Abstract

Research on prosodic variation in Arabic – that is, in relation to suprasegmental features such as word stress, rhythm and intonation – offers much scope for potentially fruitful future research. This chapter equips researchers in Arabic sociolinguistics with the tools to identify potential prosodic variables to study, by setting up a working definition of what prosody is, by situating Arabic within the range and scope of observed cross-linguistic prosodic variation, and by summarising those studies which have already investigated prosodic variation in Arabic. The chapter also outlines some desiderata for future research on sociolinguistically conditioned prosodic variation in Arabic.