Auditory and Acoustic Evidence for Palatalization of the Nasal Consonant in Cairene Arabic

This paper introduces the palatalized nasal [nʲ] as an allophonic realization of coronal /n/ in Cairene Arabic. The variants phonemes previously described acoustic and sociolinguistic terms include alveolar stops [t, d] their pharyngealized counterparts [tˤ, dˤ], which can be preceding high, front vowel [i:]. While previous studies have anecdotally noted that undergo palatalization same environment, this variant has not been systematically investigated. Focusing on syllable-final /-ni:/ segments, I first use auditory measures to show occurs with some regularity (~50%) read speech seven speakers Then, provide evidence perceived difference significantly correlates F2 values taken from onset midpoint following consonant. There is also a lexical effect, such borrowings exhibit less than non-borrowings. study contributes data for unexamined supports likelihood coronals at typological level.