The Syllabification System and Stress Pattern of Najdi Arabic

Abstract

This paper discusses stress pattern in Central Najdi Arabic (CN), a dialect spoken in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The purpose is to determine where stress goes in this dialect, and to underline the correct ranking of constraints within the frame of Optimality Theory (OT). Final consonants in Najdi are assigned to the prosodic word, rendering heavy syllables CVC, CVVC, and CVCC to light CV, heavy CVV, and CVC respectively. Stress is found to fall on rightmost heavy syllables. If no heavy syllables are found, stress goes on the first light. Data show that the hierarchy of constraints in CN is: Culminativity, FtBIN, Trochaee, NoClash, Depµ > SWP > Extrametricality > Rightmost > WSP > AllFtLEFT, Parse-σ.