Hadhrami Arabic
Encyclopedia
Hadhrami Arabic is a variety
of Arabic
spoken by the Hadhrami people
living in the . It is also spoken by many Hadhrami emigrants who migrated from to East Africa (Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania), South-east Asia (Indonesia
, Malaysia, Brunei
and Singapore
) and, recently, to the other Gulf countries. Below is a brief account of the different linguistic levels of the dialect.
The ق q reflex is pronounced as a voiced velar ɡ in all lexical items throughout the dialect. In some other Arabic dialects, q is realised as a voiceless uvular plosive q in certain lexemes which are marked [+ religious], [+ educational] etc., e.g. /qurʔaːn/ “Qur’an”. With the spread of literacy and contact with speakers of other Arabic dialects
, future sociolinguistic research may reveal whether HA is going to witness innovation like using the uvular q in certain lexemes while retaining the velar ɡ for others.
Wādī HA makes ث ,ت t, θ and ذ ,د d, ð distinction but ض dˤ and ظ ðˤ are both pronounced ظ ðˤ where as Coastal HA merges all these pairs into the stops د ,ت and ض (t, d and dˤ) respectively.
In non-emphatic environments, /aː/ is realised open front (slightly raised) unrounded æ. Thus
/θaːniː/ “second; psn. name” which is normally realised with an ɑː-like quality in the Gulf dialects is realised with an æː in HA.
This dialect is characterised by not allowing final consonant clusters to occur in final position. Thus Classical Arabic /bint/ “girl” is realised as /binit/. In initial positions, there is a difference between the Wādī and the coastal varieties of HA. Coastal HA has initial clusters in /bɣaː/ “he wants”, /bsˤal/ “onions” and /briːd/ “mail (n.)” while Wādī HA realises the second and third words as /basˤal/ and /bariːd/ respectively.
The first person direct object plural is /naħnaː/ rather than /-naː/ which is the case in many dialects. Thus, the cognate of the Classical Arabic /dˤarabanaː/ “he hit us” is /ðˤarab naħnaː/ in HA.
Stem VI, tC1āC2aC3, can be umlauted to tC1ēC2aC3, thus changing the pattern vowel to . This leads to a semantic change as in /tʃaːradaw/ “they ran away suddenly” and /tʃeːradaw/ “they shirk, try to escape”
Intensive and frequentative verbs are common in the dialect. Thus /kasar/ “to break” is intensified to /kawsar/ as in /koːsar fi l-lʕib/ “he played rough”. It can be metathesized to become frequentative as /kaswar min iðˤ-ðˤaħkaːt/ “he made a series (lit. breaks) of giggles or laughs”.
Like many other dialects, apophonic or ablaut passive (as in /kutib/ "it was written") is not very common in HA and perhaps is confined to clichés and proverbs from other dialects including Classical Arabic.
The particle /qad/ developed semantically in HA into /kuð/ or /ɡuð/ “yet, already, almost, nearly” and /ɡad/ or /ɡid/ “maybe, perhaps”.
languages, which perhaps distinguish this dialect from other neighbouring Peninsular dialects. The effect of Hadrami migration to South-East Asia (see Arab Singaporean
), the Indian sub-continent and East Africa on HA is clear in the vocabulary especially in certain registers like types of food and dress, e.g. /sˤaːruːn/ "sarong". Many loan words were listed in al-Saqqaf (2006):
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a907118635~db=all~order=page
Varieties of Arabic
The Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...
of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
spoken by the Hadhrami people
Hadhrami people
The Hadhrami or Hadharem are people from the Hadhramaut and their descendants in diaspora communities around the world. They speak Hadhrami Arabic....
living in the . It is also spoken by many Hadhrami emigrants who migrated from to East Africa (Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania), South-east Asia (Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Malaysia, Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
) and, recently, to the other Gulf countries. Below is a brief account of the different linguistic levels of the dialect.
Phonology
The dialect in many towns and villages in the Wādī (valley) and the coastal region is characterised by its ج dʒ-yodization, i.e. changing Classical Arabic reflex dʒ to the approximant ي j. In this it resembles some Eastern Arabian and Gulf dialects including the dialects of Basra in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the dialects of the other Arab Emirates. In educated speech, ج is realised as a voiced palatal plosive ɟ or affricate dʒ in some lexical items which are marked [+ religious] or [+ educated] (see ق q below).The ق q reflex is pronounced as a voiced velar ɡ in all lexical items throughout the dialect. In some other Arabic dialects, q is realised as a voiceless uvular plosive q in certain lexemes which are marked [+ religious], [+ educational] etc., e.g. /qurʔaːn/ “Qur’an”. With the spread of literacy and contact with speakers of other Arabic dialects
Varieties of Arabic
The Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...
, future sociolinguistic research may reveal whether HA is going to witness innovation like using the uvular q in certain lexemes while retaining the velar ɡ for others.
Wādī HA makes ث ,ت t, θ and ذ ,د d, ð distinction but ض dˤ and ظ ðˤ are both pronounced ظ ðˤ where as Coastal HA merges all these pairs into the stops د ,ت and ض (t, d and dˤ) respectively.
In non-emphatic environments, /aː/ is realised open front (slightly raised) unrounded æ. Thus
/θaːniː/ “second; psn. name” which is normally realised with an ɑː-like quality in the Gulf dialects is realised with an æː in HA.
This dialect is characterised by not allowing final consonant clusters to occur in final position. Thus Classical Arabic /bint/ “girl” is realised as /binit/. In initial positions, there is a difference between the Wādī and the coastal varieties of HA. Coastal HA has initial clusters in /bɣaː/ “he wants”, /bsˤal/ “onions” and /briːd/ “mail (n.)” while Wādī HA realises the second and third words as /basˤal/ and /bariːd/ respectively.
Morphology
When the first person singular comes as an independent subject pronoun, it is marked for gender, thus /anaː/ for masculine and /aniː/ for feminine. As an object pronoun, it comes as a bound morpheme, thus /-naː/ for masculine and /-niː/ for feminine. The first person subject plural is .The first person direct object plural is /naħnaː/ rather than /-naː/ which is the case in many dialects. Thus, the cognate of the Classical Arabic /dˤarabanaː/ “he hit us” is /ðˤarab naħnaː/ in HA.
Stem VI, tC1āC2aC3, can be umlauted to tC1ēC2aC3, thus changing the pattern vowel to . This leads to a semantic change as in /tʃaːradaw/ “they ran away suddenly” and /tʃeːradaw/ “they shirk, try to escape”
Intensive and frequentative verbs are common in the dialect. Thus /kasar/ “to break” is intensified to /kawsar/ as in /koːsar fi l-lʕib/ “he played rough”. It can be metathesized to become frequentative as /kaswar min iðˤ-ðˤaħkaːt/ “he made a series (lit. breaks) of giggles or laughs”.
Syntax
The syntax of HA has many similarities to other Peninsular Arabic dialects. However, the dialect contains a number of unique particles used for coordination, negation and other sentence types. Examples in coordination include /kann, laːkan/ “but; nevertheless, though”, /maː/ (Classical Arabic /ammaː/) “as for…” and /walla/ “or”.Like many other dialects, apophonic or ablaut passive (as in /kutib/ "it was written") is not very common in HA and perhaps is confined to clichés and proverbs from other dialects including Classical Arabic.
The particle /qad/ developed semantically in HA into /kuð/ or /ɡuð/ “yet, already, almost, nearly” and /ɡad/ or /ɡid/ “maybe, perhaps”.
Vocabulary
There are a few lexical items that are shared with Modern South ArabianSouth Arabian
The Modern South Arabian languages are spoken mainly by minority populations in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and Oman, which, together with the Ethiopian Semitic languages, form the Western South Semitic branch. In his glottochronology-based classification, A...
languages, which perhaps distinguish this dialect from other neighbouring Peninsular dialects. The effect of Hadrami migration to South-East Asia (see Arab Singaporean
Arab Singaporean
The majority of the Arabs in Singapore are Hadhramis tracing their ancestry from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula called Hadhramaut, which is now part of the Republic of Yemen. The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen PDRY was formed on 30 November 1967 when it achieved independence...
), the Indian sub-continent and East Africa on HA is clear in the vocabulary especially in certain registers like types of food and dress, e.g. /sˤaːruːn/ "sarong". Many loan words were listed in al-Saqqaf (2006):
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a907118635~db=all~order=page