Phonological Features of Saudi Arabian Anthroponyms

Abstract

Beyond its traditional function, phonology has been demonstrated to play a significant role in the gender marking of given names in some Germanic languages. However, this significance has not been investigated for Semitic languages, including Arabic. Therefore, irrespective of the classical gender-identification approaches (i.e., familiarity, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics), the present study examines whether the phonological structures of Saudi first names may solely reveal the gender of that name. The first names of Saudi males (N= 237) and Saudi females (N=419) drawn from the registrar of a Saudi university in Riyadh were analyzed according to various phonological variables, including the number of phonemes, the number of syllables, the distinction between open vs closed syllables, the manner of articulation of name-initial and name-final sounds, stress position, in addition to the state of the glottis. The quantitative study finds that compared to male names, female names have fewer phonemes, tend to begin with an open syllable, are more likely to be stressed in the second position, are more likely to end with a vowel or a voiceless consonant, are more likely, to begin with, a glottal stop and a trill, and are more likely to end with a vowel or a glottal fricative.