Phonological Interference from Hausa in Nigerian Students’ Production of Arabic Emphatic Consonants: An Experimental Study

The accurate production of Arabic emphatic consonants (the pharyngealised sounds known as the mutbaq class) represents one of the most persistent phonological challenges for Hausa-speaking Arabic learners, given the structural differences between the Arabic and Hausa consonant inventories and the pervasive influence of Hausa phonological patterns on learner production. This study conducts an experimental phonological investigation of Hausa interference in the production of Arabic emphatic consonants by Hausa-speaking Nigerian Arabic learners, comparing the acoustic properties of emphatic and non-emphatic cognate pairs in learner production against a native Arabic speaker control group. Using a production experiment methodology, the research elicits read speech, minimal pair repetition, and spontaneous naming task data from 60 intermediate-level Arabic learners at Bayero University Kano and 10 native Arabic speakers recruited from the Kano Arab expatriate community. Acoustic analysis using Praat software measures F2 formant transitions and vowel space differences as acoustic correlates of pharyngealisation. Statistical analysis of acoustic measurements examines the degree and consistency of emphatic contrasts produced by learners versus native speakers. The study finds systematic underspecification of pharyngealisation in learner production across all emphatic consonants, with the retroflex lateral being least affected and the emphatic dental fricative most compromised. Pedagogical implications for explicit pronunciation instruction and auditory training are derived. Keywords: Arabic emphatics, phonological interference, Hausa, pronunciation, experimental phonetics.