Phonology
As is the case with all Bedouin dialects, the /q/ sound of literary Arabic is realized as a, except in words recently borrowed from literary Arabic.
The following table shows the consonants used in Libyan Arabic. Note: some sounds occur in certain regional varieties while being completely absent in others.
| Labial | Inter- dental |
Dental | Post- alveolar or palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Pharyn- geal |
Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emphatic | plain | emphatic | ||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | tˤ | k | (q) | (ʔ) | |||||
| voiced | b | d | dˤ | ɡ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | sˤ | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | ||
| voiced | (v) | ð | ðˤ | z | zˤ | ʒ | ʁ | ʕ | |||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||
| Lateral | l | lˤ | |||||||||
| Trill | r | rˤ | |||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | |||||||||
In western dialects, the interdental fricatives /θ ð ðˤ/ have merged with the corresponding dental stops /t d dˤ/. Eastern dialects generally still distinguish the two sets, but there is a tendency to replace /dˤ/ with /ðˤ/.
The e and o vowels exist only in long form. This can be explained by the fact that these vowels were originally diphthongs in Classical Arabic with /eː/ replacing /ai/ and /oː/ replacing /au/. In some eastern varieties, however, the classical /ai/ has changed to /ei/ and /au/ to /ou/.
Libyan Arabic has at least three clicks, which are used interjectionally, a trait shared with the Bedouin dialects of central Arabia. The first is used for affirmative responses and is generally considered very casual and sometimes associated with low social status. The second is a dental click and used for negative responses and is similar to the English 'tut'. The third is a palatal click used exclusively by women having a meaning close to that of the English word 'alas'.
Read more about this topic: Libyan Arabic