Abstract
This paper argues against the view that the unusual reflex of sad as [st] in Faifi Arabic stems from a metathesized version of the Proto-Semitic glottalized affricate *c'([ts']), as in Alfaifi and Behnstedt (2010: 53-4), where [st] is assumed to pattern as monosegmental. Instead we propose that the [st] reflex of sad in Faifi Arabic reflects a South Arabian ejective or glottalized fricative *s'as a substrate feature. We first argue that Faifi Arabic [st] patterns as bisegmental based on linguistic argumentation internal to the dialect. We then discuss *s' as a feature of South Arabian varieties that can be considered as part of the Faifi substrate. We then detail how it is phonetically plausible for ejective s' to 'break' into a sequence of a fricative followed by a stop, such as [st], accounting for its bisegmental patterning and its realization as pharyngealized [s] where [st] is phonotactically impossible.