GENDER EFFECTS ON THE PRODUCTION OF PHARYNGEALIZED VOWELS IN YEMENI ARABIC DIALECTS: AN ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study investigated the acoustic effects of gender on the production of pharyngealized vowel formant frequencies (F1 and F2) and vowel duration in three Yemeni Arabic dialects (YADs): Abyani (AD), Hadhrami (HD), and Ta’izzi (TD). Previous research has reported inconsistent findings. Some studies suggest that male speakers produce vowels with a greater degree of pharyngealization than female speakers (Ahmed, 1979; Khan, 1975; Khattab et al., 2006; Lehn, 1963; Wahba, 1993), whereas other studies indicate that female speakers exhibit more pronounced pharyngealization (Al-Masri & Jongman, 2004; Almbark, 2008; Royal, 1985). To address this inconsistency, an acoustic experiment was conducted involving three male and three female native speakers from each dialect. Stimuli consisted of pharyngealized consonants and their non-pharyngealized counterparts containing both long and short vowels, recorded in controlled carrier sentences. Formant frequencies were measured at three vowel positions: onset, midpoint, and offset. Vowel durations were also recorded. The results showed that gender systematically influenced the degree of pharyngealization. The female speakers exhibited higher F1 and lower F2 values compared to the male ones across all dialects, indicating that pharyngealization is more pronounced in the female speech. In contrast, vowel duration did not differ significantly between pharyngealized and non-pharyngealized contexts for either gender, although the females produced slightly longer vowels overall. These findings demonstrate that gender affects the acoustic realization of pharyngealization primarily through vowel quality rather than duration. This study contributes to the understanding of sociophonetic and dialectal variation in Yemeni Arabic and provides empirical evidence for gender-based differences in phonetic realization.