The Phonology of Spoken Arabic from the Functional Point of View

The book is the first attempt at a functional phonematic analysis of Baghdadi Iraqi Arabic. This is because this Arabic dialect has not been investigated fro a functional viewpoint before. The book falls into two parts: functional phonological theaory and application of this theory to the Baghdadi dialect of Arabic. It offers solutions to the main problems in spoken Baghdadi Arabic such as the phonological status of diphthongs, affricates, gemination, and tafxim (i.e. empatics), in addition to a comprehensive analysis of the vowels and consonants of the dialect. Functional load is basic functional notion that is investigated in relation to the phonemes as well as the oppositions that are found in this dialect. In addition, the "relevant features" of each and every Baghdadi Arabic phoneme are established in view of the functional theory as advocated by the Prague School of Linguistics (represented by Trubetzkoy), and developed by neo-Praguians (represented by Andre Martinet.