Hypocoristics in the Ammani-Jordanian context: A Construction Morphology perspective

Summary: This study explores the various forms of address used by Jordanian university students, the influence of gender on these forms, and the factors contributing to the variation in their address system. The research enhances the understanding of the internal variation in the use of address terms by addressing the issue of normativity and heterogeneity in different social settings. The findings indicate that the identified normative patterns reflect the political behaviors of Jordanian university students and signify different social meanings and relationships within the youth community, depending on specific social contexts. The most common strategies used by university students for addressing others include personal names, innovative terms, descriptive phrases, pronouns, titles, teknonyms, and religious, military, attention attractors, as well as a combination of these terms. It is also noted that there is no absolute stable pattern of address term usage among the Jordanian Arabic-speaking youth community, indicating an infinite society-internal heterogeneity in the use of address terms. The results also suggest that intra-group variation represents social struggles over the norms of address term usage and potential normative uncertainty.

Summary: This article investigates the production of emphatic consonants by typically developing Jordanian children. The study found that more than 90% of Ammani Arabic-speaking children produce emphatic consonants by the age of 5 and their productions become increasingly adult-like with age. Compared to nonemphatic consonants, the appearance of emphatics tends to be delayed in Ammani Arabic, likely due to their articulatory complexity involving pharyngealization. These findings provide valuable insights for researchers and clinicians studying children's acquisition of emphatic consonants.

Summary: This study provides an account of key phonological aspects of al-Issa Arabic, spoken in three villages in al Mafraq, and highlights its distinguishing features from other Bedouin Jordanian Arabic dialects. The dialect exhibits unique characteristics such as unlimited affrication of *k, realization of palato-alveolar /j/ as [y], and retention of Classical Arabic diphthongs *aw and *ay across all contexts. Additionally, the study explores syllable structure, stress patterns, and interactions with epenthesis in the dialect.