Consonant Gemination in Moroccan Arabic: A Constraint- Based Analysis

International audience The purpose of this paper is to examine the phonological and morphological patterning of geminates in Moroccan Arabic (MA), using the constraint-based framework of Optimality Theory. In particular, the central aim of this work is to uncover the constraint interactions responsible for the creation and distribution of the geminate patterns attested in MA. The questions we seek to answer are: (a) What motivates the occurrence of geminates in MA? (b) How can a sequence of non-identical consonants be transformed into a geminate consonant? (c) What is the role of gemination in word formation?