Distribution
The most frequent consonant phoneme is /r/, the rarest is /ðˤ/. The frequency distribution of the 28 consonant phonemes, based on the 2,967 triliteral roots listed by Wehr is (with the percentage of roots in which each phoneme occurs):
| Phoneme | Frequency | Phoneme | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /r/ | 24% | /w/ | 18% | |
| /l/ | 17% | /m/ | 17% | |
| /n/ | 17% | /b/ | 16% | |
| /f/ | 14% | /ʕ/ | 13% | |
| /q/ | 13% | /d/ | 13% | |
| /s/ | 13% | /ħ/ | 12% | |
| /j/ | 12% | /ʃ/ | 11% | |
| /dʒ/ | 10% | /k/ | 9% | |
| /h/ | 8% | /z/ | 8% | |
| /tˤ/ | 8% | /x/ | 8% | |
| /sˤ/ | 7% | /ʔ/ | 7% | |
| /t/ | 6% | /dˤ/ | 5% | |
| /ɣ/ | 5% | /θ/ | 3% | |
| /ð/ | 3% | /ðˤ/ | 1% |
This distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual frequency of occurrence of the phonemes in speech, since pronouns, prepositions and suffixes are not taken into account, and the roots themselves will occur with varying frequency. In particular, /t/ occurs in several extremely common affixes (occurring in the marker for second-person or feminine third-person as a prefix, the marker for first-person or feminine third-person as a suffix, and as the second element of Forms VIII and X as an infix) despite being fifth from last on Wehr's list. The list does give, however, an idea of which phonemes are more marginal than others. Note that the five least frequent letters are among the six letters added to those inherited from the Phoenician alphabet, namely, ḍād, ṯāʾ, ḫāʾ, ẓāʾ, ḏāl and ġayn.
Read more about this topic: Arabic Phonology
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