Alex Bellem
Alex Bellem is a linguist specialising in theoretical and comparative phonology (and the interface with phonetics), Arabic linguistics, and Middle Eastern languages more widely. In 2021, she moved from Durham University to take up a new post at the Aga Khan University's Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in London.
After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies (Arabic and Turkish), she lived in Damascus for a while, before returning to the UK to complete an MA in Linguistics at University College, London. She subsequently spent several years parenting, working as an academic editor, teaching English language and working on Iraqi folk poetry, before moving on to PhD research and teaching in the Department of Linguistics at SOAS in London. After a "sabbatical" year as a Pronunciation Linguist at the BBC, and completing her PhD, she took up a role with the CBRL in Amman and then Damascus, becoming the first Research Director (Syria) and establishing the Damascus base that was in the process of becoming the first British Institute in Damascus. After leaving Syria, she held a 1-year Lectureship in Linguistics at Salford University, and then moved to Durham in September 2012 to take up a permanent lectureship. And promptly purchased lots of winter jumpers. She is now - since 2021 - on the faculty of the AKU-ISMC, and is based between London, North East England, and France.
Alex's research is mostly centred empirically on Semitic phonology, with a particular focus on Iraqi and Syrian dialects, and theoretically on Government Phonology / Element Theory; her major interest is in resonance systems, pharyngealisation (emphatics) and phonation; she has collaborated on an investigation into the phonology and phonetics of Mehri, an endangered Modern South Arabian language spoken in Yemen and Oman, and also worked on "pharyngealisation" in Caucasian languages; she currently also collaborates on a project on Literary Mixed Arabic (so-called Middle Arabic).
Alex has also served as a trustee, and Honorary Secretary, of the Council for British Research in the Levant, the British Academy-funded learned society that facilitates, sponsors and conducts scholarly research in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean, and which runs the British Institute in Amman, and the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem.
After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies (Arabic and Turkish), she lived in Damascus for a while, before returning to the UK to complete an MA in Linguistics at University College, London. She subsequently spent several years parenting, working as an academic editor, teaching English language and working on Iraqi folk poetry, before moving on to PhD research and teaching in the Department of Linguistics at SOAS in London. After a "sabbatical" year as a Pronunciation Linguist at the BBC, and completing her PhD, she took up a role with the CBRL in Amman and then Damascus, becoming the first Research Director (Syria) and establishing the Damascus base that was in the process of becoming the first British Institute in Damascus. After leaving Syria, she held a 1-year Lectureship in Linguistics at Salford University, and then moved to Durham in September 2012 to take up a permanent lectureship. And promptly purchased lots of winter jumpers. She is now - since 2021 - on the faculty of the AKU-ISMC, and is based between London, North East England, and France.
Alex's research is mostly centred empirically on Semitic phonology, with a particular focus on Iraqi and Syrian dialects, and theoretically on Government Phonology / Element Theory; her major interest is in resonance systems, pharyngealisation (emphatics) and phonation; she has collaborated on an investigation into the phonology and phonetics of Mehri, an endangered Modern South Arabian language spoken in Yemen and Oman, and also worked on "pharyngealisation" in Caucasian languages; she currently also collaborates on a project on Literary Mixed Arabic (so-called Middle Arabic).
Alex has also served as a trustee, and Honorary Secretary, of the Council for British Research in the Levant, the British Academy-funded learned society that facilitates, sponsors and conducts scholarly research in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean, and which runs the British Institute in Amman, and the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem.
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Papers by Alex Bellem
A triadic system of (obstruent) contrasts is a well-known feature of the prototypical Semitic sound system and involves an opposition of voiced-voiceless-emphatic. The 'emphatic' member of this triad varies across Semitic languages between ejective, pharyngealized / uvularized, and some combination of both. Emphatics in the Ethio-Semitic languages are ejective, while in Arabic they are pharygealized / uvularized. There has been much debate in the literature of the exact nature and behaviour of the emphatics in Arabic, and it is clear that there is considerable dialectal variation in both phonetic realization and phonological behaviour. Further, there is also variation in the exact emphatics that each dialect has, and very often debate over identifying which phones of a given dialect are emphatic ('primary', i.e. lexical, or 'secondary', i.e. phonetically or phonologically conditioned). This paper focuses on a little-investigated aspect of Arabic emphatics, which is that of laryngeal categories. Data is presented to show that Arabic dialects may be classified as either triadic, with a three-way laryngeal contrast, or what I term dyadic, with a two-way laryngeal contrast. The triadic dialects have a voiced-voiceless (emphatic)-voiceless aspirated opposition in the obstruent system, which is akin to the prototypical Semitic triadic system; the dyadic dialects have only a voiced-voiceless obstruent opposition. The paper shows how these categories are measured, exemplifying with a number of triadic and dyadic dialects. These data additionally show that triadic or dyadic systems do not emerge in an entirely arbitrary fashion: there appears to be a strong correlation between the type of laryngeal contrast system and the dialect type according to other classification criteria (e.g. socioeconomic or 'ecological' along a Bedouinite-ruralite-urbanite continuum). The triadic / dyadic laryngeal contrast systems of Arabic provide further evidence for a trajectory of emphatic development from ejective (a purely laryngeal contrast) to pharyngealized / uvularized (a resonance contrast). The paper presents and exemplifies a model of this trajectory and discusses the changing role of 'emphatic' within Semitic. Having shown how laryngeal contrasts in Arabic are an important part of the typology of emphatics, the paper then discusses how other, related features of the sound system are also relevant. The final part of the paper therefore outlines how the retention or loss of (historical) interdentals may be incorporated into such a typology. The hypothesis is that this variant, too, will show a strong correlation with triadic / dyadic laryngeal contrast systems; while exceptions are predicted to be found, representing 'mixed' dialect types, preliminary observations indicate that there may indeed be a good correlation. 0 Introduction There is much discussion in the literature of the Arabic emphatics, with a wide range of studies focusing on the phonetic correlates (both articulatory and acoustic) of 'emphatic' and a wide range of studies focusing on the phonological representation and behaviour of 'emphasis'. This paper shows how Arabic emphatics are an important part of a historical rearrangement within Arabic dialect sound systems that is ongoing. To this end, the paper focuses on a little-discussed aspect of emphatics, that of laryngeal categories.
In seeking to define the term ‘emphatic’, since emphatics are realised in some Semitic languages as ejectives, and in others as ‘pharyngealised’, or ‘backed’, the phonetic aspects of both are investigated. I present acoustic analyses of Tigrinya and Arabic (Peninsula Arabian and Iraqi) emphatics, paying particular attention to perceptual salience. Firstly, the notions of ‘noise-lag’ and ‘stop-lag’ are discussed and exemplified in relation to ejectives; secondly, I present and evaluate analyses of VOT in Arabic, showing that there is dialectal variation in the voicing series (i.e. two-way vs three-way). Further to this, I discuss the phonological composition of the various emphatics and gutturals, proposing structural representations broadly within an element-theoretic framework.
I then take a diachronic angle, looking at Proto-Semitic and the development of the sound systems of the Semitic languages, in particular the Semitic triads, and the development of ‘backed’ emphatics as a product of changing sound systems. I argue that Proto-Semitic laterals were not part of the ‘triad’ system and that the voiced lateral fricative was ‘backed’. The emphatic trajectory hypothesis is evaluated and theoretically contextualised, and I show that dialectal variation in the voicing series of Arabic is relevant to the variant phonological systems of the dialect types discussed.
A preliminary comparative investigation into Arabic dialect sound systems is then presented. I discuss dialect classification and detail a set of key variables for each dialect group. The thesis then discusses the issue of ‘emphasis spread’, analysing data from four different dialect types. The data is discussed in terms of sound systems, and the traditional analysis of ‘emphasis spread’ is disputed. I show how the various sound systems of Arabic are characterised by resonance patterns, which are a crucial part of what is normally taken to be ‘emphasis spread’, and that there is an active process of ‘fronting’ (im¢ala) which is crucial to an analysis of ‘emphasis’ (tafx³m).
The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the research, stressing the need for systematic and consistent cross-dialectal analyses of both the phonetics and the phonology of Semitic emphatics. I outline how this can be used in future work to develop a comprehensive comparative typology, towards which this thesis is a preliminary contribution.
A triadic system of (obstruent) contrasts is a well-known feature of the prototypical Semitic sound system and involves an opposition of voiced-voiceless-emphatic. The 'emphatic' member of this triad varies across Semitic languages between ejective, pharyngealized / uvularized, and some combination of both. Emphatics in the Ethio-Semitic languages are ejective, while in Arabic they are pharygealized / uvularized. There has been much debate in the literature of the exact nature and behaviour of the emphatics in Arabic, and it is clear that there is considerable dialectal variation in both phonetic realization and phonological behaviour. Further, there is also variation in the exact emphatics that each dialect has, and very often debate over identifying which phones of a given dialect are emphatic ('primary', i.e. lexical, or 'secondary', i.e. phonetically or phonologically conditioned). This paper focuses on a little-investigated aspect of Arabic emphatics, which is that of laryngeal categories. Data is presented to show that Arabic dialects may be classified as either triadic, with a three-way laryngeal contrast, or what I term dyadic, with a two-way laryngeal contrast. The triadic dialects have a voiced-voiceless (emphatic)-voiceless aspirated opposition in the obstruent system, which is akin to the prototypical Semitic triadic system; the dyadic dialects have only a voiced-voiceless obstruent opposition. The paper shows how these categories are measured, exemplifying with a number of triadic and dyadic dialects. These data additionally show that triadic or dyadic systems do not emerge in an entirely arbitrary fashion: there appears to be a strong correlation between the type of laryngeal contrast system and the dialect type according to other classification criteria (e.g. socioeconomic or 'ecological' along a Bedouinite-ruralite-urbanite continuum). The triadic / dyadic laryngeal contrast systems of Arabic provide further evidence for a trajectory of emphatic development from ejective (a purely laryngeal contrast) to pharyngealized / uvularized (a resonance contrast). The paper presents and exemplifies a model of this trajectory and discusses the changing role of 'emphatic' within Semitic. Having shown how laryngeal contrasts in Arabic are an important part of the typology of emphatics, the paper then discusses how other, related features of the sound system are also relevant. The final part of the paper therefore outlines how the retention or loss of (historical) interdentals may be incorporated into such a typology. The hypothesis is that this variant, too, will show a strong correlation with triadic / dyadic laryngeal contrast systems; while exceptions are predicted to be found, representing 'mixed' dialect types, preliminary observations indicate that there may indeed be a good correlation. 0 Introduction There is much discussion in the literature of the Arabic emphatics, with a wide range of studies focusing on the phonetic correlates (both articulatory and acoustic) of 'emphatic' and a wide range of studies focusing on the phonological representation and behaviour of 'emphasis'. This paper shows how Arabic emphatics are an important part of a historical rearrangement within Arabic dialect sound systems that is ongoing. To this end, the paper focuses on a little-discussed aspect of emphatics, that of laryngeal categories.
In seeking to define the term ‘emphatic’, since emphatics are realised in some Semitic languages as ejectives, and in others as ‘pharyngealised’, or ‘backed’, the phonetic aspects of both are investigated. I present acoustic analyses of Tigrinya and Arabic (Peninsula Arabian and Iraqi) emphatics, paying particular attention to perceptual salience. Firstly, the notions of ‘noise-lag’ and ‘stop-lag’ are discussed and exemplified in relation to ejectives; secondly, I present and evaluate analyses of VOT in Arabic, showing that there is dialectal variation in the voicing series (i.e. two-way vs three-way). Further to this, I discuss the phonological composition of the various emphatics and gutturals, proposing structural representations broadly within an element-theoretic framework.
I then take a diachronic angle, looking at Proto-Semitic and the development of the sound systems of the Semitic languages, in particular the Semitic triads, and the development of ‘backed’ emphatics as a product of changing sound systems. I argue that Proto-Semitic laterals were not part of the ‘triad’ system and that the voiced lateral fricative was ‘backed’. The emphatic trajectory hypothesis is evaluated and theoretically contextualised, and I show that dialectal variation in the voicing series of Arabic is relevant to the variant phonological systems of the dialect types discussed.
A preliminary comparative investigation into Arabic dialect sound systems is then presented. I discuss dialect classification and detail a set of key variables for each dialect group. The thesis then discusses the issue of ‘emphasis spread’, analysing data from four different dialect types. The data is discussed in terms of sound systems, and the traditional analysis of ‘emphasis spread’ is disputed. I show how the various sound systems of Arabic are characterised by resonance patterns, which are a crucial part of what is normally taken to be ‘emphasis spread’, and that there is an active process of ‘fronting’ (im¢ala) which is crucial to an analysis of ‘emphasis’ (tafx³m).
The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the research, stressing the need for systematic and consistent cross-dialectal analyses of both the phonetics and the phonology of Semitic emphatics. I outline how this can be used in future work to develop a comprehensive comparative typology, towards which this thesis is a preliminary contribution.