When Najd Meets Hijaz: Dialect Contact In Jeddah

Abstract

This chapter investigates the consequences of the dialect contact between two varieties of Arabic: the Najdi variety and the urban Hijazi variety. It adopts the methods of quantitative sociolinguistics to analyse the variation in the speech of Najdi speakers who live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in relation to the affrication of /k/ and /g/. According to Soraya Altorki(1968:11) the immigration of Najdi families started near the end of the Turkish rule of Hijaz. Najdi (N) and Urban Hijazi (UH) are varieties of Arabic that differ in most aspects. The data presented in the chapter shows that the de-affrication of [ts] and [dz] in Najdi is sensitive to the morphophonemics of the dialect. It also shows that there is a correlation between contact with Urban Hijazi locals and the de-affrication of [ts] and [dz] and the use of other variants to mark the feminine gender in the second person. Keywords: Arabic; de-affrication; Hijaz; Jeddah; Najdi

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