Morphophonemic Variation in CaC-Initial Verb Structures in Kuwaiti Arabic

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the linguistic and social factors influencing the realisation of the initial Modern Arabic verb form CaC-in Kuwaiti Arabic (KA). While very few studies have examined the sociolinguistic variation of the initial verb form CaC-in KA, this variable has been found to be produced in the speech of two Kuwaiti communities from different ethnic backgrounds, namely Najdi (from Saudi Arabia originally) and Ajami (from Iran originally). The aim is to analyse the realisation of CaC-forms as a reflection of ethnicity, age and gender in KA. Data were collected from 48 male and female Kuwaiti speakers from two ethnicities (Najdi and Ajami), three age groups (chosen according to relevant milestones in the history of Kuwait). Two main techniques were implemented to collect data in this study, namely spontaneous and controlled data. The investigation showed that there were significant differences in the realisation of the initial verb form CaC-in the two ethnicities and across age and gender. The study also showed that the CaC-form had less prestige than did the CiC-form, which is mostly found in the Najdi variety.