Regional variation in the syntactic use of qad reflexes: Convergence or divergence in Saudi Arabic varieties?

Abstract

In Classical Arabic (CA), qad, a discourse particle has been extensively studied. However, the linguistic behavior of the different reflexes of the particle qad in Saudi varieties (SVs), namely gid, gīd, jid, and dzid, has not been studied. Due to this lack, the current study, as primary exploratory, aimed to describe the syntactic uses of qad reflexes in SVs. In doing so, interviews were conducted in which a structured questionnaire was used with several CA scenarios describing different situations and asking participants to express them in their dialect varieties. For this study, 150 speakers from five SVs participated. The results revealed that qad reflexes are used in verbal sentences in SVs. However, unlike qad in CA, in SVs qad reflexes also occur in interrogative and negative sentences, and nominal phrases (i.e., immediately preceding the nouns). With reference to frequency, they are more often used in Southwestern and Hijazi and to a lesser extent in Najdi variety. However, they are less frequently in Eastern and Northern varieties. Although it is not possible to confirm with full reliability and certainty that this change is a divergence or convergence, yet it seems that qad, as many other Arabic linguistic features, is a case of divergence. Alternatively, the rich presence of qad reflexes in the Saudi Arabian spoken varieties suggests that the syntax of qad in CA might not have been documented completely. If this argument is to be understood better, further sociolinguistic studies are needed.