Phonological Variation in the realization of the Affricate / ʤ / by Rural Migrants in Amara, Iraq

الملخص

         This study examines the variable use of the voiced post-alveolar affricate / ʤ / in the everyday speech of rural migrants in the city of Amara. The study explores the variation in relation to two social factors, namely gender and level of education. The speech data were gathered from 20 middle-aged (40-60) participants as the sample of the study. The researcher performs both auditory and statistical analyses to investigate patterns of variation in the use of the variable. The findings reveal that the realization of the variable under study reflects a complex interplay of rural and urban linguistic forms affected by the migrants' integration into the urban setting. Gender and education emerge as significant factors, with females and more educated participants showing a stronger inclination toward the urban variant [ʤ]. These results provide new insights into sociolinguistic dynamics in the city of Amara and add to the literature on Arabic dialectology and language variation.