DIALECT CHANGE IN ANI IRAQI ARABIC: LEVELLING OR MAINTENANCE?

Abstract

This study investigates the change in current phonological patterns in the variety of Arabic spoken in Anah, Iraq so as to determine whether levelling, triggered mainly by dialect contact between qeltu and gilit speakers, is occurring in this dialect or not. The study provides a quantitative sociophnetic description of the speech of 60 (30 males and 30 females) AIA (Arabic Iraqi Ani) speakers. This study investigates the change in three phonological processes: Kaf affrication, vowel raising and vowel epenthesis under the effect of informants’ age, gender and attitude towards the gilit dialect and their own dialect as well. Following Labov’s (1984) conversational network method, all informants were interviewed individually to collect the linguistic variables required for analysis. Results show that according to the increasing adoption of gilit features by Ani speakers, levelling is occurring in the AIA. Results also revealed that levelling has not yet reached the completion level, yet it is in a very advanced phase.