comparative morphology of standard and e

8/16/2019 Comparative Morphology of Standard and E

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Comparative Morphology of

Standard and Egyptian Arabic

Hassan A. H. Gadalla

Lincom Europa

2000


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CONTENTS

Foreword............................................................................................ vii0. Introduction.................................................................................... ix

0.1. The Arabic Language Situation...................................... ix0.2. The Diglossic Situation in Egypt.................................... x0.3. Purpose & Procedures of the Research........................... xii0.4. Symbols & Abbreviations............................................... xv

1. Phonological & Morphological Basics.......................................... 11.1. Phonological Preliminaries..................................……... 1

1.1.1 Consonant Systems........................................... 11.1.2. Vowel Systems................................................ 51.1.3. Syllable Structure & Stress.............................. 7

1.2. Phonological Alternations.............................................. 91.2.1. Epenthesis..................................................….. 101.2.2. Elision...................................................……... 141.2.3. Assimilation...............................................….. 161.2.4. Shortening........................................................ 191.2.5. Metathesis........................................................ 211.2.6. Glide Alternations........................................... 22

1.3. Morphological Preliminaries.......................................... 261.3.1. Word Classification......................................... 26

1.3.2. Word Formation.............................................. 281.4. Morphosyntactic Alternations........................................ 331.4.1. Pausal vs. Non-Pausal Forms.......................... 331.4.2. Nunation.......................................................... 35

1.5. Literature on Arabic Morphology................................... 361.6. Theory of Prosodic Morphology..................................... 40

2. Verbal Morphology........................................................................ 432.1. Verb Stems & Classes..................................................... 43

2.1.1. Triradical Verbs............................................... 43

2.1.1.1. Sound Verbs...................................... 442.1.1.2. Geminate Verbs................................ 512.1.1.3. Glottalized Verbs.............................. 552.1.1.4. Weak Verbs....................................... 58

2.1.2. Quadriradical Verbs......................................... 732.2. Inflection for Aspect & Mood......................................... 762.3. Inflection for Voice......................................................... 852.4. Subjectival & Objectival Affixes.................................... 88

2.4.1. Subjectival Affixes.......................................... 89

2.4.2. Objectival Suffixes.......................................... 972.5. Verb Derivation & Transitivity...................................... 1003. Nominal Morphology..................................................................... 106


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3.1. Primary Nouns................................................................ 106

3.1.1. Triradical Nominal Stem Forms...................... 107

3.1.2. Quadriradical Nominal Stem Forms................ 114

3.1.3. A Prosodic Analysis of Nominal Stem Forms. 115

3. 2. Deverbal Nouns............................................................. 1173.2.1. Verbal Nouns................................................... 118

3.2.2. Nouns of Exaggeration.................................... 125

3.2.3. Nouns of Place & Time.................................... 126

3.2.4. Nouns of Instrument........................................ 128

3.3. Definite vs. Indefinite Nouns.......................................... 129

3.4. Inflection for Case........................................................... 130

3.5. Inflection for Gender....................................................... 136

3.6. Inflection for Number..................................................... 1403.6.1. The Singular..................................................... 140

3.6.2. The Dual.......................................................... 140

3.6.3. The Plural......................................................... 143

3.6.3.1. Sound Masculine Plural.................... 145

3.6.3.2. Sound Feminine Plural...................... 146

3.6.3.3. Broken Plural.................................... 148

3.6.3.4. Pluralization of Nouns of Place/Time

& Instrument.................................... 1553.7. Nouns & Suffixation....................................................... 156

3.8. The Diminutive Form......................................................157

4. Adjectival Morphology.................................................................. 159

4.1. Adjectival Stem Forms................................................... 159

4.2. Definite vs. Indefinite Adjectives................................... 163

4.3. Inflection for Case........................................................... 165

4.4. Inflection for Gender....................................................... 168

4.5. Inflection for Number..................................................... 170

4.5.1. The Singular..................................................... 170

4.5.2. The Dual.......................................................... 170

4.5.3. The Plural......................................................... 171

4.5.3.1. Sound Masculine Plural.................... 172

4.5.3.2. Sound Feminine Plural...................... 173

4.5.3.3. Broken Plural.................................... 175

4.6. Inflection for Degree....................................................... 181

4.6.1. The Positive Degree......................................... 181

4.6.2. The Comparative Degree................................. 181

4.6.3. The Superlative Degree.................................... 184


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4.7. Participles....................................................................... 1864.7.1. The Active Participle....................................... 1874.7.2. The Passive Participle...................................... 1944.7.3. Participles’ Inflection & Suffixation................ 199

4.8. Relational Adjectives...................................................... 2015. Closed-List Class Morphology...................................................... 2065.1. Pronouns.....................................................………….... 206

5.1.1. Personal Pronouns............................................ 2065.1.2. Relative Pronouns............................................ 2095.1.3. Demonstrative Pronouns.................................. 210

5.2. Prepositions..................................................................... 2135.3. Adverbs........................................................................... 2195.4. Interrogative & Responsive Particles.............................. 223

5.5. Negative Particles........................................................... 2255.6. Possessive Particles........................................................ 2306. Conclusions.................................................................................... 2327. Notes.............................................................................................. 2428. Bibliography.................................................................................. 2459. Appendix........................................................................................ 254


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ر ا ن ْ

ر ا

ض ار ت ا ـ ا ق ـ آ ن َ

ا ــ أ ـ أ ! ـ ا

" ن ت# ـ $ % & ' ( ن

)

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) و ) 22ن

And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and

the earth, and the variations in your languages and your

colors: Verily in that are signs for those who know.(The Holy Quran 30: 22)


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Foreword

It is my great pleasure to introduce this important monograph

devoted to a comparison of Cairene and Standard Arabic morphology,written by Dr. Hassan Gadalla, currently of the Department of English atAssiut University, Egypt. Dr. Gadalla's study originated as a doctoraldissertation in Linguistics, written partly under my supervision at theDepartment of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, during a two-year period while Dr. Gadalla was supported as a visiting scholar underthe joint-supervision scholarship program of Assiut University. Whilecompleting the dissertation, Dr. Gadalla was also employed by theLinguistic Data Consortium at Penn, leading an annotation team that

examined a large corpus of naturally occurring Arabic telephoneconversations and other specimens of modern spoken Arabic. The resultsof this work were compiled as the LDC CallHome Egyptian Arabic Lexicon (H. Gadalla et. al. (1998). This work represents the first electronicphonological and morphological dictionary of Egyptian Arabic.

The present monograph is therefore based both on a variety ofpreviously published descriptive sources as well as the above-mentionedelectronic database, which revealed a number of previously unnoticed

linguistic phenomena of the Cairene dialect. It contains a systematiccomparison of the stem types of both languages and a descriptivetreatment of both languages’ phonologies using an easily interpreted rule-based formalism. It is shown that while Cairene Arabic can normally bederived from the same underlying forms as Standard Arabic with theaddition of a suite of dialect-specific phonological rules, Cairene Arabicalso differs from Standard Arabic in the loss of certain stem types, incertain sporadic phonological changes, and in the impoverishment ofinflectional categories. The historical development of these latter changes

all invite future research and pose an important agenda for scholarsstudying the development of modern Arabic. Remarkably exhaustive inits treatment of the categories and forms of both the standard and moderncolloquial Cairene varieties of Arabic, this work should serve as a usefulreference for linguistic researchers as well as teachers of modern EgyptianArabic phonology and morphology.

Rolf Noyer, PhD

Philadelphia, March 2000


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Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I do thank Allah, the Almighty God, for all thebounties He has showered upon me. Then, I thank Prof. Ramzy Radwan,Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Translation, October 6 University,who has given me all the valuable guidance I needed. I also thank Prof.Ahmed Abdel-Hafiz, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts, South ValleyUniversity, for giving me many crucial insights throughout my work.

My research has also benefited greatly from my weekly meetingswith Prof. Rolf Noyer for two years at the University of Pennsylvania. Iam proud to have been his student and proud of his words in the first letterto me: “we will have much to learn from each other”. Indeed it was hewho has taught me exactly what it is like to be a linguistics researcher. Ialso appreciate the assistance of Prof. Tony Kroch, Chair of the Dept. ofLinguistics at the University of Pennsylvania who has been very helpful tome. Finally, I thank all the members of my family, particularly my parents,my wife and my children Gehad, Hamza and Sarah for their moral supportat every stage of this work.


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Introduction

0.1. The Arabic Language Situation:

Arabic is the most widespread member of the Semitic group oflanguages1. Two main varieties of this language can be distinguished inthe Arab world nowadays: Standard Arabic (SA), also called “ModernStandard Arabic” (MSA) and Colloquial Arabic. The first variety is theoffspring of Classical Arabic, also called “Quranic Arabic” (e.g. byThackston 1984), which is now used in religious settings and the recitationof the Holy Quran. Thus, Standard Arabic is considered “the directdescendant of the classical language, with modifications andsimplifications more suited to communication in a world quite different

from that of the Arab Golden Age in medieval times” (Travis 1979: 6). Ithas also been defined by Gaber (1986: 1) as “the written form taught atschools2”. He goes on to say that in its spoken form it is “the ‘formal’speech of the educated people in public speeches, radio comments, newsbroadcasts on radio and television.” The written form of SA is relativelyuniform throughout the Arab world. The spoken form, on the other hand,is more or less different from one Arab country to another since it isaffected by the local dialects.

Many labels have been given in the linguistic literature to theStandard variety of Arabic. It has been named “Literary Arabic” (e.g. byBecker 1964) although many of its manifestations are not related toliterature, as in the language of newspapers and magazines. Also, it hasbeen termed “Written Arabic” (e.g. by Beeston 1968) in spite of the factthat it is frequently used as the means of spoken communication, as inacademic lectures and some radio and television programs. So, none ofthese terms gives a well-defined description of this variety. The term‘Standard Arabic’ will be employed in this book for three reasons. First, it

refers to all forms of Arabic stated above. Second, it covers the areasmissed by other terms. Third, the use of this term has become a long-established tradition in modern linguistic studies. (See, for instance,Cowan (1968), Malik (1976) and Abdel-Hafiz (1991) among manyothers).

The second variety, Colloquial Arabic, has been defined by Al-Toma (1969: 3) as “the actual language of everyday activities, mainlyspoken, though occasionally written”. He adds that, “it varies not only

from one Arab territory to another, but also from one area to anotherwithin each territory”. Hence, nearly every Arab country has its owncolloquial dialects that are more or less different from each other and


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naturally from those of other countries. Several names have also beengiven to this variety of Arabic, among which are “Vernacular Arabic” (e.g.by Smith 1917) and “Spoken Arabic” (e.g. by Salib 1981). The term‘Colloquial’ is chosen here because it is more common than all of the

other terms.

0.2. The Diglossic Situation in Egypt:

In Egypt, two main varieties of Arabic are commonly used:Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The former is thelanguage of reading and writing, while the latter is the language of dailysocial intercourse. However, the latter appears in writing in certainsituations, e.g. some poets and playwrights adopt it in their works. Within

the Colloquial variety there are many vernacular dialects, such as theCairene, the Upper-Egyptian and other regional dialects.

For many reasons, the most prestigious dialect throughout thecountry is Cairene Arabic (CrA). First, it is the language of the capitalwhere the government administration offices are located. Second, it is thelanguage of the cinema, theater and mass media. Third, it is spoken by agreat number of educated and cultured people. This prestige has led somelinguists studying ‘Egyptian Arabic’ to concentrate on this dialect giving

generalizations on the dialects spoken in the whole country. (See, forexample, Gamal-Eldin (1967), Hanna (1967) and Omar (1976)). Needlessto say, this dialect does not cover the whole of Egypt. That is why someresearchers focused on the study of other regional dialects, such as AbuFarag (1960) and Khalafallah (1969).

Some sociolinguists state that there are five levels of Arabic usedin Egypt. This was initiated by Badawi (1973) who posited these fivelevels in his socio-linguistic analysis of contemporary Arabic in Egypt:

(a) fuSha al-turaaθ ‘Classical Arabic of the heritage’,(b) fuSha al-9aSr ‘Contemporary Classical Arabic’,

(c) 9aamiyyat al-muθaqqafiin ‘Colloquial of the educated’,(d) 9aamiyyat al-mutanawwiriin ‘Colloquial of the enlightened’ and

(e) 9aamiyyat al-?ummiyyiin ‘Colloquial of the illiterate’.

In his English paper (1985: 16), Badawi used different terms: (a) ClassicalArabic, (b) Modern Standard Arabic, (c) Educated Spoken Arabic, (d)Semi-literate Spoken Arabic and (e) Illiterate Spoken Arabic.


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In this book, I will recognize a division of these five levels into twolevels because, as Parkinson (1981: 24-5) comments, in Badawi’s schemathere would be a relatively sharp break between Standard and ColloquialArabic:

MSA and the Colloquials do share a large proportion oftheir lexicon; there are, however, numerous very commonmarkers that immediately let the reader/hearer know whichvariety is being used. These include certain verbal prefixes,the negative construction, the demonstrative constructionand a lot of the most common words. ... With them, there isa sharp break between MSA and Colloquial with very littlemixing.

In other words, there is a big difference between the Standard levels, onthe one hand, and the Colloquial levels, on the other, particularly in themorphological domain. This will be detailed in Chapters Two throughFive.

The existence of two varieties of the same language in one societyis known in the linguistic literature as ‘diglossia’. This term has beendefined by Ferguson (1972: 242) as:

a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition

to the primary dialects of the language (which may includea standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent,highly codified (often grammatically more complex)superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respectedbody of written literature and is used for most written andformal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of thecommunity for ordinary conversation.

In diglossic situations, the two varieties are sometimes called

“high” and “low” in terms of formality (Crystal 1985: 93). In our case, SAis the high variety and EA is the low one. Evidently, the members ofdiglossic communities are aware that their varieties or languages areassociated with particular domains. Thus, SA, on the one hand, isrestricted to the formal domain; it is taught at school and used in formalsettings. It is also the language of all printed materials such as literarybooks, schoolbooks, newspapers, government publications and the like.Consequently, it has greater social prestige. EA, on the other hand, isconfined to the informal domain; it is utilized by every member of the

community in Cairo as the major vehicle of communication at home, inthe market place, etc.


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0.3. Purpose & Procedures of the Research:

As will be evident from the survey of literature in (1.5), mostresearches, until now, have considered only certain aspects of Standard

Arabic or Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Moreover, there is a great emphasison Arabic syntax in modern linguistic studies at the expense of phonologyand morphology; which has led Elgibali (1996: 10) to say:

A cursory review of current research reveals that syntax hassteadfastly and rapidly become the most dominant singleconstituent of formal work in Arabic linguistics in general.The situation is such that one hardly ever hears of ample orsystematic work being done involving other major elementsof linguistic analysis such as semantics, morphology, or

phonology.

The present book, in embracing both the Standard and Egyptian varietiesof the language, will attempt to elucidate their basic natural relationshipand to explain their differences in terms of morphological comparison.Hence, this book aims to provide a comparative account of themorphological aspects of SA and EA. It will focus on the similarities anddifferences of the two varieties of Arabic in relation to their verbal,nominal, adjectival, and closed-list class morphology.

So, the objective is to fill in a gap in Arabic studies, which has notbeen adequately covered in previous works. Hopefully, there will be alsosome pedagogical applications. This book is of great importance forlanguage teaching, since it serves as a guide for teachers of Arabic tonative and non-naive speakers. It can be used by course-designers for anew approach to Arabic grammar based on modern linguistics. It can alsobe helpful to teachers of foreign languages, particularly English, todetermine the degree of difficulty, due to Arabic interference, encountered

by Arab students when they are introduced to the basic morphologicalphenomena of the foreign language(s). The book may also be beneficialfor non-native speakers when they start to learn Arabic, for it providesthem with an understanding of the morphological aspects of two varietiesof the language.

Moreover, this book offers material for contrastive andcomparative studies on Arabic. It is also significant for studies onlanguage problems related to diglossia and computer programs on the

Arabic language. Needless to say that this book will be useful to linguistsworking on universal grammar who do not confine themselves to onelanguage but try to find common properties of all languages in the world.


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This book is based on the comparative description of SA and EA.It will not be confined to any particular school of thought, or to anyparticular model proposed by a given school. Although, at some points,

resort will be made to the theory of “Prosodic Morphology” developed byMcCarthy & Prince (1986, 1988), yet there will be no exclusivedependence on this theory. A brief sketch on this theory is provided in(1.6). Thus, the framework adopted in the book is chiefly a descriptiveone, taking SA as the basis of description. The Standard feature will bedescribed first and the Colloquial counterpart will be shown afterwards. Iwill concentrate on the morphological aspects because the morphologicalcomponent in Arabic overshadows other components in a way that makesit quite fair to give it special consideration.

The Standard variety dealt with in this book is the language taughtin the Arabic language courses at Egyptian schools and adopted in theliterary pages of Egyptian newspapers. Since this conventional definitionof SA designates such sources, the data employed for the research is takenfrom the grammar books used at schools as well as from the literary pagesof Al-Ahram newspaper.

On the other hand, the Colloquial variety described in this book

represents the dialect spoken in Cairo, the most prestigious dialect inEgypt. Apart from my familiarity with this dialect, being myself a residentof Cairo for a number of years, several informants from Cairo andEgyptian Colloquial texts (both written and spoken) are intensivelyconsulted. In addition, I had the opportunity to dig into the depths of thisdialect by participating in the compilation of the LDC CallHome Egyptian Arabic Lexicon, published as Gadalla et al. (1998) by the Linguistic DataConsortium of the University of Pennsylvania, USA. This lexiconrepresents the first electronic pronunciation dictionary of Egyptian

Colloquial Arabic, Cairene Dialect. It consists of 54,375 words. It containstab-separated information fields including orthographic representation inboth romanized and Arabic scripts, morphological structure,pronunciation, stress, source and frequency information for each word.The lexical entries found in the lexicon come primarily from thetranscripts of 100 ten-minute segments from 200 telephone calls initiatedfrom the USA and Canada and made to people in Cairo.

The book is divided into five chapters. The first is an introductory

chapter which sets the scene for the whole work. It presents a phonologicalsummary of the consonant and vowel systems of the two varieties as wellas their stress and syllable structure. Then, it analyses the important


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phonological alternations involved in the formation of surface forms.Moreover, it offers a comparison of the basic morphological andmorphosyntactic features of the two varieties. At the end, it surveys theprevious literature on the morphology of both varieties and explains the

theory of Prosodic Morphology.

Chapter Two deals with the verbal morphology component. Itpresents a comparison between the two varieties in reference to thetriradical and quadriradical forms of verbs and the types of verb roots. Inaddition, the inflection of verbs for aspect/mood and voice will becontrasted in the two varieties. Subjectival and objectival affixes are thenillustrated. Verb derivation and transitivity will be dealt with at the end ofthe chapter.

Chapter Three is related to the nominal morphology component. Ithandles the primary nominal stems and investigates the nouns derivedfrom verbs: verbal nouns, nouns of place and time and nouns ofinstrument. It involves a comparison between SA and the Colloquialdialect spoken in Cairo in relation to the inflection of nouns for case,gender, and number as well as a treatment of the suffixation of nouns.

The adjectival morphology component, in Chapter Four, provides a

comparison between SA and EA concerning the adjectival stems. Then,the degrees of adjectives: positive, comparative and superlative, and theinflection of adjectives for case, gender and number are discussed. Inaddition, the derivation of participial forms and relational adjectives willbe compared in the two varieties.

Finally, the closed-list class morphology component, in ChapterFive, is concerned with pronouns and prepositions in the two varieties.Moreover, adverbs as well as interrogative and responsive particles in both

of them will be compared. Negative and possessive particles will also bedealt with in this chapter.

0.4. List of Symbols & Abbreviations:

C Consonant SA Standard ArabicV Vowel EA Egyptian Arabicv Epenthetic Vowel sg singularG Glide du dual

Adj Adjective pl pluralN Noun pf perfectivePart Participle impf imperfective


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Pro Pronoun def definite1 First Person fut future2 Second Person Nom Nominative3 Third Person Acc Accusative

intr intransitive Gen Genitivetrans transitive indic indicativecaus causative subj subjunctiveinch inchoative juss jussivehi high vowel imper imperativelo low vowel prog progressiverd round vowel cons consonantalson sonorant cor coronalobstr obstruent hum human

emph emphatic m, masc masculinenon-emph non-emphatic f, fem feminine> has the EA equivalent< has the SA equivalent

→ is changed into or becomes* ungrammatical word or structure / / phonemic transcription[ ] morphological forms, elements or transcription( ) elements found on the surface only, or in SA only

# word boundary- morpheme boundary

σ syllable— phonological environmentF-3-L First, Second and Third consonants of the root, i.e. = C1, C2

and C3, respectively

A → B / Y — Z A slash-dash notation in which, for instance, Abecomes B after Y and before Z.


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Chapter One

Phonological & Morphological Basics

1.0. Introduction:

This chapter gives a phonological outline of Standard Arabic (SA)and Egyptian Arabic (EA) and deals with some phonological alternationsin both of them (1.1 and 1.2). It handles two of the basic morphologicalfeatures in Arabic, namely word classification and word formation (1.3).In addition, it presents an analysis of two important morphosyntacticphenomena in Arabic, namely the use of pausal forms and nunation (1.4).It offers a survey of the previous studies on the subject (1.5). Finally, itgives a brief idea about the theory of prosodic morphology (1.6).

1.1. Phonological Preliminaries:

Understanding the morphology of Arabic, or any other language,cannot be accomplished without an understanding of its phonology. So, inthis section the phonological preliminaries of the two varieties underanalysis are to be discussed. The consonantal systems of the two varietiesare to be compared in (1.1.1). Their vocalic systems are to be contrasted in(1.1.2). The syllable structure and the stress patterns in the two varieties

are to be contrasted in (1.1.3).

1.1.1. Consonant Systems:

The orthographic alphabet of SA includes twenty-eight letterswhich represent twenty-eight consonants, though three of them are alsoused as vowels (See 1.1.2). EA, on the other hand, has no more thantwenty-six of these consonants. The consonants of both varieties arerepresented in Table (1):

Since the SA interdentals / θ / and /ð/ are non-existent in EA, theyare replaced in some words by the corresponding dental stops /t/ and /d/,respectively, and in other words by the corresponding alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/, respectively:

SA EA Gloss

θaman(-un) taman priceðahab(-un) dahab gold

θaabit(-un) saabit steadyðakiyy(-un) zaki intelligent


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Table (1)The Consonants of Both SA & EA

Place

B i l a b i a l

L a b i o d e n t

a l

I n t e r d e n t a l

Dento-Alveolar

P a l a t a l

V e l a r

U v u l a r

P h a r y n g e a

l

G l o t t a l

Manner Voicing

N o n -

E m

h a t i c

E m p h a t i c

Stop VoicelessVoiced b

td

TD

kg

q ?

Fricative VoicelessVoiced

f θ+

ð+

sz

SZ

š xg

h3

h

Affricate j

Flap Voiced rLateral Voiced l

Nasal Voiced m n

Glide Voiced w y

(+) = Found in SA only.

Hence, SA interdentals undergo change in EA along two parallel lines.They become either dental plosives or sibilants. Gairdner (1925: 31)explains this by proposing that “the true spontaneous change was todental-plosives; the sibilants being probably the result of an attempt toclassicize, i.e. to imitate the interdentals of literary Arabic, on the part ofsemi-educated people”. It can also be said that the tendency to avoidproducing the interdentals in EA is due to the ease of production principle:the dental plosives or sibilants are easier to produce than the interdentals.(Cf. Hyman (1975: 16), for example, points out that children acquire /f/

before / θ /).

The Standard dento-alveolar emphatic fricative /Z/ is used in SAand EA as a substitute for the Classical Arabic interdental emphaticfricative /ð/. However, in EA, the SA /Z/ is replaced in some words by theemphatic dento-alveolar /D/, e.g. SA /Zuhr(-un)/ ‘noon’ has the EA form /Duhr/ but SA /Zahar(-a)/ ‘to appear’ has the EA form /Zahar/. This canalso be justified by assuming that the change to /D/ is the regularspontaneous change and the use of /Z/ is a kind of borrowing from SA byEgyptian people.

Moreover, the SA uvular stop /q/ has a marginal status in theCairene dialect. The latter deviates from the former in the use of the glottalstop /?/ as a reflex of /q/ in most of the words having this phoneme. To


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exemplify, /qadiim(-un)/ ‘old’ is pronounced /?adiim/ and /fariiq(-un)/ ‘ateam’ is articulated /farii?/. In Upper Egypt and some rural areas in LowerEgypt, the voiced velar stop /g/ is used in the place of /q/. Thus, the abovewords are pronounced /gadiim/ and /fariig/. However, in very few words,

/q/ is exceptionally retained in EA, e.g. /musiiqa/ ‘music’ and /al-qaahir-a/‘Cairo’. In turn, the voiced velar stop /g/ is used in the Cairene dialect andthe Cairene pronunciation of SA as a reflex of the SA voiced palatal

affricate /j/ (whose IPA symbol is / δΖ /). In Upper Egypt and other Arabcountries, the affricate is still employed for the pronunciation of thisphoneme in SA.

Both SA and EA make a phonological distinction between‘emphatic’ consonants and ‘non-emphatic’ ones. The first group includes

/T, D, S and Z/, while the second involves /t, d, s and z/. In addition, twoconsonants occur both emphatically and non-emphatically: /l/ and /r/. Toexplain the difference, Mitchell (1956: 6-7) refers to three distinguishingfeatures: First, for the emphatics the tongue must be broad and ‘thick’filling the mouth; for the non-emphatics, on the other hand, the tongue isnarrow and ‘thin’. Second, the front of the tongue is very much lower inthe mouth for the emphatics. In other words, they are lowered coronals,i.e. produced with the lower front part of the tongue. Finally, the lips areheld neutral or slightly rounded and protruded for the emphatics but they

are spread for the non-emphatics. Kenstowicz (1994: 42) indicates that thegesture underlying the ‘emphatic’ consonants is “a secondary articulationknown as pharyngealization” since the tongue root or body is retractedduring the production of these consonants. The emphatics are usuallytranscribed by underdotting or capitalization. In this book, I am usingunderdotting for /l/ and /r/ and capitalization for the other emphatics. Thefollowing minimal pairs are illustrative contrastive examples that can befound in both varieties (parenthesized elements are specifically Standard):

Emphatics Non-EmphaticsTiin(-un) ‘mud’ tiin(-un) ‘figs’Dall(-a) ‘to lose his way’ dall(-a) ‘to direct’?aS-Siin(-u) ‘China’ ?s-siin(-u) ‘a letter name’Zahr(-un) ‘back’ zahr(-un) ‘flowers’

The clearest Standard example of emphatic /l/ is the word for‘God’ /allaah(-u)/, on condition that /l/ is not preceded by /i/, e.g. /?inšaa?-a llaah(-u)/ ‘God-willing’. If it is preceded by this vowel, it is plain,

as in /al-hamd-u li-llaah(-i)/ ‘Praise be to God’. In EA, the word for ‘God’is pronounced in the same way as in SA. It has emphatic /l/ when it is notpreceded by /i/, as in /walla/ ‘by God’ in contrast to /walla/ ‘or’. In both


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varieties, /l/ is made emphatic in the neighborhood of the four emphaticconsonants /T, D, S and Z/, either preceding or following it. Vowels andother consonants may intervene but this alternation is limited to the worddomain. Examples of preceding emphatics are: /Talaaq(-un) > Talaa?/

‘divorce’, /Dalaal(-un)/ ‘delusion’, /Salaat(-un) > Sala/ ‘prayer’ and /Zulm(-un)/ ‘injustice’. Examples of following emphatics are /laTiif(-un)/‘nice’, /lanDan/ ‘London’, /luSuuS(-un)/ ‘thieves’ and /laahaZ(-a)/ ‘tonotice’.

The second consonant that has emphatic and non-emphaticversions is the voiced alveolar flap /r/. In SA, /r/ is made emphatic unlessit is followed by /i/. The rules3 for the emphaticization of /r/ in SA are:

(1) Emphaticization of /r/ in SA:a. r → r / ib. r → r / elsewhere

These rules indicate that in SA /r/ is non-emphatic before /i/ and emphaticevery where else. Examples of (1a) are /ribh(-un)/ ‘profit’ and /fariiq(-un)/‘a team’. Examples of (1b) are /raml(-un)/ ‘sand’ and /rub3(-un)/ ‘aquarter’.

EA follows SA in regard to making /r/ non-emphatic before /i/.However, it does not follow SA in relation to the adjacency of /a/. Thefollowing rules can be proposed for the emphaticization of /r/ in EA:

(2) Emphaticization of /r/ in EA:

a. r → r /− −

− − −

i

i C emph[ ]

b. r → r / — C emphu[ ]+

C emph

u

[ ]+

—

c. r → r

r

/a

a

− −− −

These rules propose that in EA, /r/ is non-emphatic before /i/, and alsoafter /i/ provided that a non-emphatic consonant follows. It is emphaticwhen followed or preceded by an emphatic consonant or /u/. And it is


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either emphatic or non-emphatic in the neighborhood of /a/. EA examplesof rule (2a) are /rigiif/ ‘a loaf’ and /širk-a/ ‘a company’. Examples of rule(2b) are /mariiD/ ‘a patient’, /rukn/ ‘a corner’, /maTar/ ‘rain’, and /šurb/‘drinking’. Rule (2c) reveals the accidental use of emphatic vs. non-

emphatic versions of /r/ in the neighborhood of /a/. For example, /rabb/‘Lord’ vs. /rama/ ‘to throw’ and /marham/ ‘an ointment’ vs. /ward-a/ ‘arose’. Further research is required to discover the exact rules governing theuse of emphatic vs. non-emphatic /r/ in EA. Since the distinction betweenthe emphatic and non-emphatic versions of /l/ and /r/ has no greatinfluence on the morphology of words, it will not be marked throughoutthe book.

Regarding the distribution of consonants, it is noted that all

consonants in the two varieties may occur in the initial, medial or finalposition, with the exception of the Colloquial /?/ which is rarely found inthe final position, unless it is originally /q/ in SA. All consonants may bedoubled and, in this case, will be considered geminate consonants.

As for consonant clustering, initial clusters are not found in eitherSA or EA. However, all medial and final clusters are common in bothvarieties. Concerning the number of consonants that may occur in a

cluster, both SA and EA allow no more than two consonants to occurtogether. Geminate consonants do not occur initially but they do occurmedially and finally. And, according to Abdel-Massih (1979: 24), asequence of two different consonants may occur medially or finally.

1.1.2. Vowel Systems:

Six vowels are generally recognized in SA: three short /a/, /i/ and

/u/ 4 and three long /aa/, /ii/ and /uu/. In orthography, short vowels arerepresented by diacritics above or under the letter, while long vowels arerepresented by the three letters /?alif/, /yaa?/ and /waaw/, respectively.Long vowels are pronounced twice as long as their short counterparts. EAexhibits all these six vowels and two additional long vowels /ee/ and /oo/which are regarded in most cases as reflexes of the SA sequences /ay/ and /aw/ 5, respectively. The vowels of both varieties are displayed in Table (2).


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Table (2)The Vowels of Both SA & EA

Short Long

Front Central Back Front Central Back

High i u ii uu

Mid ee+ oo+

Low a aa

(+) = Found in EA only.

That EA changes the SA sequences /ay/ and /aw/ into /ee/ and /oo/,respectively, can be observed in the following examples:

SA EA GlossSayf(-un) Seef summerDayf-at(-un) Deef-a a guest (f)lawn(-un) loon a colormawz-at(-un) mooz-a a banana

This change can be accounted for by the following rule:

(3) Monophthongization in EA:

ay

aw

→ ee

oo

/ when sharing syllable rime and stem-final.

The condition imposed on the rule indicates that not all SA /ay/ and /aw/become EA /ee/ and /oo/. For instance, they are preserved without changein two occasions. First, when the vowel is followed by a geminate glide, aphenomenon that is linguistically called “geminate inalterability”. Toexplain this phenomenon, Kenstowicz (1994: 410) says, “geminates forma tight bond that resists disruption by phonological rules. There are twoaspects to this “integrity” of geminates. First, geminates characteristicallyrepel insertion of an intervening segment. Second, geminates often escaperules whose application would modify one half of the geminate whileleaving the other unchanged”. Compare the following examples:

SA EA Glossmayyit(-un) mayyit deadbayyaD(-a) bayyaD to whitewash, to paint


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bawwaab(-un) bawwaab a doormanmawwat(-a) mawwit to kill

Second, when the sequence of vowel and glide is in the stem-initial

syllable, as in these words:

SA EA Gloss?awTaan(-un) ?awTaan home countriesmawluud(-un) mawluud new born?aymaan(-un) ?aymaan oathsSaydal-at(-un) Saydal-a pharmaceutical science

Concerning the distribution of vowels, both varieties under

investigation are identical in that no word begins with a vowel sound,either short or long. In other words, /#V/ is impermissible in the language.Also, short vowels occur stressed and unstressed, medially and finally.However, EA differs from SA in that in the former long vowels occur onlystressed (Abdel-Massih 1979: 24) but in the latter they occur both stressedand unstressed, e.g. /mafaatíih(-u) > mafatíih/ ‘keys’. Consequently,although SA allows two or more long vowels in a phonological word, EAdoes not permit more than one. This is an automatic consequence of thefact that there is only one stressed vowel per word (disregarding secondary

stress). The rules responsible for the shortening of pre-final long vowels inEA will be mentioned in (1.2.4). Nevertheless, vowel length has not beenleveled; it is still underlying in all forms in EA where it occurs in SA.

1.1.3. Syllable Structure & Stress:

An Arabic syllable may have three components: a peak, an onsetand a coda. Al-Ani & May (1973: 41) explain the nature of thesecomponents:

The peak, or nucleus, is always the most prominent elementof the Arabic syllable. It must be composed of a vowel,either long or short. The marginal elements, on the otherhand, contain only consonants, the onset always consistingof a single consonant and the coda consisting of zero, one,or two consonants.

Put differently, the following formula can be utilized to describe thesyllable structure in Arabic: C

1V(V)C

0-2. This can have the following

prosodic form:


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(4) σ

C V X (C)

where X = Ø, C or V and (C) is extrasyllabic,i.e. permitted only at the end of a word.

The distribution of vowels with consonants is basically similar inSA and EA. The following five syllable patterns are found in bothvarieties (cf. Mitchell 1956: 110):

1. CV: as in the first syllable in /fa-ras(-un)/ ‘a horse’,

2. CVV: as in the first syllable in /faa-ris(-un)/ ‘a horseman’,

3. CVC: as in the first syllable in /maf-huum(-un)/ ‘understood’,

4. CVVC: as in the last syllable in the stem of /ma3-luum(-un)/ ‘known’,

5. CVCC: as in the last syllable in the stem of /ka-tabt(-u)/ ‘I wrote’.

McCarthy (1985) reduces these five patterns to three quantities:

(i) Light: CV,(ii) Heavy: CVV and CVC,

(iii) Superheavy or extraheavy: CVVC and CVCC.

The extraheavy syllables arise word-finally or before a vowel deletion site(Kenstowicz 1994: 399).

Stress depends on the quantitative pattern of the whole word inaccordance with the following rules:

(i)

In both SA and EA, the ultimate syllable is stressed if that syllable issuperheavy - i.e. terminates in a long vowel followed by a consonantor in a short vowel followed by two consonants, as in these examples(SA words are given in their pausal forms):

SA EA Gloss

manaadíil manadíil handkerchiefs

?abúuh ?abúuh his father

fahímt6 fihímt I understood

gasált6 gasált I washed


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(ii) In both varieties, the penultimate syllable is stressed in words whoseultimate syllable is not superheavy (i.e. heavy or light), as in theseinstances:

SA EA Glossmudárris mudárris a teacher (m)máktab máktab an office / a desksáa3-ah sáa3-a an hour / a watchmálik málik a king

However, words of three and four syllables including a consonantcluster between the antepenult and the penult are not stressed the same.They are stressed before the cluster in SA and after the cluster in EA, as

in the following words (SA words are in the pausal forms):

SA EA Glossmádras-ah madrás-a a schoolmáknas-ah maknás-a a broommuhándis-ah muhandís-a an engineer (f)

(iii)In both varieties, if there is an antepenultimate syllable, then it isstressed when the ultimate syllable is not superheavy and both the

penultimate and antepenultimate syllables are light, as in these words:

SA EA Glosskátab-at kátab-it she wrotešájar-ah šágar-a a treemálik-ah málik-a a queen

1.2. Phonological Alternations:

Six phonological alternations are manifested in Arabic, bothStandard and Colloquial: epenthesis, elision, assimilation, shortening,metathesis and glide alternation. These alternations may occur withinmorphemes or at morpheme and word boundaries. An understanding ofthese processes is essential to the study of the morphology of thislanguage. Therefore, a brief introduction to them is given below.Phonological rules are given in this section and referred to by nameafterwards. Throughout the book, surface forms will be related to theirunderlying representations and the phonological alternations involved will

be explained.


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1.2.1. Epenthesis:

A group of three successive consonants is impossible in Arabic,both Standard and Colloquial. Therefore, to prevent three consonants from

coming together, as when a word ending in two consonants is followed byanother word or a suffix beginning with a consonant, or vice versa, theshort high vowel /i/ is inserted at the juncture, i.e. at the end of the firstword. This vowel is called an “anaptyctic” vowel (Mitchell 1990: 96) andis not heard as clearly as other vowels. The epenthesis rule in Arabic canbe represented as follows:

(5) C+CC → CvCCCC+C → CCvC

The epenthesis occurring here is not really a condition on sequences ofconsonants, but rather on the syllabification of consonants with one basicdifference between the two varieties: the epenthetic vowel occurs after thefirst consonant in SA but after the second one in EA. So, it will be moreaccurate to represent the epenthesis by these two rules (where the dotrepresents the syllable juncture):

(6) Medial-Epenthesis in SA:

Ø → i / C C.C

(7) Medial-Epenthesis in EA:

Ø → i / C.C C

Examples of Medial-Epenthesis are given in (8) for SA and in (9) for EA:

(8) SA: a. /Darab-at + al-walad(-a)/ → /Darab-ati l-walad(-a)/

‘She hit the boy’.b. /3an + al-bint(-i)/ → /3a.ni l-bint(-i)/

‘about the girl’.

c. /kam + as-saa3-at(-u)/ → /ka.mi s-saa3-at(-u)/‘What time is it?’

(9) EA: a. /ba3d+bukra/ → /ba3.di.bukra/‘the day after tomorrow’.

b. /?ult+lak/ → /?ul.ti.lak/‘I said to you’.


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There are special cases in which /u/ or /a/ is inserted. First, thevowel /u/ is inserted before a pronoun or a pronominal suffix ending in[-um] in both varieties and after the fractions 1/3 to 1/9 when in constructwith /miyya/ ‘a hundred’ to form the hundreds 300 to 900 inclusive in EA.

Examples for the insertion of /u/ are given in (10) for SA and in (11) forEA:

(10) SA: a. /?antum + al-mu3allim-uun/ → /?antu.mu l.mu3allim-uun/

‘You are the teachers’.

b. /wa 3alaykum + as-salaam/ → /wa 3alayku.mu s.salaam/‘And peace be upon you’.

(11) EA: a. /dars + hum/ → /dar.su.hum/ ‘their lesson’.

b. /šuft + kum/ → /šuf.tu.kum/ ‘I saw you (m)’.c. /xums + miyya/ → /xum.su.miyya/ ‘five hundred’.

Second, the vowel /a/ is inserted in SA after /min/ when followed by thedefinite article [al-], as in (12); and in EA before the pronominal suffix[-ha], as in (13):

(12) SA: /min + al-bayt(-i)/ → /mi.na l.bayt(-i)/ ‘from the house’.

(13) EA: /ism + ha/ → /?is.ma.ha/ ‘her name’.

One can account for the special cases of insertion of /u/ and /a/ byproposing that the words or suffixes involved have a harmonic “ghost” or“latent” vowel (Zoll 1996: 31) which is not phonetically present whenthose words or suffixes are pronounced in isolation but appears inconnected speech. That harmonic ghost vowel is /u/ when preceded orfollowed by /u/, to secure vowel harmony, as in suffixes containing /u/ inboth varieties and in the ‘hundreds’ containing fractions with the form[Fu3L] in EA. Otherwise, the harmonic ghost vowel is /a/, as after /min/ inSA and before [-ha] in EA.

The idea of the ghost vowel can be applied to the /a/ in the SAdefinite article [al-] which appears in initial positions and in isolation butdisappears in connected speech. When there is a battle between two ghostsor between a ghost and the regular epenthetic vowel /i/, the first of themwins, as in (8), (10) and (12) above.

To prevent an initial consonant cluster, both varieties require“word-initial epenthesis” of the short high vowel /i/. This was argued for


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the Colloquial variety by Broselow (1976: 20). Her rule for this epenthesiscan be reformulated as follows:

(14) Word-Initial Epenthesis:

Ø→ i / # CC

Rule (14) applies in both varieties for imperatives with an initial consonantcluster in the stem as well as to derived verbs with initial clusters, amongother cases. Examples of that rule are:

SA EA Gloss(?i)šrab (?i)šrab drink!(?i)l3ab (?i)l3ab play!

(?i)nkasar(-a) (?i)nkasar it broke(?i)sta3mal(-a) (?i)sta3mal he used

These examples also represent the insertion of /?/ to protect thephonotactic structure of words: no word should begin with a vowel (Seebelow).

When the consonant cluster is no longer initial, epenthesis does notapply. Thus, SA derived verbs with epenthetic /i/ do not have that vowel

when the cluster is preceded by a vowel in the phrase domain, as in (15):

(15) SA: a. /al-fariiq-u + (i)nhazam/ → /?al-fariiq-u nhazam/‘The team was defeated.’

b. /al-walad-u + (i)štagal/ → /?al-walad-u štagal/‘The boy worked.’

Similarly, the epenthesis process does not apply in EA when the cluster isno longer initial, e.g. when it is preceded by the negative marker [ma-], asin (16):

(16) EA: a. /ma + (i)nhazam + š/ → /ma-nhazam-š/ ‘It was not defeated.’b. /ma + (i)štaγ al + š/ → /ma-štaγ al-š/ ‘He did not work.’

In addition to the epenthesis of high vowels there are cases ofepenthesis of /?/. Traditional Arab grammarians (e.g. Al-Hammadi et al.1977) distinguished between two kinds of glottal stop: deletable and non-

deletable. This has led some modern linguists such as Mitchell (1990) toassume the ‘elision’ of initial /?/ of a word in isolation when it becomesmedial in the phrase domain. They give examples like those in (17):


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(17) SA: /?az-zujaaj-u + ?inkasar/ → /?az-zujaaj-u nkasar/‘The glass was broken.’

EA: /šuf-t + ?abuuk/ → /šuf-t abuuk/‘I saw your father.’

However, careful investigation of the matter shows that Broselow (1976:23) was right in proposing that there is ‘epenthesis’ rather than ‘elision’ ofglottal stop in contexts like those above. The argument for this is that ifspeakers of Arabic must memorize for each morpheme whether it beginswith a deletable glottal stop or a non-deletable one, then it is required thatthere be two varieties of glottal stop in speakers’ memories. This is anunfortunate move because, in general, speakers memorize morphemes(store them in memories) using only phonetic information. Since there is

only one glottal stop phonetically, the distinction in memory cannot bebetween two varieties of the glottal stop. The most plausible alternative isthat morphemes whose glottal stop is said to be ‘deleted’ are in fact storedin memory without a glottal stop. For these, provided that no precedingword can provide a syllable onset, a glottal stop is inserted in response to ageneral prohibition on syllables lacking an onset. Since every syllablerequires an onset (See 1.1.3 above), any syllable lacking an onset will haveto acquire one, and the glottal stop is inserted to meet this requirement:

(18) Glottal Stop Insertion:Ø→ ? / # V

So, the examples in (17) above will be more precisely represented as in(19):

(19) SA: /inkasar(-a)/ → /?inkasar(-a)/ when not preceded by CEA: /abuuk/ → /?abuuk/ when not preceded by C

On the other hand, morphemes with undeletable glottal stops have glottalstops in their underlying (memorized) forms, as in the underlined words in(20):

(20) SA: ?inna ?awlaad-a r-rajul-i ?aðkiyaa?(-u)

verily sons-Acc the-man-Gen intelligent(Nom)

‘Verily, the sons of the man are intelligent.’

EA: ya ?aanis-a

‘O, Miss!’


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The definite article, in particular, has no glottal stop in itsunderlying form. Speakers memorize it as [al- > l-] then insert /?/ in somecontexts. Surface /?/ is inserted when there is no preceding consonant inthe relevant phrase domain to form an onset, as in (21) and (22):

(21) SA: a. /al-kitaab-u/ → /?al-kitaab(-u)/ ‘the book’b. /ar-rajul-u/ → /?ar-rajul(-u)/ ‘the man’

(22) EA: a. /il-laban/ → /?il-laban/ ‘the milk’b. /iš-šams/ → /?iš-šams/ ‘the sun’

1.2.2. Elision:

A remarkable difference between SA and EA is that only in the

latter are the short high vowels /i/ and /u/ elided in medial open syllablesin the word or phrase domain. This fact has been captured by a high voweldeletion rule proposed by Broselow (1976: 20). This rule can bereformulated as follows:

(23) High-Vowel Deletion (= Syncope) in EA:

V

hi

longstress

+

−−

→ Ø / VC CV

Mitchell (1956: 113) refers to two contexts involving the elision of /i/ and /u/ in this Colloquial variety:

First, if a suffix beginning with a vowel is attached to a word of which theultimate syllable is of the type /CiC/ or /CuC/ and the penultimate syllableis open, i.e. ending in a vowel, then the /i/ or /u/ of the ultimate syllable is

almost constantly elided. For example,

(24) EA: a. /kaatib/ ‘a writer (m)’ → /katb-a/ ‘a writer (f)’.b. /yaaxud/ ‘he takes’ → /yaxd-u/ ‘he takes it (m)’.

Second, the vowels /i/ and /u/ occurring in a short and unstressed syllableare elided when that syllable becomes medial in a phonological phrase andthe preceding word or prefix ends in a vowel. For instance,

(25) EA: a. /huSaan/ ‘a horse’ → /?abu hSaan/ ‘the man with a horse’.b. /kitaab/ ‘a book’ → /da ktaab/ ‘This is a book.’


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Another major difference between SA and EA is that a glottal stopat the end of an SA word disappears in EA. This can be accounted for bythe rule in (26). Examples of this rule are provided below:

(26) Final /?/ Deletion in EA:

? → Ø / #

SA EA Gloss

samaa?(-un) sama sky

šitaa?(-un) šita winter

mala?(-a) mala to fill

waraa?(-a) wara behind

The glottal stop is also lost in EA when it forms all or part of the coda of asyllable. This leads to the following changes:

(27) a? → aai? → iiu? → uu

Such changes can be accounted for by the rule in (28) which indicates thata glottal stop becomes similar to the preceding vowel if both cometogether at the end of a syllable. Examples of the rule are given afterwards:

(28) Compensatory Lengthening in EA:

? → Vi / Vi ]σ

SA EA Gloss

fa?r(-un) faar a mouseθa?r(-un) taar revengebi?r(-un) biir a well

An exception here is the noun /bu?r-at(-un) > bu?r-a/ ‘focus’ which ispreserved in EA. It should also be asserted that the change of SA /q/ intoEA /?/ is ordered after rules affecting underlying /?/. Thus, CompensatoryLengthening does not apply in words like /faqr(-un) > fa?r/ ‘poverty’.There is one case in which this rule applies in SA: the initial-glottalizedverbs of Form IV (See 2.1.1.3).


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1.2.3. Assimilation:

There are certain cases in which Arabic manifests completeassimilation of juxtaposed consonants. The most famous example of

complete assimilation in SA is that of the lateral consonant /l/ of thedefinite article, which becomes identical to the initial consonant of theword if it is one of the so-called /šamsiyy-at(-un)/ ‘solar’ consonants7.

These are /t, d, T, D, θ, ð, s, z, š, S, Z, r, l and n/. But there is noassimilation in the case of the so-called /qamariyy-at(-un)/ ‘lunar’consonants which are the remaining consonants. To account for thisdivision of consonants one must resort to Kenstowicz’s (1994: 163)classification of Arabic consonants below:

(29) a. labials [f, b, m]b. coronal sonorants [l, r, n]

c. coronal stops [t, d, T, D]

d. coronal fricatives [θ, ð, s, z, S, Z, š]e. dorsals [g, k, q]

f. gutturals [x, g, h, 3, h, ?]

By examination of the ‘solar’ consonants stated above, it appears that theyare all [+coronal], i.e. produced with the front part of the tongue. The rule

responsible for the assimilation of /l/ in the definite article is called“l-Assimilation” (Brame 1970: 20):

(30) l-Assimilation:

l [+def] → Ci / Ci

cor +

This rule shows that the /l/ of the definite article is assimilated to the

following consonant if it is coronal. To see the difference betweenassimilated and non-assimilated /l/, compare these examples in SA:

(31) a. /al+tilmiið(-u)/ → /?at-tilmiið(-u)/ Not */?al-tilmiið(-u)/ ‘the pupil’.b. /al+kurat(-u)/ → /?al-kurat(-u)/ Not */?ak-kurat(-u)/ ‘the ball’.

The same process occurs in EA. However, to the solar consonants statedabove, EA adds /g/ and very rarely /k/, in which cases the assimilation of

the /l/ is optional. This can be explained by assuming that EA adds the[+dorsal] consonants which are produced with the body of the tongue tothe [+coronal] ones, and that /q/ is excluded because in the register in


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which /q/ appears at all, the optional rule would never apply. Compare(32a) with (32b) in EA:

(32) a. /il+gamal/ → /?ig-gamal ~ ?il-gamal/ ‘the camel’.b. /il+kursi/ → /?ik-kursi ~ ?il-kursi/ ‘the chair’.

Another case of complete assimilation across word boundariesoccurring regularly in SA and EA is the assimilation of /n/ to a followingsonorant consonant. The rule for this process can be formulated as in (33):

(33) n-Assimilation:

n → Ci / Cison

cons

++

An SA example of this process was offered by Mitchell (1990: 90): “theparticle min may be heard in the form mir before r , mil before l and mim before m, as in mir rahmáti lláah ‘from the mercy of God’, mil lúndun [sic] ‘from London’, mimmaa (< min maa) ‘from that which’”. Other

examples from SA are given in (34) and examples from EA are seen in(35):

(34) SA: a. /3an + ramzii/ → /3ar ramzii/ ‘about Ramzy’.b. /3an + laylaa/ → /3al laylaa/ ‘about Laila’.c. /3an + muhammad/ → /3am muhammad/ ‘about Muhammad’.

(35) EA: a. /min + ramsiis/ → /mir ramsiis/ ‘from Ramses’.b. /min + libnaan/ → /mil libnaan / ‘from Lebanon’.c. /min + maryam/ → /mim maryam/ ‘from Mariam’.

A third case of complete assimilation across word boundaries is theassimilation of an obstruent coronal consonant to a following consonantthat is identical in place of articulation to that consonant. This process canbe formulated in the form of a rule in (36) and examples from SA are

given in (37):


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(36) Coronal-Assimilation:

C

obstr

cor

+

+

→ Ci / Ci

obstr

cor

+

+

(37) SA: a. /qaal-at + Taalib-at(-un)/ → /qaal-aT Taalib-at(-un)/‘A female student said.’

b. /?ajaab-at + da3wat-ii/ → /?ajaab-ad da3wat-ii/‘She accepted my invitation.’

Two cases of assimilation are present in EA only. The firstinvolves the change of the glottal stop /?/ to the high glide /y/ when it is

followed by /i/ and preceded by any vowel, i.e. the following change iseffected:

(38) V?i → Vyi

This change can be represented by the rule in (39). Its examples are givenbelow:

(39) Intervocalic /?/ Assimilation in EA:

? → −

+−

cons

hi

rd

/ V −

+−

cons

hi

rd

SA EA Glossnaa?im(-un) naayim sleeping3aa?im(-un) 3aayim swimmingSaa?im(-un) Saayim fasting

However, Brame (1970: 245) proposes a rule of Glottal Formation whichchanges a glide into a glottal stop after /aa/ and before a vowel in SA asfollows:

(40) Glottal Formation in SA:

G → ? / aa V

This means that the innovation in EA is simply in no longer having such arule.


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1.2.4. Shortening:

In both varieties, a long vowel does not remain long in a closedsyllable, i.e. one ending in a consonant. However, in EA word-final

syllables ending in a single consonant represent an exception to bediscussed below. This is a consequence of a limited syllable template innon-final positions. Long vowels are not permitted in closed syllables(except word-finally in EA). The rule that captures this can be called‘Closed-Syllable Shortening’:

(41) Closed-Syllable Shortening:

(V)VV → (V)V/ — C]σ

This rule indicates that an extra-long vowel becomes a long one and a longvowel becomes a short one in a closed syllable. The only differencebetween the two varieties in this respect is that a final consonant in EAdoes not count for syllable weight calculation but in SA it does. This canbe accounted for by a special Extrametricality Condition in EA, asfollows:

(42) Extrametricality Condition in EA:Final C does not count for syllable weight calculation

The difference between the two varieties can be noted by comparing theacceptability of these consonant-vowel sequences in both of them:

SA EA*CVVC# CVVC#*CVVCC# *CVVCC#*CVVC.CV... *CVVC.CV...

Examples of Closed-Syllable Shortening are given in (43) for SA and in(44) for EA. (The first change in the SA examples is produced by anIdentical-Consonant Metathesis rule that will be explained in 1.2.5):

(43) SA: a. /(?i)nsadad(-a) → (?i)nsaadd(-a)/ → (?i)nsadd(-a)/‘to be blocked’

b. /(?i)htajaj(-a) → (?i)htaajj(-a) → (?i)htajj(-a)/‘to object’

(44) EA: a. /?uul + li/ → /?ul-li/ ‘Say to me!’b. /kitaab + hum/ → /kitab-hum/ 8 ‘their book’


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A remarkable difference between the two varieties is that SA longvowels are shortened in EA when occurring in final position in accordancewith the rule in (45). Its illustrative examples are presented below:

(45) Final-Vowel Shortening in EA:VV → V / #

SA EA GlossSallaa Salla he prayedkatab-uu katab-u they wroteya-mšii yi-mši he walks

However, the shortening rule does not apply before a suffix beginning

with a consonant because the vowel is no longer final. In other words, SAlong vowels are retained long in EA before suffixes beginning with aconsonant, as in the following instances:

SA EA Gloss?iksirii-h ?iksirii-h you (fsg) break it (m)

ramaa-haa ramaa-ha he threw it (f)?ilguu-hum ?ilguu-hum Cancel (2mpl) them!

Another difference between the two varieties is that in the case oftwo EA long vowels (often resulting from morphological suffixation), thefirst vowel is shortened. This is a result of the fact that only one longvowel per word is permitted in EA whereas SA may permit more than onelong vowel per word. It is also a consequence of the shortening ofunstressed vowels since all unstressed vowels in EA should be short. Thiscan be accounted for by a rule that can be called ‘Atonic Shortening inEA’. Compare the following examples:

(46) Atonic Shortening in EA:VV → V / when stressless

SA EA Glossmiizaán(-un) mizaán balanceTaabuúr(-un) Tabuúr a queueTuufaán(-un) Tufaán floodbaa3uú-h ba3uú-h they sold it(m)Saaduú-haa Saduú-ha they caught it (f)kitaab-áyni kitab-eén two booksxabbaaz-iína xabbaz-iín bakers


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In a few nouns with the nominal template [CayCVVC] theStandard sequence /ay/ is replaced by /i/, which is the short counterpart of /ee/, and in fewer instances by /a/ in the Colloquial variety:

SA EA Glossmaydaán(-un) midaán a square

šayTaán(-un) šiTaán a devil

rayhaán(-un) rihaán myrtle

zaytuún(-un) zatuún olives

laymuún(-un) lamuún lemon

The change of SA [Fay3aaL(-un)] into EA [Fi3aaL] can be accounted forby proposing that the rule of Atonic Shortening applies afterMonophthongization in EA. Thus, the change of SA /maydaán(-un)/ intoEA /midaán/ runs as follows:

(47) maydaán(-un) → meedaán → midaán.

1.2.5. Metathesis:

A very important phonological process which applies in both

varieties is the metathesis of identical consonants, which operates ingeminate roots when they are followed by a vowel. The rule of Identical-Consonant Metathesis, given in (48), was first proposed by Brame (1970:122):

(48) Identical-Consonant Metathesis:

Ck VCk V → VCk Ck V

This rule shows that when two identical consonants are separated by avowel and followed by a vowel, we metathesize the first consonant and thefirst vowel so that the consonants come together before the vowels. It isapparent in the following examples:

Underlying SA EA Gloss

adad(-a) madd(-a) madd to stretch

šadad(-a) šadd(-a) šadd to pull

?aTbibaa?(-u) ?aTibbaa?(-u) ?aTibba(a?) doctors

?ahbibaa?(-u) ?ahibbaa?(-u) ?ahibba(a?) beloved ones


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1.2.6. Glide Alternations:

The high glides /w/ and /y/ play an essential role in the phonologyof the Arabic language because they are susceptible to various

phonological processes. Many alternations occur when these glides are juxtaposed with vowels. The underlying vowel and glide sequences andtheir surface phonetic forms are first listed in (49). Then, a discussion ofhow the surface forms are derived from their underlying counterparts interms of phonological rules is provided:

(49) Surface forms of underlying vowel and glide sequences:

- ayi → ai → aa - uyi → ui → ii

- ayu → au → aa - uyu → uu- aya → aa - uya → uwa- awi → ai → aa - uwi → ui → ii- awu → au → aa - uwu → uu- awa → aa - uwa → uwa- iyi → ii - iw.→ ii- iyu → iu → ii - iy. → ii- iyuu → uu - uw. → uu

- iya → iya - uy. → ii- iwi → ii - aw. → aw > oo- iwu → iu → ii - ay. → ay > ee- iwa → iya- Cwi → SA Cii, EA Cwi ~ Cii- Cyi → SA Cii, EA Cyi ~ Cii- Cwu → Cuu- Cyu → Cii- Cwa → SA Caa, EA Cwa ~ Caa- Cya → SA Caa, EA Cya ~ Caa

In the sequences /iya/ and /uwa/ the surface forms are identical to theirunderlying representations. So, no phonological processes are involvedthere, as in the SA verb /laqiy(-a)/ ‘to meet (pf. indic)’ and /ya-d3uw(-a)/‘to invite (impf. subj)’ where no change occurs. When the high vowels /i/and /u/ are immediately followed by the low vowel /a/ a rule of OnsetFormation inserts a glide of the same nature of the first high vowel to

prevent “hiatus”, i.e. “the occurrence of two consecutive vowels formingseparate syllables” (Trask 1996: 170). The prosodic representation of thisphonological process is given in (50) and the rule is formulated in (51):


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(50) σ σ σ σ

µ µ µ µ

i a u aiya uwa

(51) Onset Formation:

Ø → y

w

/i

u

a

Thus, the transcriptional conventions of the high vowels can be listed asfollows:

/i/ in onset = “y”, e.g. /yadaw-iyy(-un)/ ‘handmade’ /i/ in nucleus = “i”, e.g. /birk-at(-un)/ ‘a pool’ /i/ in coda = “y” or “i”, e.g. /biyD(-un)/ = /biiD(-un)/ ‘white (pl)’ /u/ in onset = “w”, e.g. /walad(-un)/ ‘a boy’ /u/ in nucleus = “u”, e.g. /šukran/ ‘Thanks!’ /u/ in coda = “w” or “u”, e.g. /suwd(-un)/ = /suud(-un)/ ‘black(pl)’.

For the sequences /aw./ and /ay./, the surface forms are identical to theirunderlying forms in SA, but in EA the rule of Monophthongizationchanges them into /oo./ and /ee./, respectively, in certain circumstances.

In most of the changes /VGV → VV/, there is a process of glideelision that can be formulated in the following rule (Brame 1970: 65):

(52) Glide Elision:

G → Ø / Vi —V j if j = [+1o], then i = [+1o]

This rule indicates that we delete a glide when it occurs between twovowels with one condition: if the second vowel is low, the first must alsobe low. When the long vowel outputted from this rule is followed by aconsonant and a word boundary or two consonants, the rule of Closed-Syllable Shortening applies in SA to shorten that vowel.

The Glide Elision rule applies in both varieties and accounts for thefollowing alternations:


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1- aGa → aa:ramay-a → ramaa > rama ‘to throw’ andda3aw-a → da3aa > da3a ‘to invite’.

2- iGi → ii:raamiy-in daa3iw-in (Gen)raamiin daa3iin by Glide Elisionraamin daa3in by Closed-Syllable Shortening in SAraami daa3i by Final-V Shortening in EA

3- uGu → uu:e.g. SA /ya-d3uw-u → ya-d3uu/ ‘he invites’.

4- iGu → iu5- aGu → au6- uGi → ui

In the last three changes the output of the Glide Elision rule undergoesassimilation processes that can be accounted for by these rules (The termvocoid is used here to encompass both vowel and glide):

(53) u-to-i:

u → i /Cy

i

y

− −− −− −

(54) Perseverative Vocoid Assimilation:

−+

cons

hi → Vi / Vi

The rule u-to-i, which must be ordered before Perseverative VocoidAssimilation, indicates that /u/ becomes /i/ after a consonant followed by /y/ and also before /i/ or y/. It accounts for these alternations:

1- ui → ii:buyi3-a quwil-abui3-a quil-a by Glide Elisionbii3-a qiil-a by u-to-i

2- uy. → ii:buyD(-un) → biyD(-un) = biiD(-un) ‘white (pl)


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3- Cyu → Cii:mabyuu3 → SA mabii3 ‘sold’

Perseverative Vocoid Assimilation proposes that a high vowel or glidebecomes similar to its preceding vowel. It leads to these changes:

1- iu → ii:raamiy-un daa3iw-un

raami-un daa3i-un by Glide Elision

raami-in daa3i-in by Perseverative Vocoid Assim. raamin daa3in by Closed-Syllable Shortening in SA

raami daa3i by Final-V Shortening in EA

2- au → aa:ya-lqay-u maqhaw-un (Nom)

ya-lqa-u maqha-un by Glide Elision

ya-lqaa maqhaan by Perseverative Vocoid Assim.

maqhan by Closed-Syllable Shortening in SAyi-l?a maqha by Final-V Shortening in EA

3- ai → aa:maqhaw-in (Gen)

maqha-in by Glide Elision

maqhaan by Perseverative Vocoid Assimilation

maqhan by Closed-Syllable Shortening in SA

maqha by Final-V Shortening in EA

4- iw. → ii:

raDiw-tu→ raDii-tu > riDii-t ‘I became satisfied’

5- iy. → ii:hiyl-at → hiil-at(-un) ‘a trick’

6- uw. → uu:Suwr-at → Suur-at(-un) ‘a picture’

Now turning to the sequences /CGV → CVV/, one can propose thefollowing assimilation rule:

(55) Anticipatory Vocoid Assimilation:


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−+

cons

hi → Vi / C Vi]σ

This rule shows that a high vowel or glide preceded by a consonant isassimilated to the following vowel in the same syllable. It takes care ofthese alternations:

1- CGi → SA Cii, EA CGi ~ Cii:ya-syir-u yu-hwil-u

ya-siir-u yu-hiil-u by Anticipatory Vocoid Assim.

— yi-hwil ~ yi-hiil in EA

In EA, both /yi-hwil/ and /yi-hiil/ are found, which suggests that the ruleof Anticipatory Vocoid Assimilation may be in the process of being lost inthis variety.

2- CGu → Cuu:ya-kwun-u

ya-kuun-u by Anticipatory Vocoid Assimilation

yi-kuun in EA

3- CGa → SA Caa, EA CGa ~ Caa:ma-syar-un ma-kwan-u

ma-saar-un ma-kaan-un by Anticipatory Vocoid Assimilation

ma-saar ma-kaan in EA

In EA, the glide is preserved in some words, e.g. /(?i)sta-bwax/ ‘toconsider silly’ and /(?i)sta-šyax/ ‘to pretend to be a sheik’, which againsuggests that the rule of Anticipatory Vocoid Assimilation is about to be

lost.

1.3. Morphological Preliminaries:

In this section, two important aspects of Arabic morphology willbe handled: word classification (1.3.1) and word formation (1.3.2). Thesetwo aspects are essential to the understanding of Arabic morphology ingeneral. The first is concerned with the part-of-speech system of thelanguage and the other is related to the processes involved in the formationof words in the language.


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1.3.1. Word Classification:

Arab grammarians, since the days of Sibawayh (d. 798), havedistinguished three word classes: nouns, verbs and particles. The class of

nouns includes substantives (e.g. /bayt(-un)/ ‘a house’), pronouns (e.g. /?ana/ ‘I’), adjectives (e.g. /kariim(-un)/ ‘generous’), adverbs (e.g. /faqaT/‘only’) and numerals (e.g. /waahid(-un)/ ‘one’). Verbs are either perfective(e.g. /jalas(-a)/ ‘he sat’) or imperfective (e.g. /ya-jlis(-u)/ ‘he sits’) (Fordetails, see 2.2). Particles comprise prepositions (e.g. /min/ ‘from’),conjunctions (e.g. /wa/ ‘and’) and interjections (e.g. /?aah/ ‘oh’). Owens(1988: 125) states that “in justifying this classification Arab grammariansdrew on arguments from all levels of analysis -- phonological,morphological [, syntactic] and semantic”. However, since this book is

concerned with the morphological aspects, only the morphological criteriawill be discussed here.

According to Owens (1988: 126), SA nouns are morphologicallydistinguished by the following criteria:

(i) occurrence with the definite article, e.g. /al-walad(-u)/ ‘the boy’,(ii)occurrence with the indefinite suffix [-n] or what the Arabs call /tanwiin/ ‘nunation’, e.g. /walad(-un)/ ‘a boy’9,

(iii) dualization, e.g. /walad-aani/ ‘two boys’,(iv) pluralization, e.g. /?awlaad(-un)/ ‘boys’,(v) diminutive formation, e.g. /wulayd(-un)/ ‘a small boy’, and(vi) relational adjective formation, e.g. /balad-iyy(-un)/ ‘native’.

SA Verbs are characterized by two morphological criteria:

(i) occurrence with the pronominal suffixes: [-aa] ‘dual’, [-uu] ‘plural’,[-u] ‘I’ and the feminine marker [-at], e.g. /daxal-aa/ ‘they (two)

entered’, /daxal-uu/ ‘they entered’, /daxal-tu/ ‘I entered’ and /daxal-at/‘she entered’, and(ii) having a set of related morphological forms, e.g. /daxal(-a)/ ‘he

entered’, /ya-dxul(-u)/ ‘he enters’, /daaxil(-un)/ ‘entering’, /madxal(-un)/ ‘an entrance’, etc.

Particles are defined as what have neither the characteristics of nouns northose of verbs (cf. Owens 1988: 128).

Thus, Arab grammarians have not distinguished adjectives fromnouns except in context. They have not shown any formal distinctionbetween the two classes. Moreover, they have grouped pronouns with


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nouns because the former represent syntactic substitutes for the latter orfill their slots in syntactic structures. Furthermore, they have oscillatednumerals between nouns and adjectives.

However, in modern linguistics, clear-cut distinctions betweenword classes have become necessary. Hence, Aboul-Fetouh (1969: 35), forinstance, has recognized six form classes in Arabic: verbs, nouns,adjectives, pronouns, adverbs and particles. Abdel-Malek (1972: 52) dealtwith these classes under four headings: verbs, nouns, adjectives and“closed-list classes”. By closed-list classes he meant those to which nonew members can be added. This classification will be endorsed in thisbook. Therefore, pronouns and adverbs will be discussed in the chapter onclosed-list classes, though some types of adverbs are not closed.

Nevertheless, it must be stressed that a word may have more thanone syntactic function. For example, the Standard form /al-miSriyy(-u)/ istreated as a noun in /?al-miSriyy-u yu-hibb-u waTan-a-hu/ ‘The Egyptianlikes his homeland’, but as an adjective in /?aš-ša3b-u l-miSriyy-ukariim-un/ ‘The Egyptian people are generous’. The Colloquial form /kitiir/ is considered an adjective in /burtu?aan kitiir/ ‘a lot of oranges’, butan adverb in /bi-yi-l3ab kitiir/ ‘He plays a lot’.

1.3.2. Word Formation:

Three basic elements are distinguished in the formation of anArabic word: a consonantal root, a vowel pattern and one or more affixes.Upon those three segmental morphemes, an autosegmental or prosodictemplate is imposed. The vowel pattern is also called a vocalism or vocalicmelody. The root and pattern system represents a basic morphologicalcharacteristic in the structure of Arabic words. The vast majority of wordsin SA and EA have a basic stem which consists of two interrelated parts: a

root consisting typically of three consonants and a pattern of vowels fittingaround the consonants of the root (cf. Al-Toma 1969: 31). If a derivationalaffix is added to the stem it will be called a ‘derived stem’. That is whyGhaly (1960: 9) defines a stem as “a combination of one root + one pattern+ the optional occurrence of one to three derivational affixes”.

The root is a “consonantal morpheme which is usuallydiscontinuous or nonsequential. ... any one member of this consonantalform is a radical” (Ghaly 1960: 15). It usually has a moderately

unchanging lexical meaning, e.g. [š-r-b] is related to ‘drinking’ and [l-3-b]is associated with ‘playing’. This meaning serves as the basis of manyrelated meanings which are represented by the root consonants put in


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different vowel patterns. The vocalism is a vocalic morpheme which mayconsist of one or more vowels. If it has more than one vowel, it is, bydefinition, a discontinuous morpheme, since the language does not permittwo vowels in succession. While the root carries “the core lexical

meaning” (Schmidt 1975: 108), the vowel pattern usually has the functionof determining the syntactic role of the stem, perfect or imperfect aspect ofverb, singular or plural number of noun, etc. For example, from the root[k-t-b] one can have /katab(-a)/ ‘he wrote’ vs. /ya-ktub(-u)/ ‘he writes’ and /kaatib(-un)/ ‘a writer’ vs. /kuttaab(-un)/ ‘writers’.

This notion of interrelation between the root and the pattern led totheir being called “discontinuous morphemes”. This is a term which wasfirst stated in an article by Harris (1945) and expounded in a later book of

his (1958). It was also referred to by Hill (1958: 101): “another class ofnonsequential morphemes are the dovetailed, discontinuous morphemescharacteristic of Semitic languages”.

This root and pattern system is preserved in the Colloquial varietywith one basic difference: the vowel patterns retained in EA are not alwaysidentical to those of SA. For instance, the SA form [FawL-at(-un)] ischanged to [Fool-a] in EA, as in /kawm-at(-un)/ ‘a pile’ that is replaced by

/koom-a/ in the Colloquial variety. The /aw → oo/ alternation wasdiscussed earlier in (1.1.2). The SA final /t/ is lost in EA.

The consonantal root is referred to by associating it with theunmarked vowel pattern [-a-a-a], as in the perfect active third personmasculine singular form [Fa3aL(-a)] ‘to do’. Hence, /daxal(-a)/ ‘heentered’ is the form used for the lexical entry of [d-x-l] whose basicmeaning is related to ‘entering’. Translations of /daxal(-a)/, as theunmarked verb, into English are often made in the infinitive form ‘to

enter’ rather than ‘he entered’. Concerning the number of consonants thatmay occur in a root, three is the unmarked number (Owens 1988: 95). So,the overwhelming majority of roots is triradical, i.e. each root consists ofthree consonants such as [q-t-l] ‘to kill’. Less frequent are the

quadriradical roots consisting of four consonants such as [b-3-θ-r] ‘toscatter’. The least frequent type of roots is the biradical roots which haveonly two consonants, even though they are realized with three consonantsin EA, e.g. /?ab(-un) > ?abb/ ‘a father’ and /dam(-un) > damm/ ‘blood’.Those roots are restricted to a particular sector of the lexicon (mainly kin

terms and body parts) and they tend to be augmented in productivemorphology, e.g. /?abaw-aani > ?abaw-een/ ‘two fathers’ and /damaw-iyy(un)/ ‘bloody’ (cf. Kenstowicz 1994: 297). Thus, it can be


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proposed that biradicals are underlyingly triradicals with their finalconsonants deleted in the surface form. That consonant reappears on thesurface in productive morphology. Nouns have three, four or fiveconsonants. Verbs usually contain three or four consonants.

The vocalic pattern is referred to by filling it in with the rootconsonants of the verb whose meaning is the most general in reference toactivity [F-3-L] ‘to do’ (Travis 1979: 30). So, the comparative adjectivecan be named by the form [?aF3aL(-u)], the active participle by[Faa3iL(-un)], the passive participle by [maF3uuL(-un)], etc. Certainpatterns are associated with certain meanings. To illustrate,[Fa33aaL(-un)] characterizes a person by a constant occupation orbehavior, as in the words /haddaad(-un)/ ‘a smith’ and /kaððaab(-un) >

kaddaab/ ‘a liar’. Certain word classes are associated with certain vowelpatterns although some patterns belong to more than one word-class.

In the root and pattern system, distinction is made between basicand non-basic sounds in a word (Owens 1988: 99-100). The basic soundsare represented by [F-3-L] so that, for instance, the verb /daxal(-a)/ ‘toenter’ would have the form [Fa3aL(-a)], the noun /karam(-un)/‘generosity’ the form [Fa3aL(-un)] and so on. In the case of words withfour or five consonants, the last basic representative character [L] is

reduplicated, e.g. /bulbul(-un)/ ‘a nightingale’ is represented as[Fu3L1uL2(-un)]. The non-basic sounds are represented by themselves. Forinstance, /?a-xraj (-a)/ ‘to cause to get out’ is [?a-F3aL(-a)] where the [?a-]is a causative prefix. All Arabic sounds can function as basic sounds butonly some of them can function as non-basic sounds as well. These are /s ?l t m n h w y uu ii aa/. It is difficult to gather these phonemes in onenatural class and there is no explanation yet for the choice of theseparticular consonants to be non-basic, at least as far as I know.

The affixes used in Arabic word formation may be prefixes,suffixes, or infixes. Some of these affixes are derivational and some areinflectional. Derivational affixes are generally those that change thegrammatical class of a word, whereas inflectional affixes are those thatsignal the grammatical relationship of a word in a sentence (Crystal 1985).However, some derivational affixes do not change the word class of thestem they are attached to, e.g. /?adxal(-a)/ ‘to cause to enter’ is derivedfrom /daxal(-a)/ ‘to enter’ and both of them are verbs. Derivational affixescombine with roots and vocalisms to form derived stems. That is why they

are sometimes called “stem affixes” (Ghaly 1960: 15). Inflectional affixes,on the other hand, occur with the stem, either primary or derived.


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Derivational prefixes can be exemplified by the prefix [ma-] whichforms nouns of place and time on the pattern [ma-F3aL(-un) ~ma-F3iL(-un)]. Derivational suffixes can be illustrated by the relationalending [-i(y)] that forms relational adjectives. And derivational infixes can

be represented by the gemination of the second consonant in a verb to givea causative/intensive meaning. For instance, the gemination in /kassar(-a)/‘to smash’ is considered a derivational infix used to derive that verb fromits primary counterpart /ka

comparative morphology of standard and e

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