A Sociolinguistic Study of Subject-Verb Word Order Variation in Najdi Arabic

Abstract

This dissertation employs variationist and discourse analytic approaches to examine subject-verb word order variation in the Najdi Arabic dialect, spoken in the north of Saudi Arabia, which can be realized as either VS(O) or SV(O). The aims of this dissertation are to explore the linguistic and social conditioning of subject-verb word order in the Najdi dialect and to provide viable interpretations for the observed patterns.

Drawing on a corpus of 20 sociolinguistic interviews with locals from the city of Arar, the speech community under examination, this dissertation demonstrates that subject-verb word order is linguistically and socially conditioned in Najdi Arabic, illuminating similar patterns to those found in the relevant literature on other Arabic varieties (Al-Shawashreh, 2016; Owens et al., 2013; Owens et al., 2009). Utilizing a multivariate analysis of the interview data, I find that these two word orders hold different pragmatic meanings: VS mainly constitutes presentation, while SV mainly indexes available referentiality. The social findings indicate that age is the main predictor, with younger participants using SV more than their older counterparts, who use VS at a higher rate.

Explanations of the social patterns often present challenges in the context of syntactic variation, since syntactic variables may carry referential and pragmatic meanings in addition to associations with social group membership. Therefore, I explore such patterns by applying discourse analytic approaches, specifically the approach pioneered by Gumperz (1982) known as interactional sociolinguistics, employing stance (Ochs, 1993), positioning (Davies & Harré, 1990), and framing (Tannen, 1993a) and considering the local context of the interaction and the larger cultural norms of the speech community. Findings from the discourse analysis show that the different age groups frame the situated context of the sociolinguistic interview differently, with older participants framing it as a formal event where they are expected to provide information, and younger participants framing it as a casual conversation where they are building interpersonal connections with the interviewer, thus resulting in a difference in interactional styles and meaningfully impacting usage patterns of the two word orders. By highlighting the age-specific framing patterns, I argue that the higher use of SV in the speech of the younger participants reflects the variant’s interpersonal functions (e.g., communicating attitudes), while the higher use of VS in the speech of the older participants is connected to the variant’s function of communicating new information.

This dissertation furthers our understanding of subject-verb word order variation in Arabic, which has received minimal attention in variationist literature. In addition, this study tackles the well-documented challenge of interpreting the social conditioning of syntactic variation by highlighting the utility of exploring variable phenomena, especially at the level of syntax, through a variety of analytic lenses.