CHAPTER V

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST BETWEEN

ENGLISH AND ARABIC SOUND SYSTEMS

5.1 Preliminaries
English language differs from Arabic language in its linguistic system entirely. Both
are descendants of two typical families. English is a scion of the Germanic sub-family
of Indo-European languages and Arabic belongs to the Semitic family. They have
differences in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. “The English
phonological system, especially segmental features, is accordingly different from that
of Arabic” (Abbas, 2011).

Arabic has 29 consonant sounds and 6 vowel sounds while English has 24 consonant
sounds and 20 vowel sounds. Both English and Arabic languages classify the sounds in
the same way into consonants and vowels. They even describe the consonants
according to same criteria, that are voicing, place of articulation and manner of
articulation. Arabic consonantal system has a distinctive feature because it has a class
of sounds that we pronounce in the area between the larynx and the upper pharynx
such as glottal or laryngeal and uvula fricative consonant sounds represented by. / h,?,
ħ, ‫ع‬, x, γ / as well as / ḍ, ð ۰ , ṭ, ṣ / that have velarization. The velarization may be a
R

basic feature of the identity of sounds, contrasting with other non-velarized sounds, as

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the distinction between voiceless velarized /ṣ / (‫ )ص‬and voiceless non-velarized /s/ (‫)س‬
in Arabic, /ḍ/ (‫ )ض‬and /d/ (‫)د‬, or /ṭ / and /t/. In English velarization depends on the
context. For example, final /l /in a syllable as in ʻpoolʼ /pu:l/ is given a velar resonance,
while initial /l/ in another syllable as in ʻleaveʼ /li:v/ where the back of the tongue is
brought forward in the mouth (towards the palate) (Crystal, 2008: 509).

5.2 The Consonant Sounds

a. In the field of the voicing, English and Arabic voiceless and voiced consonants are
as shown in the following table:

English Arabic
Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced
consonants consonants consonants consonants

f b ? b
θ d f d
s g t ḍ
ʃ v ṭ m
h m θ n
p n s l, ḻ
t ŋ ṣ r
k l ʃ ‫ع‬
tʃ r h γ
ӡ k y
ð q w
z ħ ð
j x ð•
w z

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 dӡ dӡ

Table (9): English and Arabic voiced and voiceless consonants

Table 9 shows:

1. It is clear that there are no voiceless consonants / tʃ, p / in the Arabic language but at
the same time the English language does not have / ?, ṭ, ṣ, q, ħ, x / that are Arabic
voiceless consonants.

2. The English voiced consonants / g, v, ŋ, ӡ / do not exist in Arabic and similarly there
are no voiced Arabic consonants / ḍ, ‫ع‬, γ, ð• / in English.

3. Aspirated plosive consonants in both English and Arabic languages affect the
following vowels by making them lose some of their voicing. They also devoice the
following voiced consonant sounds.

4. Assimilation affects the voicing of the consonant sounds in both English and Arabic
languages. Thus, the voiced consonants may be pronounced as voiceless and vice
versa.

b. The following table classifies consonants according to the place of articulation.

Place of English Arabic

Articulation

Bilabial b, p, m, w b, m

Labio-dental f, v f

Dental ð, θ t, ṭ, d, ḍ, (z), n, l, s

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 Interdental θ, ð, ð•

blade-alveolar ----- z, ṣ
or post- dental
Alveolar d, t, s, z, l, n r

Palatal j dӡ, y

Velar k, g, ŋ k, q, γ, x

Labio-velar w

Uvular q

Glottal h ?, h

Palato- ʃ, ӡ, tʃ, dӡ ʃ
alveolar
Retroflex or r -----
Post-alveolar
Pharyngeal ------ ‫ع‬, ħ

Table (10): The classification of consonants according to the place of articulation

Table 10 presents the following:

1. English has the following bilabial consonants / b, p, m, w /, while Arabic has only
/ b, m / because Arabic /w/ is labio-velar.

2. English has two labio- dental consonants that are / f, v /, while Arabic has only /f/.

3. English dental consonants involve / ð, θ /, while Arabic dentals involve

/ t, ṭ, d, ḍ, (z), n, l, s / and the interdental consonants / θ, ð, ð• /.

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4. English / d, t, s, z, l, n / are alveolar but Arabic / z, ṣ / are blade-alveolar or post-
dental.

5. English has one palatal consonant that is /j/, while Arabic has two / y, dʒ /.

6. English velar consonants include / k, g, ŋ /, while Arabic velars include / k, q, γ, x /

but some Arabic phoneticians consider /q/ a uvular.

7. Both English and Arabic have the glottal consonants / ?, h / but English /?/ is not
important because it is an alternative pronunciation.

8. English palato-alveolar consonants consist of / ʃ, ӡ, tʃ, dӡ /, while Arabic has /ʃ/.

9. English /r/ is retroflex or post-alveolar, while Arabic /r/ is alveolar.

10. Arabic has two pharyngeal consonants / ‫ع‬, ħ / that are not existed in English.

c. The following table classifies consonants according to the manner of articulation

Manner of English Arabic

Articulation

Plosives p, b, t, d, k, g b, d, ḍ, t, ṭ, k, q, ?

Fricative f, v, s, z, θ, ð, ʃ, ӡ, h f, ð, ð•, θ, s, z, ṣ, ħ, ʃ,‫ ع‬,x, γ, h

Nasal m, n, ŋ m, n

Lateral l l

Gliding j, w, r w, y
semi vowels j, w

Rolled r

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 approximant r, l, w, j

Liquid l, r

Affricate tʃ, dӡ dӡ

Table (11): The classification of consonants according to the manner of articulation

It is shown that:

1. There are six plosive consonants in English / p, b, t, d, k, g / and the glottal plosive
/?/ occurs frequently but it is just an alternative pronunciation of / p, t, k / in certain
contexts (Roach, 2000: 32) while there are eight in Arabic / b, d, ḍ, t, ṭ, k, q, ? /. Arabic
consonants / ṭ, q, ?, ḍ / are not existed in English. Similarly, the English consonants / p,
g / are not existed in Arabic.

2. There are nine fricative consonants in English / f, v, s, z, θ, ð, ʃ, ӡ, h / while in

Arabic there are 13 / f, ð, ð•, θ, s, z, ṣ, ħ, ʃ,‫ ع‬,x, γ, h /. Arabic consonant sounds
/ ħ, γ, ‫ع‬, x, ð•, ṣ / are not existed in English. Similarly, the English consonants /v, ʒ/ do
not exist in Arabic.

3. There are three nasal consonants / m, n, ŋ / in English while there are two in Arabic
/ m, n / but /ŋ/ is considered an allophone of /n/ in some phonetic realizations.

4. Both English and Arabic have lateral /l/. English has two allophones of lateral /l/,
namely light and dark, but Arabic considers the light and heavy (emphatic) /ḻ/
phonemes.

5. English includes the gliding consonants / r, w, j / while Arabic includes / w, y /.

Both English / w, j / and Arabic / w, y / are considered semi vowels.

6. English has frictionless continuant or approximant /r/ while Arabic /r/ is rolled.

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7. English use the terms ʻapproximant consonantsʼ that include / r, l, w, j / and ʻliquidsʼ
that are / l, r /. The Arabic phrase ʻthe consonants that are between plosives and
fricativeʼ is used to refer to all the consonants that are neither plosives nor fricatives.

8. There are two affricate consonants / tʃ, dʒ / in English while there is only /dʒ/ in
Arabic.

5.2.1 Phonetic Differences

Phonetic differences refer to the natural regularities because the phonetic patterns arise
from physical (articulatory, aerodynamic, acoustic and auditory) restrictions. Such
factors belong to natural patterns.

1. Plosives

a) English voiceless plosives / p, t, k / are aspirated in initial position but when they
occur between vowels their aspiration may be less noticeable or even absent. In final
position (before a pause), they are aspirated in emphatic speech and shorten the vowels
before them (O'Connor, 1980: 41). Arabic voiceless plosives / k, t / can be aspirated
before stressed vowels or a pause but not as evident in the English. So the Arabic
learners tend to pronounce unaspirated / p, t, k / wherever they occur regardless of the
nature of the speech.

b) The voiceless /t/ and the voiced /d/ are alveolar plosives in English and dental
plosives in Arabic. Therefore, the Iraqi Arab learners replace the alveolar by the dental
because of the interference of the mother tongue on target language. They pronounce
voiced /d/ instead of voiceless /t/ in the past tense of the regular verbs. For example
ʻwalkedʼ /wɔːkt/ → /wɔːkd/.

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c) The English voiced velar plosive /g/ has no counterpart in Arabic. So Iraqi Arab
learners confuse between voiced affricate /dӡ/ and voiced plosive /g/ in the following
words ʻexaggerateʼ/ /ɪgzædʒəreɪt/ → /ɪksægəreɪt/ or ʻedgeʼ /edʒ/ → /eg/. They
sometimes pronounce the voiced /g/ as voiceless /k/ especially in the words that have
(ex) because they have not mastered the rules of assimilation and they also have not
recognized the stressed vowels. For example ʻexistʼ / ɪgzɪst /→ / ɪkzɪst/. Thus, the
interference of the mother tongue is seen on the target language of the Iraqi Arab
learners.

d) Some of the Iraqi Arab learners pronounce the voiceless velar plosive /k/ as
voiceless palato alveolar affricate /tʃ/ especially when (ch) represent /k/ in the spelling.
For example ʻchemistryʼ /kemɪstri/ → /tʃemɪstri/ and ʻheadacheʼ /hedeɪk/ → /hedatʃ/.

2. Affricates

The voiced English affricate /dӡ/ is palato-alveolar while the voiced Arabic affricate
/dӡ/ is palatal. Some of the Arabic linguists consider the Arabic voiced palatal /dӡ/
plosive because of that the Iraqi Arab learners pronounce Arabic /dӡ/ instead of
English /dӡ/.

3. Lateral /l/

Lateral /l/ is voiced alveolar in English. It may be voiceless after the aspirated / p, t, k /.
Arabic /l/ is voiced dental lateral. Iraqi Arab learners tend to pronounce voiced dental
/l/ wherever it occurs.

4. Gliding

a) English /r/ is voiced, retroflex or post -alveolar and gliding (semi vowel) or
frictionless continuant. Arabic /r/ is voiced, alveolar and rolled. Iraqi Arab learners
often replace English /r/ by Arabic /r/. They tap the tongue tip very quickly several
times towards the alveolar ridge not towards the hard palate like English/r/. They
pronounce it when the tongue tip is lower than its sides (not curved).

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b) English /w/ is voiced bilabial while Arabic /w/ is voiced labio-velar. Iraqi Arab
learners pronounce it from the area between the back of the tongue and the soft palate
at the same time the two lips are rounded.

5.2.2 Phonological Differences

Phonological differences refer to the regularities that control the phonetic realizations
and the functions of sounds in the words of a language.

1. Plosives
a) The voiceless bilabial consonant /p/ has no counterpart in Arabic. It is problematic
sound for Iraqi Arab learners. Arabic has emphatic /ḅ/ under the influence of the
neighboring consonant sounds such as /ṣaḅr/ ʻpatienceʼ and /muḅtakir/ ʻcreatorʼ.
Therefore, they will substitute voiceless /p/ by voiced /b/ because they are almost
similar to each other. For example ʻpushʼ /pʊʃ/ → /bʊʃ/ and ʻpeopleʼ
/ˈpiː.pḻ ̩/ → /bi: ḅu l/.
b) In the articulation of the voiced plosive consonants in the final position of some
English words, the voiceless /h/ sound is heard after the explosion especially when the
closure is open and the voiced plosive consonant is preceded by another voiced
consonant as in ʻbulbʼ /bʌlbh/. Arabic /h/ compared with English voiceless /h/ is voiced
and changed from consonant to a short central vowel.

2. Fricatives
a) The voiced /v/ has no counterpart in Arabic. It is problematic sound for Iraqi Arab
learners. Therefore, they will substitute /v/ by the voiceless /f/ especially in the initial
and medial positions. For example ʻ variety ʼ /vəraɪəti/ → /fəraɪəti/ and ʻsavourʼ
/seɪvər / → /seɪfər /.
b) Although English voiceless /s/ and voiced /z/ have counterparts in Arabic, Iraqi
Arab learners confuse them especially in the medial and the final positions because of
English irregular spelling. Due to lack of training to master of rules of pronunciation,
the learners confuse the sound /s/ as /z/ in the regular plural nouns and third person

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singular (s) in the present tense including the rules of assimilation and stress. For
example ʻteasingʼ /ti:zɪŋ/ → /ti:sɪŋ/, ʻpleaseʼ /pliːz/ → /pliːs/ and ʻgasʼ /gæs/ → /gæz/.
c) The English voiced palato-alveolar /ӡ/ does not occur in initial position of the
English words. It is pronounced as palatal /dӡ/ or /ʃ/ by the Iraqi Arab learners because
it does not have a counterpart in Arabic such as /ӡ/ in the word ʻdecision ʼ /dɪˈsɪʒən/ →
/dɪˈsɪʃən/, ʻgarageʼ /gærɑːʒ/ → /gærɑːdʒ/ and ʻbeigeʼ /beɪʒ/ → /beɪdӡ/.
d) English voiceless /h/ occurs initially and medially while Arabic voiceless /h/ can
occur initially, medially and finally.

3. Affricate
English affricate /tʃ/ has no counterpart in Arabic. Iraqi Arab learners substitute it by
fricative /ʃ/ because both /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ are voiceless palato alveolar. For example
ʻquestionʼ /kwestʃən/ → /kwesʃən/ and ʻsandwichʼ /sændwɪdʒ/ or /sændwɪtʃ / →
/sændwɪʃ/.

4. Nasals
There are 3 nasal consonants in English / m, n, ŋ /, while there are two in Arabic
/ m, n /. There is no /ŋ/ phoneme in Arabic. Iraqi Arab learners pronounce /ng/ instead
of /ŋ/ or they sometime pronounce /ŋ/ followed by/g/ in both medial and final
positions. For example ʻracingʼ /reɪsɪŋ/ → /reɪsɪng/ or /reɪcɪŋg/. Although they
pronounce /ŋ/ as an allophone of /n/ before voiceless velar plosive /k/ or uvular plosive
/q/ in medial position, as in /minka/ → /miŋka/ ʻfrom you, singleʼ or /?inqaað/ →
/?iŋqaað/ ʻrescueʼ, they face difficulty to pronounce English /ŋ/ because of its irregular
distribution.

5. Gliding
a) English /r/ has specific rules required in its pronunciation. It is pronounced in pre -
vocalic position of the English words or in the final position of a word followed by
another that begins with a vowel sound. Arabic /r/ is pronounced wherever it is written.
Iraqi Arab learners pronounce their rolled /r/ instead of English frictionless continuant
/r/.They also pronounce /r/ in all positions in the English words.

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b) English / r, w, j / are voiced gliding consonants but they lose the voice that they
usually have and become voiceless after the voiceless aspirated / p, t, k /. Iraqi Arab
learners pronounce voiced / r, w, j / everywhere because aspiration in Arabic is not as
evident as in English.

6. Lateral /l/
English voiced /l/ has two allophones: light in pre-vocalic position and heavy before
consonants and in final position of the word. Arabic /l/ is light but there is only one
Arabic word containing heavy (emphatic) /ḻ/ that is ʻAllahʼ /?aḻaah/ and its derivatives.
Iraqi Arab learners often confuse light /l/ and heavy /ḻ/. They pronounce light /l/
everywhere.

5.3 The Vowel Sounds

In fact, there is a clear disparity in the number of vowels between the English and
Arabic languages. Table (12) shows English and Arabic vowels.

The vowels English Arabic

short ɪ, e, æ, ǝ, ʌ, u, ɒ i, a, u
long i:, ɜ:, ɑ:, u:, ɔ: ii, aa, uu
diphthong eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, ǝu, ɑu, ɪǝ, eǝ, uǝ aw, ay
triphthongs eɪǝ , aɪǝ, ɔɪǝ, ɑuǝ, ǝuǝ

Table (12): English and Arabic vowels

The pure vowels are classified in English and Arabic languages similarly. Their
description is based on the criteria of the part of the tongue, the height of the tongue
and the shapes of the lips. Table (13) presents the classification of English and Arabic
vowels.

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 Tongue height Tongue part Lips shapes

vowels high mid low front central back rounded unrounded spread

English ɪ, i:,u, e, ǝ, ʌ, æ, ɑ: ɪ, i:, e, ǝ, ʌ, ɜ: u,u:,ɔ: u,u:,ɔ: e, æ, ʌ ɪ, i:

u: ɜ:,ɔ:,ɒ æ ɑ: ɒ ɒ ǝ, ɜ:,ɑ:

Arabic i, ii,u a, aa a, i, ii aa u, uu u, uu a, aa i, ii
uu

Table (13): Classification of English and Arabic vowels

Table 13 shows the following:

1. According to the height of the tongue, English and Arabic vowels are classified as
follows:
a) English close (high) vowels are / ɪ, i:, u, u: /, while Arabic close vowels are / i, ii, u,
uu /.
b) English between half close and half open (mid) vowels are / e, ǝ, ʌ, ɜ:, ɔ:, ɒ /. There
are no Arabic mid vowels.
c) English open (low) vowels include / æ, ɑ: / and Arabic include / a, aa /.

2. According to the parts of the tongue, English and Arabic vowels are classified as
follows:
a) English front vowels include / ɪ, i:, e, æ /, whereas Arabic front vowels include / a, i,
ii /.
b) English central vowels are / ǝ, ʌ, ɜ:, ɑ: /, while Arabic has only one central vowel
that is /aa/.
c) English back vowels are / u, u:, ɔ:, ɒ /, while Arabic back vowels are / u, uu /.

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3. According to the shapes of the lips, English and Arabic vowels are classified as
follows:
a) English rounded vowels involve / u, u:, ɒ, ɔ: /, while Arabic rounded vowels involve
/ u, uu /.
b) English unrounded vowels are / e, æ, ʌ, ǝ, ɜ:, ɑ: /, while Arabic are / a, aa /.
c) English spread vowels are / ɪ, i: / and Arabic are / i, ii /.

In general, there are six pure (simple) vowels in Arabic according to the length, while
there are twelve pure and eight compounds (diphthongs) as well as five triphthongs in
English. As we have seen in the previous chapters, English and Arabic are languages
with phonological contrasts based on vowel quality and quantity. English differs from
Arabic not only in terms of the size of their vowel systems but also in the phonetic
qualities of the vowels. English strong voiceless consonants at the end of words shorten
the preceding vowels while the weak voiced consonants lengthen these vowels. Arabic
vowels may be modified through the impact of voiced and voiceless consonants.
English is classified as a centripetal vowel system where the vowels tend to move to
the centre of the vowel space. Arabic vowel system occurs in between centripetal and
centrifugal patterns, where vowels locate at the margins of the acoustic space. The
differences lead us to describe English and Arabic as languages that have especially
distinct vowel systems. That is where Arabic has pharyngealized consonant sounds that
affect the adjacent vowels; wihle English does not have these consonants.

Arabic vowels can be affected by neighboring segments, mainly

pharyngealized sounds, often referred to as emphatics, resulting in
allophonic variation of such vowels because of coarticulatory effects
between the vowels and surrounding emphatics. This phenomenon is
described as pharyngealization and happens because of the retraction
of the root of the tongue when the emphatic is articulated. This results
in a narrower pharyngeal passage and a raised larynx that lasts during
the vowel articulation.
(Saadah, 2011: 24-26)

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In English writing, five vowels are used (a, e, i, o and u) after the consonants to show
what sound each consonant should make. For example ma, me and mi. Unlike English,
Arabic diacritical marks are used instead of vowel letters. These are signs made above
or below the letters. The letters in English may be unvowelled, i.e. have no vowel
sound immediately after unvowelled letter (Saqib, 2009: 10). English orthography
usually does not reflect the correct pronunciation of the vowels unlike Arabic. For
example the double (oo) in ʻlookʼ are pronounced the vowel sound /u/ while in ʻmoonʼ
/u:/.

5.4 The Syllable

1. The English term ʻsyllableʼ has been derived from the Greek word ʻsullabeʼ and
defined by many English phonologists with reference to its extralinguistic and
linguistic evidences (Aarts and McMahon, 2008: 414-16). Many Arabic modern
scholars think that old Arabic does not have information about the Arabic syllable and
the term ʻsyllable is western but the Arabic syllable has been studied by Ibin Jinny
(1954) in his book ʻSir Ṣinaa'at Ali'raabʼ by using different term that is ʻħarfunʼ which
means ʻa letterʼ in English.

2. Both English and Arabic define the syllable phonetically and phonologically. Roach
(2000:70) defines the syllable phonetically that refers to the way of its production and
the way it sounds. Phonologically, this point of view refers to the possible
combinations of English phonemes. The focus is on what may occur in initial position
of the first word in the beginning of a speech after a pause. Umar (1976: 241-8)
mentions that phonetically a syllable is considered as a single unit in which the air of
the lungs moves and contains the highest verbal top, a top of waving constant tension
in the organs of speech or blow of air from the chest. Phonologically, the syllable is
considered a unit that includes a sequence of consonants and vowels as well as other
aspects like length, stress and intonation. It may also include only vowels or only
consonants.

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3. Arabic language is distinguished in the number of the closed syllables because they
are more than the open syllables especially those that have short vowels. There is no
Arabic word including four open syllables but there is a word that contain four closed
syllables like /?istafhamtuhum/.

4. All the English syllables consist of a vowel with a consonant or consonants that
precede or follow that vowel. Arabic syllables always begin with only one consonant
followed by a vowel which in turn may be followed by one or two consonants.

5. There are initial, medial and final consonant clusters within a word in English.
Arabic has no initial or medial consonant clusters within a word but it has a final
consonant cluster of two consonants in pausal state eg. /baħr/ ʻseaʼ or /maθall/ ʻa
proverbʼ.
6. The number of English syllables in an utterance is examined according to sonority
hierarchy by revealing the number of the peaks of sonority (Kansakar, 1998:60). The
number of Arabic syllables is equal to the number of vowels.

7. Arabic is inflected language while English is not. Inflection and word order reflect
the grammatical relationships among the parts e.g /katab/ ʻhe wroteʼ, /kitaab/ ʻa bookʼ,
/kutub/ ʻbooksʼ, /kaatib/ ʻa writerʼ, /kitaabaat/ ʻwritingsʼ, /katabtu/ ʻI wroteʼ…etc.

8. The peak or nucleus in English syllable may be a vowel or a syllabic consonant

while Arabic peak is always short or long vowel because there are no syllabic
consonants in Arabic.

5.5 Word Stress

1. According to Ramamurthi (1998:178-9) English stress is a dynamic feature of
language and a prosodic or supra-segmental feature that refers to the intensity given to
an uttered sound in comparison with other sounds in a unit. One or more syllables may
receive stress in the English content words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and

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adverbs. There is no evidence for Arabic stress as it was in the Islamic ages. However,
it is a focus on a specific syllable of a word to make it prominent (Anis, 1971: 158-62).

2. English stress has various functions. The main function of English stress is to explain

the syntactic relationships between words or parts of words. It may be used to give
special emphasis to a word (phrasal stress) or to contrast one word with another. Stress
has an important role in keeping (memorizing) and remembering lexical items as
reported. Davenport and Hannahs (2005:80); Ladefoged (1982:104-5); Gilbert
(1984:19 that is cited in Ibrahim 1986:4) confirm these functions. Arabic stress is
predictable on the lexical level; therefore, it is not phonemic.

3. Both English and Arabic have three levels of stress: primary, secondary (weak) and
unstressed syllables but English may have a tertiary and fourth level of stress in some
polysyllabic words. A tertiary stress is weaker than the primary and secondary but
stronger than the unstressed syllables (Roach, 2000:96 and Prasad, 2008:40).

4. English stress is an important phonetic feature; therefore, any change in stress

pattern of an utterance may change its meaning thoroughly. Arabic is described as the
word stress language. It is non-discriminatory and does not affect the meaning.

5. Each English word consisting of more than one syllable has a fixed pattern of stress
while sentence stress is not as fixed as that. English stress is not stable and shifts in the
derivational words. Arabic also has fixed rules of word stress depending on the
structure of the syllables but there is no sentence stress.

6. In the English disyllabic words, if the second syllable of the verbs, adjectives and
adverbs is strong, it will be stressed, but if weak, it will be unstressed. In the nouns, the
stress is on the first syllable when the second one contains a short vowel and vice
versa. Secondary stress of English trisyllabic or polysyllabic words is on one syllable
of these words. In Arabic, secondary stress may be in disyllabic words that have two
long syllables, the second syllable will receive primary stress and the secondary stress
is on the first one and also in the Arabic disyllabic words that have two short syllables

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(no long syllable), the first one will receive stress and when they have one long syllable
and one short, the long one receives stress.

7. English stress shifts according to the nature of the suffixes added in the trisyllabic
and polysyllabic words. In Arabic trisyllabic words the first syllable receives primary
stress which has three short syllables and if a trisyllabic word contains one long
syllable, this syllable will receive primary stress. The last syllable receives primary
stress in the trisyllabic words which contain two long syllables finally. Stress in Arabic
depends on the structure of the syllable.

8. English stress affects the voicing of some consonants to change them from voiceless
to voiced while Arabic stress does not affect voicing.

CHAPTER VI

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

6.1 Preliminaries
There are many languages in the world and every language varies in its stages of
development. A linguistic researcher may analyze two languages in order to study the
similarities and differences between them. The researcher may detect facts in one
language that may be ambiguous or hidden in another language. He/she may also
detect the similarities in some linguistic examples or evidence of different languages
that lead him/her to think about the linkage between them, similar development or
their applicability to one discipline.

6.2 Test Description

A test has been designed followed by practical procedures and statistical methods to
get the required data. The data is analyzed in order to reach to a conclusion for the
present study. The test is based on two main criteria: recognition and production that

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