Rural Migration and Language Variation in Hims, Syria
Year: 2010
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study deals with the variable use of the voiceless uvular stop, [q], and the glottal stop, [ ], in the Colloquial Arabic of Christian rural migrants to the city of Hims in Syria.This variation results from their attempt to adopt the urban form [ ] to appear urbanite.The study explores the roles of age, gender, residential area, and social class in this variation.The naturally occurring speech of fifty-two speakers constitutes the data set.A detailed quantitative analysis reveals that age, gender, and residential area play significant roles in this variation.Social class emerges as insignificant.The quantitative analysis shows interaction among age, gender, and residential area regarding the use of [q].This interaction is insignificant with respect to [ ].The data shows a clear linguistic shift towards the use of [ ] by the younger generation, whereas linguistic maintenance or variation are more likely to characterize the older generation's speech.
Source: Finnish Journal of Linguistics
Author: Rania Habib
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2187934682