What kind of Arabic is spoken in Qatar?
How is Gulf Arabic different from Arabic?
A feature that distinguishes Gulf Arabic dialects from other Arabic varieties is the retention of the dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/, which in many other dialects merged with other sounds; similarly, the reflex of the merger of classical */ɮˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ and */ðˤ/ ⟨ظ⟩ is often /dˤ/ in some dialects but is a fricative (either /ðˤ/ or /zˤ/) in Gulf dialects.[13][12] It shares this feature with most Peninsular and Mesopotamian dialects.[citation needed]
/ɮˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ has merged to /ðˤ/ ⟨ظ⟩.
Historically, /q/ became [ɡ] in Gulf Arabic. Due to influence from MSA, the sound was reintroduced in a handful of classicisms.[14] A number of speakers realize this restricted phoneme as a voiced uvular stop;[15] these same speakers have post-velar or uvular realizations of /x/ and /ɣ/ ([χ] and [ʁ], respectively).[16] For such speakers, [ɢ] and the [ʁ] are in free variation while other speakers distinguish /q/ from /ɣ/. Thus قرآن /qurʔaːn/ may be realized as [ɢɪrʔaːn] or [ʁɪrʔaːn] for such speakers.[17]
The emphatic consonants /tˤ dˤ sˤ ðˤ/ are variably described in the literature as having secondary velarization or pharyngealization. Other emphatic consonants can be found, but these are the result of a process that spreads the velarization/pharyngealization of these sounds on surrounding consonants. E.g. بطولة /butˤuːla/ ('championship') [bˤʊtˤʊːla]('championship').[18]