Mohammed Juma Khamis Al-Ghafri,
Department of English Language and Translation, College of Arts and Social Sciences,
Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman
This paper analyzes a phonological process (pharyngealization) that occurs in Al-Rustaq dialect. The process turns the phoneme /k/ into an allophone [q] in words such as: kahraba > qahraba ‘Electricity’, ko:b > qo:b ‘cup ‘, and Pa:kista:ni > Pa:qista:ni ‘Pakistani”. The paper briefly discusses the two varieties of Omani dialects, which are the Sedentary and the Bedouin dialects. The paper then looks into the Sedentary dialects spoken in towns such as: Ibri, Bahla, and mainly Al-Rustaq dialects and provides some of the distinctive processes that they have. It further discusses the process of shifting /k/ to [q] (kaqkaqa) by presenting more revealing examples and analyzing them in the dialects. The paper surveys a sample of 6 speakers who articulate the /k/ as [q] using sociolinguistics interviews and investigates the environments in which it’s not turned to [q], but rather articulated as [ʈʃ] (kashkasha). The paper concludes that the shift is driven by sociolinguistic identity markers rather than purely phonetic environments.
Keywords: Pharyngealization, Sedentary, Bedouin, Kaqkaqa, Kashkasha
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The 11th International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.TLLL.IR), 1-2 February 2026, Ahwaz.
