A contrastive analysis of Quranic Arabic and Standard Australian English

Background: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with Muslim clients should have a thorough understanding of all languages their clients are exposed to. Muslims internationally learn Quranic Arabic (QA) alongside their home languages. Learning the QA sound system requires knowledge of its phonemic inventory and how it compares to the other languages in the client’s repertoire. Cross-linguistic influences can affect a learner’s articulation of QA sounds and ultimately their ability to preserve the pronunciation of the holy Quranic text. Conversely, QA may influence a learner’s acquisition of additional languages, such as Standard Australian English (SAE).
Aim: To provide a contrastive phonemic analysis of QA and SAE to support SLPs working with Muslims acquiring these additional languages.
Results: QA has 28 consonants, while SAE has 24. Although the languages share eighteen consonant phonemes, QA has ten consonants not found in SAE, and SAE has six not found in QA. The slightly larger consonant inventory is a result of QA’s more extensive use of the vocal tract than SAE. QA employs all the places and manners of articulation found in SAE, even though not all SAE sounds are present in QA. This discrepancy occurs because sounds absent from QA but present in SAE often have counterparts in QA, whether voiced or voiceless. For example, while the sound /p/ is not present in QA, its voiced pair, /b/, is.
Conclusion: Phonemic contrastive analysis of languages identifies potential influences of an individual’s first language on their acquisition of additional languages and is critical to correct identification of speech delay, disorder, or difference. SLPs working with Muslims who speak SAE and learning QA need to understand the similarities and differences between these languages to accurately diagnose speech sound disorders.