An Acoustic-Phonetic Analysis of Duration, Fundamental Frequency, and Intensity in Arabic Greetings Produced by Young Learners of Arabic

Abstract

This study examines the acoustic characteristics of Arabic greetings produced by two young learners of Arabic as a foreign language, focusing on duration, fundamental frequency (F0), and intensity. It aims to describe acoustic patterns and identify similarities and differences using a descriptive quantitative design and an acoustic-phonetic approach. Data were obtained from recordings of two learners at Educourse (aged 14 and 9) and analyzed using Praat. The findings revealed that variations across the three acoustic parameters; the younger learner generally exhibited higher F0 values, whereas duration and intensity patterns varied across expressions. Although descriptive due to the limited number of participants, these findings illustrate the acoustic realization of learners' speech and highlight the value of acoustic analysis in describing foreign-language speech production.