1. Introduction

All modern Arabic dialects have word stress: one syllable in a word is prominent as compared to other syllables. The position of the strong stress is usually limited to the last three syllables of the word, and depends on the overall pattern of short and long syllables. Compare Cairene colloquial ki'taab ‘book’, ka'tabt ‘I wrote’, ka'tabna ‘we wrote’, 'katabu ‘they wrote’, kata'bitu ‘she wrote it’. Word stress is not distinctiv…