Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English

Radouane Belkhadir

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

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Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English

Radouane Belkhadir

Published in International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation (Volume 8, Issue 4)

Received: 6 November 2022 Accepted: 21 November 2022 Published: 30 November 2022

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Abstract

This paper falls within a wider project which seeks to see how the development in Phonology as a component of modern Linguistics can help in the field of English language teaching. For instance I tried to compare Moroccan Arabic as a mother tongue of a large number of Moroccans and English as a foreign language in the Moroccan context. More specifically, I attempted an analysis of both languages as concerns the status of schwa and tried to see what this comparison can offer to the field of EFL in the Moroccan context. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse the status of schwa using tools provided by the Optimality Theory and compare it to the same vowel in English and see how this affects Moroccan students learning English. To clarify more, a constraint a La OT which bans schwa open syllables ranks high in Moroccan Arabic, and, thus, does not permit the occurrence of schwa open syllables; while the same constraint ranks low in the constraint hierarchy in English, and hence schwa open syllables are so frequent in the language. It was found that the differences between the two languages, as far as schwa is concerned, can be an obstacle in front of Moroccans learning English. Thus, I tried to devise hands-on activities that will focus on these differences and provide ways to overcome problems they create for EFL learners. The findings in this study have implications for researchers in ELT, namely that differences as far as the phonology of Arabic and that of English can be an obstacle in front of English learners. Hence, they should consider that in syllabus and textbook design.

Published in	International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
Page(s)	153-157
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Schwa, English, Moroccan Arabic, Optimality Theory

References

[1]	Al Ghadi, A. (1990). Moroccan Arabic Broken Plurals and the Organization of the Lexicon.
[2]	Benhallam, A. (1980). Syllable structure and rule types in Arabic (Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida).
[3]	Benhallam, A. (1981). Les consonnes géminées et les types de règles. Recherches linguistiques et sémiotiques, Facultés des lettres, Rabat.
[4]	Benhallam, A. (1990). Moroccan Arabic syllable structure. Langues et littératures, 8, 177-191.
[5]	Benkaddour, A. (1982). A nonlinear analysis of some aspects of the phonolgy and nonconcatenative morphology of Arabic: Moroccan sedentary dialect of Rabat (Doctoral dissertation, SOAS, University of London).
[6]	Benkirane, T. (1982). Etude phonétique et fonctions de la syllabe en arabe marocain (Doctoral dissertation).
[7]	Bensoukas, K., & Boudlal, A. (2012). The prosody of Moroccan Amazigh and Moroccan Arabic: Similarities in the phonology of schwa. Prosody matters: essays in honor of Lisa Selkirk, 3-42.
[8]	Boudlal, A. (2001). Constraint interaction in the phonology and morphology of Casablanca Moroccan Arabic (Doctoral dissertation).
[9]	Dictionary, O. E. (1989). Oxford English dictionary. Simpson, Ja & Weiner, Esc.
[10]	McCarthy, J. J., & Prince, A. (1993). Generalized alignment. In Yearbook of morphology 1993 (pp. 79-153). Springer, Dordrecht.
[11]	McCarthy, J. J., & Prince, A. (1993). Prosodic morphology: Constraint interaction and satisfaction.
[12]	McCarthy, J. J., & Prince, A. (1994). Prosodic morphology. Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series, 15.
[13]	Prince, A., & Smolensky, P. (2004). Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. John Wiley & Sons.
[14]	Prince, A., Smolensky, P., & Prince, C. A. (1993). Optimality theory 3.
[15]	Saib, J. (1976). A PHONOLOGICAL STUDY OF TAMAZIGHT BERBER: DIALECT OF THE AYT NDHIR. University of California, Los Angeles.

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Radouane Belkhadir. (2022). Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 8(4), 153-157. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

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ACS Style

Radouane Belkhadir. Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Transl. 2022, 8(4), 153-157. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

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AMA Style

Radouane Belkhadir. Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English. Int J Appl Linguist Transl. 2022;8(4):153-157. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14,
  author = {Radouane Belkhadir},
  title = {Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English},
  journal = {International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {153-157},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijalt.20220804.14},
  abstract = {This paper falls within a wider project which seeks to see how the development in Phonology as a component of modern Linguistics can help in the field of English language teaching. For instance I tried to compare Moroccan Arabic as a mother tongue of a large number of Moroccans and English as a foreign language in the Moroccan context. More specifically, I attempted an analysis of both languages as concerns the status of schwa and tried to see what this comparison can offer to the field of EFL in the Moroccan context. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse the status of schwa using tools provided by the Optimality Theory and compare it to the same vowel in English and see how this affects Moroccan students learning English. To clarify more, a constraint a La OT which bans schwa open syllables ranks high in Moroccan Arabic, and, thus, does not permit the occurrence of schwa open syllables; while the same constraint ranks low in the constraint hierarchy in English, and hence schwa open syllables are so frequent in the language. It was found that the differences between the two languages, as far as schwa is concerned, can be an obstacle in front of Moroccans learning English. Thus, I tried to devise hands-on activities that will focus on these differences and provide ways to overcome problems they create for EFL learners. The findings in this study have implications for researchers in ELT, namely that differences as far as the phonology of Arabic and that of English can be an obstacle in front of English learners. Hence, they should consider that in syllabus and textbook design.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English
AU  - Radouane Belkhadir
Y1  - 2022/11/30
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
T2  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
JF  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
JO  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
SP  - 153
EP  - 157
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2472-1271
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
AB  - This paper falls within a wider project which seeks to see how the development in Phonology as a component of modern Linguistics can help in the field of English language teaching. For instance I tried to compare Moroccan Arabic as a mother tongue of a large number of Moroccans and English as a foreign language in the Moroccan context. More specifically, I attempted an analysis of both languages as concerns the status of schwa and tried to see what this comparison can offer to the field of EFL in the Moroccan context. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse the status of schwa using tools provided by the Optimality Theory and compare it to the same vowel in English and see how this affects Moroccan students learning English. To clarify more, a constraint a La OT which bans schwa open syllables ranks high in Moroccan Arabic, and, thus, does not permit the occurrence of schwa open syllables; while the same constraint ranks low in the constraint hierarchy in English, and hence schwa open syllables are so frequent in the language. It was found that the differences between the two languages, as far as schwa is concerned, can be an obstacle in front of Moroccans learning English. Thus, I tried to devise hands-on activities that will focus on these differences and provide ways to overcome problems they create for EFL learners. The findings in this study have implications for researchers in ELT, namely that differences as far as the phonology of Arabic and that of English can be an obstacle in front of English learners. Hence, they should consider that in syllabus and textbook design.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Radouane Belkhadir

Language and Society Laboratory, Faculty of Arts and Languages, University Ibn Tofail, Kenitra, Morocco

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APA Style

Radouane Belkhadir. (2022). Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 8(4), 153-157. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

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ACS Style

Radouane Belkhadir. Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Transl. 2022, 8(4), 153-157. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

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AMA Style

Radouane Belkhadir. Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English. Int J Appl Linguist Transl. 2022;8(4):153-157. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14,
  author = {Radouane Belkhadir},
  title = {Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English},
  journal = {International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {153-157},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijalt.20220804.14},
  abstract = {This paper falls within a wider project which seeks to see how the development in Phonology as a component of modern Linguistics can help in the field of English language teaching. For instance I tried to compare Moroccan Arabic as a mother tongue of a large number of Moroccans and English as a foreign language in the Moroccan context. More specifically, I attempted an analysis of both languages as concerns the status of schwa and tried to see what this comparison can offer to the field of EFL in the Moroccan context. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse the status of schwa using tools provided by the Optimality Theory and compare it to the same vowel in English and see how this affects Moroccan students learning English. To clarify more, a constraint a La OT which bans schwa open syllables ranks high in Moroccan Arabic, and, thus, does not permit the occurrence of schwa open syllables; while the same constraint ranks low in the constraint hierarchy in English, and hence schwa open syllables are so frequent in the language. It was found that the differences between the two languages, as far as schwa is concerned, can be an obstacle in front of Moroccans learning English. Thus, I tried to devise hands-on activities that will focus on these differences and provide ways to overcome problems they create for EFL learners. The findings in this study have implications for researchers in ELT, namely that differences as far as the phonology of Arabic and that of English can be an obstacle in front of English learners. Hence, they should consider that in syllabus and textbook design.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Schwa in Moroccan Arabic and English: The Effect on Moroccans Learning English
AU  - Radouane Belkhadir
Y1  - 2022/11/30
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
T2  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
JF  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
JO  - International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation
SP  - 153
EP  - 157
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2472-1271
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20220804.14
AB  - This paper falls within a wider project which seeks to see how the development in Phonology as a component of modern Linguistics can help in the field of English language teaching. For instance I tried to compare Moroccan Arabic as a mother tongue of a large number of Moroccans and English as a foreign language in the Moroccan context. More specifically, I attempted an analysis of both languages as concerns the status of schwa and tried to see what this comparison can offer to the field of EFL in the Moroccan context. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse the status of schwa using tools provided by the Optimality Theory and compare it to the same vowel in English and see how this affects Moroccan students learning English. To clarify more, a constraint a La OT which bans schwa open syllables ranks high in Moroccan Arabic, and, thus, does not permit the occurrence of schwa open syllables; while the same constraint ranks low in the constraint hierarchy in English, and hence schwa open syllables are so frequent in the language. It was found that the differences between the two languages, as far as schwa is concerned, can be an obstacle in front of Moroccans learning English. Thus, I tried to devise hands-on activities that will focus on these differences and provide ways to overcome problems they create for EFL learners. The findings in this study have implications for researchers in ELT, namely that differences as far as the phonology of Arabic and that of English can be an obstacle in front of English learners. Hence, they should consider that in syllabus and textbook design.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

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