Tunisian Arabic phonology

There are several differences in pronunciation between Standard Arabic and Tunisian Arabic. Nunation does not exist in Tunisian Arabic, and short vowels are frequently omitted, especially if they would occur as the final element of an open syllable.

However, there are some more specific characteristics related to Tunisian Arabic like the phenomenon of metathesis.^[1]

Metathesis

Metathesis is the shift of the position of the first vowel of the word.^[1][2] It occurs when the unconjugated verb or unsuffixed noun begins with CCVC, where C is an ungeminated consonant and V is a short vowel.^[1][2][3] When a suffix is added to this kind of noun or when the verb is conjugated, the first vowel changes of position and the verb or noun begins with CVCC.^[1][2][3]

For example:

• (he) wrote in Tunisian Arabic becomes كتب ktib and (she) wrote in Tunisian Arabic becomes كتبت kitbit.^[1]
• some stuff in Tunisian Arabic becomes دبش dbaš and my stuff in Tunisian Arabic becomes دبشي dabšī.^[1]

Stress

Stress is not phonologically distinctive^[2] and is determined by the word's syllable structure. Hence,

• it falls on the ultimate syllable if it is doubly closed:^[2] سروال sirwāl (trousers).
• Stress falls on all the word if there is only one syllable within it:^[2] مرا mṛa (woman).
• Affixes are treated as part of the word:^[2] نكتبولكم niktbūlkum (we write to you).

For example:

• جابت jābit (She brought).^[2]
• ما جابتش mā jābitš (She did not bring).^[2]

Assimilation

Assimilation is a phonological process in Tunisian Arabic.^[2] The possible assimilations are:

/ttˤ/ تْط → /tˤː/ طْط	/tˤt/ طْت → /tˤː/ طْط	/χh/ خْه → /χː/ خْخ	/χʁ/ خْغ → /χː/ خْخ
/tɡ/ → /dɡ/	/fd/ → /vd/	/ħh/ → /ħː/	/nl/ → /lː/
/sd/ → /zd/	/td/ → /dː/	/dt/ → /tː/	/ln/ → /nː/
/hʕ/ → /ħː/	/tð/ → /dð/	/hħ/ → /ħː/	/nr/ → /rː/
/nf/ → /mf/	/qk/ → /qː/	/kq/ → /qː/	/lr/ → /rː/
/ndn/ → /nː/	/ħʕ/ → /ħː/	/ʁh/ → /χː/	/ʕh/ → /ħː/
/ʃd/ → /ʒd/	/fC/1 → /vC/1	/bC/2 → /pC/2	/nb/ → /mb/
/ʕħ/ → /ħː/	/tz/ → /d͡z/	/tʒ/ → /d͡ʒ/

• ^1 Only if C is a voiced consonant.^[2]
• ^2 Only if C is a voiceless consonant.^[2]

Phonemes

Consonants

Tunisian Arabic qāf has [q] and [ɡ] as reflexes in respectively sedentary and nomadic varieties: he said is [qɑːl] instead of [ɡɑːl]). However, some words have the same form [ɡ] whatever the dialect: cow is always [baɡra]^[4] (the /g/ deriving from an originally Arabic [q]), and a specific species of date is always [digla]^[5] (the /g/ deriving from an originally Semitic [q] - e.g. Aramaic: /diqla/: date tree).

Interdental fricatives are also maintained for several situations, except in the Sahil dialect.^[6]

Furthermore, Tunisian Arabic merged /dˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ with /ðˤ/ ⟨ظ⟩.^[7]

Consonant phonemes of Tunisian Arabic

		Labial		Interdental		Dental/Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	emphatic	plain	emphatic	plain	emphatic
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	(mˤ) ⟨ṃ⟩			n ⟨n⟩	(nˤ) ⟨ṇ⟩
Plosive	voiceless	(p) ⟨p⟩				t ⟨t⟩	tˤ ⟨ṭ⟩		k ⟨k⟩	q ⟨q⟩		(ʔ)
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	(bˤ) ⟨ḅ⟩			d ⟨d⟩			ɡ ⟨g⟩
Affricate	voiceless					(t͡s) ⟨ts⟩		(t͡ʃ) ⟨tš⟩
	voiced					(d͡z) ⟨dz⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩		θ		s ⟨s⟩	sˤ ⟨ṣ⟩	ʃ ⟨š⟩		χ ⟨x⟩	ħ ⟨ḥ⟩	h ⟨h⟩
	voiced	(v) ⟨v⟩		ð ⟨ð⟩	ðˤ ⟨ḍ⟩	z ⟨z⟩	(zˤ) ⟨ẓ⟩	ʒ ⟨j⟩		ʁ ⟨ġ⟩	ʕ ⟨ʿ⟩
Trill						r ⟨r⟩	rˤ ⟨ṛ⟩
Approximant						l ⟨l⟩	ɫ ⟨ḷ⟩	j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨w⟩

Phonetic notes:

• /p/ and /v/ are found in borrowed words and are usually replaced by /b/, like in ḅāḅūr and ḅāla. However, they are preserved in some words, like pīsīn and talvza.^[2]
• /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡z/ are rarely used, for example tšīša, dzīṛa and dzāyir.^[8]
• Like in Standard Arabic, shadda "gemination" is very likely to occur in Tunisian. For example, haddad هدد meaning to threaten.^[2]

Vowels

Tunisian Arabic vowels. It is unclear if the vowels written a are allophones or phonemic.

		Front			Back
		unrounded		rounded
		short	long	long	short	long
Close		ɪ ⟨i⟩	iː ⟨ī⟩	(yː) ⟨ü⟩	u ⟨u⟩	uː ⟨ū⟩
Open-mid	oral		eː ⟨ā⟩	(œː) ⟨ë⟩	(ʊː) ⟨ʊ⟩	(oː) ⟨o⟩
	nasal	(ɛ̃) ⟨iñ⟩			(ɔ̃) ⟨uñ⟩
Open					(ɑ̃) ⟨añ⟩
	oral	æ ⟨a⟩			ɐ ⟨a⟩	ɐː ⟨ā⟩

• Unlike other Maghrebi dialects,^{[citation needed]} short u and i are reduced to [o] and [e] when written between two consonants unless when they are in stressed syllables.^[9][10]

Syllables and pronunciation simplification

As well as those characteristics, Tunisian Arabic is also known for differently pronouncing words according to their orthography and position within a text.^[11][12] This phenomenon is known as pronunciation simplification^[13] and has four rules:

• [iː] and [ɪ], at the end of a word, are pronounced [i] and [uː]. Also, [u] is pronounced [u] and [aː]. [ɛː], [a] and [æ] are pronounced [æ].^[14][15] For example, yībdā is practically pronounced as [jiːbdæ]^[16][17]
• If a word finishes with a vowel and the next word begins with a short vowel, the short vowel and the space between the two words are not pronounced (Elision).^[1][18]
• If a word begins with two successive consonants, an epenthetic [ɪ] is added at the beginning.^[16]