This part of the analysis looks at the prepositions 'a'la' (على) and its relation to the definite marker, 'al' (ال).
In Modern Standard Arabic, it's necessary to pronounce all of the sounds in each word. However, in dialect, because it makes it easier and quicker to speak, it's common to drop letters in a word. In linguistics, this is called elision and it's similar to what we do in English when we are speaking quickly. For example, we can say "fish and chips" but often when we are speaking informally, it comes out as, "fish n chips".
Similarity in Arabic, this happens often. With the preposition we looked at in this study, we looked at when it undergoes elision before a noun and when it does or does not, if the is a a definite marker on the noun. By definite marker, I just mean the rough translation of 'the'. If a word has this definite marker, it effectively translates to 'the ___' and without the definite marker, it translates to 'a/an ___'.
Because of the similar sounds between 'a'la' and 'al', we can see how elision would make sense here. Note the example below, transliterated into English with the Arabic along side it.
Arabic | English | Transliteration | Classification |
---|---|---|---|
عالبيت | to the house | "a'al-bayt" | connected with definite marker |
عبيت | to a house | "a'bayt | connected without definite marker |
على البيت | to the house | "a'la al-bayt" | unconnected with definite marker |
على بيت | to a house | "a'la bayt" | unconnected without definite marker |
As we can see from the data below, it was much more common for the speakers to pronounce the preposition and the noun as distinctive words despite wether the word had the definite article or not. This is outside of the hypothesis I made at the beginning of the study. I guessed that on average, the speakers would connect the two words more often than not.
I originally guessed this because I was thinking it's ultimately the easier thing to do. I, myself, usually connect the two words when speaking in dialect, usually without regard to a definite marker or lack thereof. This is common because, as we said earlier, the elision makes it much easier and faster to pronounce with the presence of a definite marker. This idea probably extended to words without a definite marker just as a form of habit and it quickly became a dialectal go-to.
However, it's clear that in this case my hypothesis was wrong. I conclude the reasoning behind this as one of two reasons. 1. I merely underestimated the general Jordanian's tendency to go along with elision for the convenience of speaking quicker and more easily. Or 2. Perhaps because these speaking samples, while largely spoken in dialect, where an interview between two people. It's impossible to know the exact circumstances of each person but we might be able to assume that the person speaking was aware that their words were being recorded and their picture soon to be taken. With this, we could possibly assume that some of the speakers might have code-switched or partially code-switched into a slightly more formal version of their dialect to adapt to a situation they deemed to be semi-formal, possibly accounting for the data to show a majority pronunciation closer in line with Modern Standard Arabic than dialect.
Excerpt Number | Connected (Def) | Connected (Indef) | Unconnected (Def) | Unconnected (Indef) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 9 | 1 | 23 | 69 |
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
1 | عالتلفزيون |
11 | عالنغمة |
11 | عالدرج |
25 | عالهايكنج |
26 | عالبيت |
31 | عالمصادر |
41 | عالخبرة |
44 | عالموبايل |
89 | عالبيت |
Click a row in the table to see it in context.
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
8 | عباب |
Click a row in the table to see it in context.
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
4 | على الكراج |
6 | على الصاجية |
8 | على الارض |
16 | على الناعم |
18 | على الفكرة |
23 | عليّ التعب |
25 | على الأردن |
31 | على الطاقة |
37 | على عمان |
48 | على العِلم |
57 | على الأردن |
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
64 | على الناس |
72 | على التقاعد |
78 | على الدنيا |
78 | على الآخرة |
79 | على الحرب |
85 | على الأكل |
86 | على الناس |
92 | على الإلقاء |
92 | على الإنتخابات |
94 | على الأشياء |
100 | على الدنيا |
100 | على الشهادة |
Click a row in the table to see it in context.
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
11 | على درج |
11 | على وجهي |
16 | على حالي |
17 | على عمّان |
18 | على دخولي |
19 | على طول |
23 | عليّ مسؤولية |
24 | على بند |
24 | على أهلي |
24 | على كل |
24 | على إنسانة |
24 | على رب |
24 | على كل |
25 | على أماكن |
25 | على أكبر |
25 | على أول |
25 | على مناطق |
25 | عليّ من |
26 | على زواج |
26 | على تعب |
27 | على مطار |
27 | على روسيا |
30 | على عمّان |
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
32 | على إجتهادي |
40 | على صفحة |
41 | على أماكن |
41 | على محل |
41 | على ناس |
47 | على مجموتتي |
48 | على أيامنا |
48 | على دينهم |
50 | على أبوي |
50 | على حالي |
50 | على حالي |
50 | على حاله |
61 | على إيفنتات |
61 | على جنب |
63 | على إيطاليا |
63 | على حالي |
63 | على الأكل |
63 | على إيطاليا |
63 | على بلدي |
64 | على مُعدلي |
65 | على أهلي |
67 | على مطار |
67 | على روسيا |
Excerpt Number | Text |
---|---|
71 | على حالي |
73 | على أشياء |
73 | على كيفية |
74 | على فيزا |
74 | على المانيا |
77 | على شغل |
79 | على يلي |
80 | على راسي |
81 | على هذا |
83 | على إيفنتات |
83 | على جنب |
85 | على إيطاليا |
85 | على حالي |
85 | على إيطاليا |
85 | على بلدي |
86 | على مُعدلي |
89 | على زواج |
89 | على حسابي |
89 | على تعب |
92 | على إنتخابات |
94 | على ورق |
96 | على ديوان |
100 | على وزن |
Click a row in the table to see it in context.
Jordanian Arabic by Amber Montgomery is licensed under
a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.