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Abstract
An overview of Kuwaiti Arabic is presented, with very preliminary data from two typically developing brothers (ages 2;4 and 5;2) and a 6-year-old with a severe sensorineural hearing impairment. The siblings show early mastery of many aspects of the complex Arabic phonological system, with universally expected later mastery of coronal fricatives and /r/. The 6-year-old shows patterns typical of children with hearing impairments, e.g. hypernasality, a prevalence of ‘visible’ segments, particularly labials, and simplified syllable structure. Her accurate use of /l/, /r/, and some gutturals, however, raise questions about the enhanced perceptibility and functionality of these segments in Arabic.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the children and their families for their participation in the study, Kuwait University for funding of the first author and the organizers of the International Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics Association conference in Istanbul, June, 2008, where this paper was presented.
Note
Notes
1. The pharyngeal superscript is used for the so-called emphatics, although they may be more uvularized than pharyngealized. The {} is used for MSA, // for the adult local dialect, and [ ] for narrow transcription.