Revue Maghrébine des Langues
Volume 6, Numéro 1, Pages 359-370
2008-12-31

The English And Arabic Vowel Systems Dynamics: A Comparative Descriptive Analysis

Authors : Belmekki Amine . Djebbari Zakia .

Abstract

This paper aims fundamentally at establishing a sound distinction between vowel sounds along the line of the phonetic and phonological contrast which constitutes a major premise for the development of the overall pedagogical approach to teach/learn pronunciation. It attempts to display the primordial importance of the vowel sound contribution to the morphology of the word and indeed, word meaning. On the basis of the vowel description of the two phonetic parameters notably vowel quality and vowel quantity, Arabic and English seem to have two extremely different vowel sounds systems not only in the number of contrastive vowels that each system has but also in the dynamics that govern the two systems. Ultimately, an understanding of the vowel’s complementary distribution in terms of vowel position and meaning making would in all probabilities, be helpful in solving out the existing difficulties between contrasted two language systems to further narrow the sphere of differences in the field of translation.

Keywords

English - Arabic - Vowel Systems