ABSTRACT
The syllable plays an important role in both colloquial and classical Arabic phonology (Bird & Blackburn, 1990; Kay, 1987; McCarthy, 1981). The importance of the syllable is deeply rooted in the history of the analysis of Arabic. Major descriptions of Arabic by Old Arab Grammarians tended to ignore stress, intonation, and tempo, while providing lengthy descriptions of the alternations of vowels and consonants (ElSaaran, 1951). The metrics of Arabic were also described in terms of successions of vowels and consonants, for example, in terms of syllables (Prince, 1989; Maling, 1973).
