Constraint Interaction in Iraqi Arabic Dialects: A Focus on Baghdadi Gilit and Moslawi Qəltu through Optimality Theory

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} This paper aimed at a descriptive analysis of the phonological processes in two major dialects of Iraqi: Baghdadi Gilit Dialect (BGD) and Moslawi Qəltu Dialect (MQD), within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT). Drawing on a firm corpus of 100 hours of spoken data and recent researches, 2015–2024, the present study probes into important phonological processes like assimilation, deletion, and epenthesis to explore their implications from the sociolinguistic and computational perspectives. These results show that there are significant differences in the constraint hierarchies of the two dialects, reflecting their different sociolinguistic histories. BGD has a greater number of assimilations and deletions, driven by markedness constraints such as HARMONY and PARSIMONY, which reflect Bedouin speech patterns. MQD, on the other hand, is more phonologically conservative, retaining features from Old Arabic, and thus faithfulness constraints such as MAX and IDENT-PLACE, which favor the preservation of input segments, are ranked higher. Comparisons with recent research highlight the continued influence of urbanization and Bedouinization on dialectal phonological variation. The study contributes to Arabic phonology by providing a model that bridges theoretical phonological processes with practical applications in computational linguistics, such as speech recognition and natural language processing systems. Sociolinguistically, the research highlights the complex interplay of demographic, cultural, and historical factors in shaping the phonological patterns across Iraqi Arabic dialects. The implications for Arabic dialectology, language technology, and pedagogical practices are discussed to provide an overall framework for studies that will follow in the variation of dialect.