Gulf Arabic phonology

Consonants

 * The non-native Arabic letter Pāʼ (پ), or its native counterpart Bāʼ (ب), is used to denote that sound which occurs only in loanwords, e.g.: piyāḷah (پيالة or بيالة, 'small glass'), from Hindi
 * Ḍad (ض) has merged to Ẓāʼ (ظ). For further information, see below.
 * The difference is not orthographically shown.

The differences in the phonology of the Arabic dialect group of the Persian Gulf, compared to Modern Standard Arabic, are following:

Vowels
Following vowel chart applies to the Gulf Arabic dialect continuum: Qafisheh stipulates at least two qualities of /a/: "a has a low back quality in the environment of pharyngealized consonants and frequently before or after /q/. This sound is similar to the a sound in father but shorter and farther back. (...) Before or after the pharyngeals 9 [= ʿAyin] and H [= ḥ], or any other plain consonant, a is farther front than the a in father; its quality ranges between the e in pen and the a in pan." He further explains that these qualities also apply to /aː/, so that [ɑ(ː)]~[ä(ː)]~[æ(ː)] can therefore be assumed.