3.1.
Suffixation: {-iyy } and {-iyya}
The yaaʔ of nisba {-iyy}, which creates relative adjectives, and the nominalizing suffix {-iyya} which creates abstract nouns, are both highly produc- tive derivational suffixes in Arabic. The yaaʔ of nisba may be attached to nouns of all types (even compound nouns and noun phrases) in order to convert them into modifiers.3 maghribiyy Moroccan januubiyy southern ħaaliyy current duwaliyy international laa-nihaaʔiyy never-ending sharqʔawsaŧiyy Middle Eastern
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The feminine nisba suffix {-iyya} derives abstract nouns from a range of stems, including singular and plural nouns, adjectives, particles, and pronouns:
ʕamaliyya operation nujuumyya stardom diibluumaasiyya diplomacy ħurriyya freedom ʔakthariyya majority mawđuuʕiyya objectivity kayfiyya quality huwiyya identity
Note that the fact that this particular derivational affix may be applied subse- quent to inflections for pluralization or comparativeness contravenes the general morphological principle that“words inflected for number usually do not feed word formation”, and that “inflection is peripheral to derivation” (Booij1996: 814). This fact makes the {-iyya} suffixation process in Arabic of particular interest to morphological theory.
3.2.
Compounding
This refers to the derivation of new lexical items (single word-stems) by putting two (or more) words together, such as English laptop, has-been, sunburn, outlaw, schoolboy, snowflake, football, handyman, update, hand-me-downs, and so forth. In English compounding may also apply to modifiers, such as: would-be, middle-of-the-road, glow-in-the-dark. In Arabic, compounding is of several types: ʔiđaafa-based, negation-based, and phrase-based.4
In Arabic the process is usually known as tarkiib:
3.2.1.
One-word compounds
(1) From iđaafa structures:
raʔsmaal capital
ʕarđħaal petition
qaaʔimaqaam district official (2) From negation structures:
laa-markaziyya decentralization laa-faqaariyy invertebrate
laa-ʔadriyya skepticism, agnosticism laa-qaanuuniyy illegal
(3) From common phrases: maa-jaraa course of events yaa-nasiib lottery
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(4) From coordinated noun phrases:
barmaaʔiyy amphibian
(5) From adverbials plus the indefinite pronoun, maa: qabl-a-maa before; prior to + verb
ħayth-u-maa wherever
3.2.2.
Two-word compounds
Noun–noun phrases: ʔiđaafa
Frequently used two-word compounds, although orthographically sepa- rate words, may come to be lexicalized as a single concept, and cohere as a single syntactic or lexical unit. For example, the expression jawaaz safar‘passport’ is pluralized as jawaazaat safar, indicating the separate identity of thefirst noun (al- muđaaf ). However, when this concept is used with a possessive pronoun, that pronoun is suffixed to the end of the expression: jawaaz safar-ii ‘my passport,’ treating theʔiđaafa as a morphological unit and stem for possessive purposes.
Other examples include:
rawđat ʔaŧfaal kindergarten
raddfiʕl reaction
rajulʔaʕmaal businessman/men suuʔ tafaahum misunderstanding
Certain verbal nouns used as the first term of an ʔiđaafa, have acquired lexicalizing functions:ʕadam used as a negativizing prefix, and ʔiʕaada as a prefix indicating repetition or renewal. To a great extent in MSA, these two words are becoming‘grammaticalized,’ that is, they are shifting from being solely content words to being items that carry a specific grammatical function. This is especially the case with loan-translations, or calques, where each morpheme or part of a source word is converted into an Arabic equivalent.
ʕadam wujuud non-existence
ʕadam istiqraar instability
ʕadam al-inħiyaaz neutrality, non-alignment ʔiʕaadat farđ-i l-ʕuquubaat-i re-imposition of sanctions ʔiʕaadat taʕyiin-i l-waziir-i reappointment of the minister Adjectival compounds
Loan translations of complex adjectives may occur through the medium of the adjectiveʔiđaafa (ʔiđaafa ghayr ħaqiiqiyya):
mutaʕaddid al-ʔaŧraaf multilateral mutaʕaddid al-jinsiyyaat multinational ʕaalii al-mustawaa high-level 82 Non-root/pattern morphology and the Arabic lexicon
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Regularized negative adjectival compounds
Loan translations of modifiers expressed in negative terms are often expressed with the prefixation of the term ghayr ‘non; other than’ to an adjective or participle:
al-Zuruuf ghayr al-munaasiba the inappropriate conditions şuʕuubaat-un ghayr-u mutawaqqaʕat-in unexpected difficulties ħasab-a ʔarqaam-in ghayr-i rasmiyyat-in according to unofficial figures A further process to identify the internal coherence of a compound is to ascertain if the second term can be conjoined to another term: for example, rawđat-u ʔaŧfaal-in wa-zuhuur-in (?) *‘garden of children (kindergarten) and flowers’. If the second term cannot logically be conjoined, that is an indication that the phrase functions as a lexical unit.
3.3.
Blending and contractions (Arabic nah¯t)
This involves parts of two (or more) words blending into one, sometimes with truncation of thefirst component.
3.3.1.
Fusing of word components
al-fawq-waaqiʕ iyya the supernaturalfaw-şawtiyy supersonic
qab-milaadiyy before Christ (bc) maa-qab-taariixiyy prehistoric
mimmaa from which
3.3.2.
Formula-based verbs
These are verbs which have been coined based on the sequence of sounds in frequently used formulaic phrases. They tend to take the shape of Form I quadriliterals:
basmala to say‘bi-sm-i llaah-i’
Hawqala to pronounce the formula:‘laa Hawl-a wa-laa quwwat-a ʔillaa bi- llaah-i’
fanqala to say‘fa-na-quul-u. . .’
3.4.
Acronyms
These use the initials of a group or organization to form a word. Arabic does not usually create acronyms, but it may convert them from foreign languages Lexical expansion through morphological processes 83
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into Arabic in two ways, either as spelled-out words or as phrases denoting the foreign letters (or numbers):
yuuniskuu UNESCO
ʔuubik OPEC
siiʔaay ʔiih CIA ʔam ʔaay sitta MI-6
3.5.
Criteria and diagnostics for determining compounds
Linguists search for principles and constraints to determine the status of language elements. Determining whether compounds are morphological units or phrases can be done in three ways:
3.5.1.
Orthography
This shows or does not show word-boundaries, and can be one criterion for determining that an item is a lexical unit.
A compound word may be written as one word. qaaʔimaqaam administrative officer
ʕarđħaal petition
3.5.2.
Meaning
Meaning or semantic opacity is another criterion for determining the unity of a compound. The meaning of the compound may be non-compositional (opa- que). That is, the separate parts combine to constitute a meaning that is not determinable from their individual meanings, e.g., raʔsmaal ‘capital.’
3.5.3.
Distributional
Distributional evidence can be used to determine if the sequence is considered a lexical unit (e.g., placement of definite article, demonstrative pro- nouns, -iyya, pluralization):
Placement of definite article
A compound may take the definite article:
al-laa-wujuud the non-existence
al-raʔsmaaliyya the capitalism
al-şayd al-laa-qaanuuniyy illegal hunting 84 Non-root/pattern morphology and the Arabic lexicon
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Pluralization
A compound may pluralize as though it were one word, either by means of a plural suffix at the end of the phrase or by means of a broken plural based on analogy with similar singular structures:
maajaray-aat courses of events ʕarđħaal-aat petitions rasaamiil (forms of) capital barmaaʔiyy-aat amphibians Derivational affix
A compound may take a derivational affix, such as the yaaʔ of nisba or the {-iyya} suffix denoting an abstract entity:
raʔsmaaliyy capitalist raʔsmaaliyya capitalism
Pronouns
A compound may take a pronoun suffix
maa-ʔadriyyat-ii my skepticism jawaaz safar-ii my passport