The Phonology of the Judaeo-Arabic Dialect of Gabes (Southern Tunisia)

Abstract This paper presents a phonological analysis of a hitherto unexamined endangered Arabic dialect, that of the Jews of Gabes in Southern Tunisia, combining a comparative examination of various phonological phenomena in selected Arabic dialects of the region. The primary aim of the study is to establish the features distinguishing Jewish Gabes from other Jewish North-African dialects, and, since no south- Tunisian Jewish dialect has been studied to date, to produce a thorough analysis of the sound system of this variety. Special attention was paid to the alternations of sibilants in the region, which distinguish North-African Arabic from the dialects spoken East of Egypt. Moreover, this article constitutes the very first attempt at acoustic analysis of the emphatics and vowels in North-African Arabic. Based on the data obtained by means of the Praat software, it has been shown that the emphatic consonants in Jewish Gabes have different levels of spreadability.