ABSTRACT
We shall examine this assumption by looking at four variables in Tunisian Arabic. The first to be examined is the one most often quoted by Tunisians as evidence of the influence of MSA upon TA phonology. This is the increased use of the phoneme /q/ where Bedouin dialects use /g/, as in /qaal/ he said and /naqra/ I read, which are used by some speakers in place of the more traditional /gaal/ and /nagra/. We find a comment on this change, consistent with this assumption, from one of the interviewees consulted in the course of the research on which this chapter is based (Gibson 1998).
