Shihhi Arabic

Shihhi Arabic
Native to	United Arab Emirates, Oman
Speakers	38,000 (2020)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Peninsular Shihhi Arabic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ssh
Glottolog	shih1239

Shihhi Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة الشحية, romanized: Al-Lahjah Al-Shihhiyya, also known as Shehhi, Khasabi, Musandam Arabic, or Ruʾūs al-Jibāl Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Musandam Governorate of Oman and Ras al Khaimah emirate of UAE. The Al Shehhi, Al Hebsi, Al Dhuhoori and Al Shemaili tribes speak it.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
			plain	emph.
Nasal		m	n
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless		t	tˤ			k	q		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dˤ		d͡ʒ	(ɡ)
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	sˤ		ʃ		χ	ħ	h
	voiced		z					ʁ	(ʕ)
Tap					ɻ ~ ɽ
Approximant			l	(wˤ)		j	w

• Sounds /ɡ, ʕ/ are mainly heard in loan-words.
• /ħ/ may be heard as a voiced glottal [ɦ] when before voiced consonants.
• The retroflex /ɻ/ may have four different allophones; as a flap [ɽ] when in intervocalic positions, as an alveolar [ɹ] when before front vowels, or as an alveolar tap or trill [ɾ, r] when in word-medial position following a consonant.
• In some dialects *ġ has been replaced by a pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ].<ref>Shockley, Mark. Ruʾūs al-Jibāl Arabic in Context: A Proposal for an Expanded Typology of Southeastern Arabian Dialects. Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume 69, Issue 1, Spring 2024, Pages 657, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgad026

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i iː	u uː
Mid	eː	(o) oː
Open	a aː

• Short sounds /i, u/ when in unstressed positions are heard as a mid-central [ə].

Phoneme/Sound	Allophones	Notes
/i/ [i]	[ɪ]	when in closed syllables
/a/ [æ]	[æ]	as the standard relisation, when in neutral environments or open syllables
	[ɐ]	in closed syllables
	[a]	when occurring after a pharyngeal or glottal consonant
	[ɑ]	when within the vicinity of the velarized or pharyngealized, or uvular consonants
/o/ [o]	[ɔ], [ʊ]	in free variation
/u/ [u]	[ʊ]	in free variation
	[ɔ]	when preceded by a pharyngeal or velarized consonant
/iː/ [iː]	[ɨː]	when preceded by /q/
	[iːᵊ]	offglide, when followed by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant
	[ᵊiː]	onglide, when preceded by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant
/eː/ [eː]	[ɘː]	when preceded by /q/
	[ɪː]	when preceded by /b/
	[iː]	when preceding or following /j/
	[eːᵊ]	offglide, when followed by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant
	[ᵊeː]	onglide, when preceded by a velarized/pharyngealized consonant
/aː/ [æː]	[æː]	when in neutral environments or open syllables
	[aː]	when after a glottal stop /ʔ/
	[ɑː]	within the position of a velarized/pharyngealized consonant or /ɻ/ consonant
/oː/ [ɔː]	[ɔː]	as the standard realization
	[oː]	when preceded be a labial, alveolar, or palatal consonant
	[ʊː]	when preceded by /ɻ/
/uː/ [uː]	[ʊː]	in free variation
	[oː]	within the position of a velarized/pharyngealized consonant

See also

• Varieties of Arabic
• Gulf Arabic