Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper seeks to identify the historical change of /k/ and /q/ in the Najdi dialect, and the possible phonological reasons beyond this change in Saudi Arabia. /k/ phoneme transfers to become [ts] allophone, and /q/ changes to be [ɡ] and [dz] allophones in many words in the Najdi dialect. The palatalization phenomenon in [ts] and [dz] do not occur in all the words of Najdi dialect, but only with some of them. The phonological patterns of /k/ and /q/ rely on the place of articulation of vowels which precede and follow them. Therefore, this historical change undergoes some phonological reasons based on their phonological features as reasons beyond this change. Data were adapted from different sources such as earlier studies, forums of Saudi dialects on the internet, and interviewing with one Najdi native speaker. Palatalization is a universal phenomenon, but the case of Najdi dialect is unique. The main reason is that the dialect of Najd did not interact with any other foreign languages in Najd (the area of Najdi speakers) to create the affrication. Therefore, this paper attempts to analyze the phonological features of /k/ and /q/ in Najdi dialect to understand the phonological motivation for the change with these two consonants.