The Arabic Dialect of Šɛ̄xṭɔ̄ba/Shaykh Taba (northern Lebanon) in its Regional context

Abstract: This study provides the first grammatical description of a sedentary type of Arabic from Akkar (محافظة عكار), the northernmost governorate of Lebanon. It deals with the Arabic dialect spoken in Šɛ̄xṭɔ̄ba/Shaykh Taba (الشيخ طابا) and covers the main features of its phonology (with focus on pausal phenomena) and morphology, as well as selected semantic fields within the lexicon. In addition to general comparative notes in relation to dialects of Levant and beyond, the study provides a comparison in Phonology to four dialects in the governorate of North which borders Akkar to the south. These are Tripoli, Bišmizzīn, Kfar-Ṣghāb and Zgharta. It also includes a comparison in Morphology to Tripoli, Bišmizzīn and Kfar-Ṣghāb.Furthermore, the study examines where ŠṭA stands within Henri Fleisch’s survey of the Lebanese dialects.Šɛ̄xṭɔ̄ba has a rather complex pausal system, which affects not only consonants and vowels, but also diphthongs. There are also pause-conditioned morphophonological alternations. Besides filling a gap in our knowledge of Arabic dialects in Lebanon, this work adds a new case study of pausal forms to Arabic and Semitic. The results of the investigation of pause in Šɛ̄xṭɔ̄ba, as well as a few other case studies, lead us to identify pausal forms involving retentions, as well as new pausal processes, and thus to propose a revision to the current classification of the pausal forms in modern Arabic dialects.