ASPIRATION IN ENGLISH, ARABIC AND KURDISH

The sound systems of both Standard Arabic (SA) and Kurdish (Bahdinani dialect) have been worked out, with varying degrees of emphasis on certain features (i.e. voicing, place of articulation and emphaticness ) whereas another feature, namely aspiration, has received, perhaps, less attention than the other features despite its important role in the sound syetems of both languages. This study, therefore, sought to examine aspiration in SA and Kurdish in an attempt to contribute to the knowledge . available on the phonology of the two languages as compared to that of English, and hence to throw some light on the diffi- culties encountered by Iraqi Arab and Kurdish students of English.