Phonetic Correlates of Diglossic and Style Shifting in Arabic

In analyzing Arabic diglossia, researchers have often viewed phonetic/phonological variation between dialectal Arabic (DA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) as a change in style linked to formality or care in speech. This study investigates whether gradient phonetic properties distinguish DA and MSA independently of the phonetic correlates of change across the Labovian stylistic continuum. Two speakers of Egyptian Arabic and two of Syrian Arabic recorded interviews consisting of free speech, a reading passage, and a word list, replicated once each in DA and MSA. Tokens of /aː/were measured for quantity, quality, and dispersion. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) identified consistent main effects for Labovian style across all speakers. Regarding diglossic register, however, the Syrian speakers showed significant effects not evidenced by the Egyptian speakers. This finding of dialect-specific, differential operation of style versus diglossic shifting argues strongly for the identification of the latter as a separate phenomenon involving switching between two distinct sets of phonetic norms.