakers, regardless of gender. These findings align broadly with patterns observed in other Arabic dialects such as Hijazi, Egyptian, and Lebanese Arabic, while also revealing dialectspecific nuances in QA. This research contributes to the theoretical phonology of Arabic by expanding empirical coverage to a previously undocumented variety and supports the applicability of the AM framework in describing Arabic prosody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Language Teaching & Research is the property of Academy Publication Co., LTD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intonation+%28Phonetics%29%22">Intonation (Phonetics)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Dialects%22">Dialects</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Phonology%22">Phonology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Arabic+language%22">Arabic language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Acoustics%22">Acoustics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Prosodic+analysis+%28Linguistics%29%22">Prosodic analysis (Linguistics)</searchLink>
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  Data: This study investigates the intonational patterns of Qassimi Arabic (QA), a dialect spoken in central Saudi Arabia, using the Autosegmental-Metrical (AM) framework. It identifies characteristic intonational contours in declarative and yes/no questions and compares these with patterns found in other Arabic dialects. Twenty native QA speakers (10 male, 10 female) participated by reading structured stimuli designed to elicit natural declarative and interrogative prosody. Acoustic analysis was conducted using Praat to examine fundamental frequency (F0) contours and boundary tones. Results indicate that declarative sentences in QA typically end with low boundary tones (L-L%, L%), while yes/no questions display rising contours (L-H%, HH%). Statistical analysis confirmed that F0 values in interrogative sentences were significantly higher than those in declaratives across all speakers, regardless of gender. These findings align broadly with patterns observed in other Arabic dialects such as Hijazi, Egyptian, and Lebanese Arabic, while also revealing dialectspecific nuances in QA. This research contributes to the theoretical phonology of Arabic by expanding empirical coverage to a previously undocumented variety and supports the applicability of the AM framework in describing Arabic prosody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Language Teaching & Research is the property of Academy Publication Co., LTD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.17507/jltr.1701.10
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Intonation (Phonetics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Dialects
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      – SubjectFull: Phonology
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      – SubjectFull: Arabic language
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      – SubjectFull: Prosodic analysis (Linguistics)
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      – SubjectFull: Saudi Arabia
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              Text: Jan2026
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