Dominance in Coronal Nasal Place Assimilation: The Case of Classical Arabic

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate place assimilation processes of coronal nasal in classical Arabic. I hypothesise that coronal nasal behaves differently in different assimilatory situations in classical Arabic. Data of the study were collected from the Holy Quran. It was referred to Quran.com for the pronunciations and translations of the data. Data of the study were analysed from the perspective of Mohanan’s dominance in assimilation model. Findings of the study have revealed that coronal nasal shows different assimilatory behaviours when it occurs in different syllable positions. Coronal nasal onset seems to fail to assimilate a whole or a portion of the matrix of a preceding obstruent or sonorant coda within a phonological word. However, coronal nasal in the coda position shows different phonological behaviours.