Acoustical Characteristics of Arabic Language as a Foreign Language : A comparative study between two levels of learners PHD Research Paper submitted to Phonetics and Linguistics Department of the University of Alexandria to fulfill the Spring Course. By/ Eman M. Yousri 2016

1. A comparative study between two levels
of learners
Eman Yousri

2. Introduction
Aim of the work
Limitations
Experiment Methodology
Results & Discussion
Conclusions

3.  Arabic is one of Semitic languages spoken by
approximately 422 million speakers around the world.
 It is one of the oldest languages in the world.
 It is the second most spoken language in terms of number
of speakers.
 It has 28 letters represent in consonants and long vowels,
while short vowels are indicated with diacritical marks.
 These marks are not often used in writing.
 Because of both oral and written language differences,
native speakers of English may confront more difficulty
learning Arabic than other, more similar European
languages .

4.  Since the 1970s, MSA has been one of the official
languages of the United Nations.
 When non-native speakers of Arabic learn Arabic
as a foreign/second language, it is this dialect of
Arabic that they are exposed to in language
institutions.
Classical Arabic : is the
language found in the Holy
Qur’an.
Since 7th century, Classical
Arabic underwent gradual
linguistic changes, which
resulted in Modern
Standard Arabic (MSA).

5. • Refers to the fact that Arabs read and write one form of
language (the so-called "high" form), but for everyday
spoken communication with each other they speak
language variants that are substantially different.
• Moreover, the spoken vernacular (or dialect) varies
from region to region in the Arab world, and although
some geographically close vernaculars are mutually
intelligible, those separated by vast distances (such as,
for example, Moroccan and Kuwaiti)
• A fact of life in the Arab world is that there is dialect
diversity and divergence between written and spoken
forms of the language. Both forms are necessary for full
communicative competence
Modern Arabic Diglossia

6.  The aim of this experiment is to profile a full
acoustic description of Arabic language as a
second language, pronounced by non-native
speakers. To achieve the aim of the present
study, the researcher classified all the involved
speakers into two groups depending on their
proficiency skills in using Arabic language
according to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
C Speaking (1999).
Consequently, this aim will contribute in giving an overview of
all the following levels:

7. On the segmental level:
by describing the acoustical characteristics
(segments durations and the first three formants
frequencies) of Arabic main vowels /a, i, u/ and the
Arabic nasal consonants /m, n/.
On the suprasegmental level:
by measuring the suprasegmental features of the
connected speech sample and relate or associate
their results with the segmental results to provide a
useful acoustic profile of Arabic language as a
foreign language.
As a further work:
The output results should be compared with results
of the native speakers of Arabic language.

8. 1.There are rarely experiments (references)
that describe the acoustical characteristics of
Arabic language as a foreign language or
second language.
2. It's hardly to find references that give a
suitable describing of the suprasegmental
characteristics of Arabic language, specially,
as a foreign language.
3. Almost all the experiments that describe
Arabic language, their speech sample consists
of syllables, for instance, only of specific
syllable structures like CV or CVC. So that,
it's hardly to find a paper which provide a
connected speech data of Arabic.

10.  The data collected from the TAFL Center Teaching
Arabic as a Foreign Language; at Alexandria
University, faculty of Arts.
 All the involved speakers who volunteer to the
represented experiment are divided into two groups
according to their proficiency in using the Arabic
language (colloquial and modern standard in
speaking and reading as well) and according to the
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines C Speaking (1999).

11. Group A
Two male speakers
Advanced High
Collage students in Ninja University
in China; they are all Chinese and
their mother tongue is Chinese
Language.
Aged between 26 and 30
Learning Arabic Language (MSA) six
years ago before coming to Egypt
Starting to learn Colloquial Arabic
(CA) since their arrival to Alexandria
from five months ago.
Group B
Ten female speakers
Intermediate Mid
Collage students in Ninja University
in China; they are all Chinese and
their mother tongue is Chinese
Language.
Aged between 19 and 23 years old
Learning Arabic Language (MSA) for
only three years ago before coming
to Egypt.
Starting to learn Colloquial Arabic
(CA) since their arrival to Alexandria
from five months ago.

12.  All the recordings sessions are done in a sealed room at the
TAFL Center Extension in Alexandria University.
 The two groups of the speakers are asked to read the
following text:
 Smart Voice Recorder (Android App version 1.7.1) is used to record
the selected data. All the recordings are recorded as Wav. Files with
sampling rate = 44100 Hz. The recorder was far from the speakers
by approximately 30 cm.
 From the whole recordings, for every speaker; only the first line
from the preceding text is cut through using Audacity program for
preparing the data to the next step.

13.  All the recording data are analyzed manually with the aid
of Praat software for all speakers. The analysis procedure
is composed of three sequential steps:
The first step is the
transcription
The second step is the
segmentation process
The third step is the
calculation process:
1) on the segmental
level of speech. 2) On
the suprasegmental
level of speech

14. On the segmental
level
1) the first three formant
frequencies F1, F2, F3 of the
main Arabic vowels / a, i, u /
and their durations.
2) The first three formant
frequencies of the nasal
consonants of Arabic
Language /m, n / with their
durations.
On the suprasegmental
level
Fundamental Frequency F0
Intensity
The total duration in
seconds
The number of the
pronounced syllables
The Reading Rate (Speech
Rate SR)
Articulation Rate AR
Total Pauses duration in
seconds
Percentage of pause time

17.  / a, i, u / Vowels durations for all speakers

18.  /m, n / nasals durations for all speakers

19.  The first three formant frequencies of /m,
n / & /a, i, u / for all speakers

21.  The intensity of the overall reading sample for
all the speakers of the two groups.

22.  The total utterance duration in seconds of all
the speakers in the two groups (advanced high
& intermediate mid).

23.  The number of pronounced syllables for all
speakers in the two groups (advanced high &
intermediate mid) while reading the target text.

24.  The reading rate and the articulation rate of
the two groups of speakers.

25.  The percentage of pauses to overall reading
rate for the two groups of speakers.

27. From all the preceding
results we can deduce
that the segmental
results consist with the
suprasegmental ones.
Regarding Group A (males
advanced high), this group
has the longest segments
durations (in vowels and
nasals) & has the slowest
reading rates, the minimum
number of the pronounced
syllables, the shortest total
utterance durations, the
highest intensity degrees,
and the least percentage of
pauses.
On contrary, Group B has
relatively short segments
durations than Group A;
especially in /i & u/ in
vowels and /m/ in nasals &
has the slowest reading
rates including the
maximum percentages of
pauses to overall speech
sample, the largest number
of the pronounced syllables
in the longest total
utterances durations, plus
the least degrees in
intensity to overall speech
sample.
we can deduce that Group B
speakers are still unskilled
in using Arabic language
(especially in reading skill).
In that manner, for both
groups of the learners, the
suprasegmental results
explain and confirm their
segmental counterparts.