Comparing Arabic with English

Chapter Eleven

Morphology

11.1. Morphology: an introduction

11.2. Word derivation
11.2.1. Word derivation in English
11.2.1.1. Affixation
11.2.1.2. Conversion
11.2.1.3. Compounding
11.2.2. Word derivation in Arabic
11.2.2.1. Affixation
11.2.2.2. Compounding
11.2.2.3. Reduplication
11.2.3. Comparing word derivation in English and Arabic

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11.1. Morphology: an introduction

In this chapter, we deal with morphology. Morphology, as you know, is that part of
language study that deals with the structure of the words in language: what they are made
of, how their components are put together, how new words are coined or derived from old
words, and the possible changes that they undergo because of their relation to other words
in the sentence.
What is a word? One common definition is that it is the smallest independent
grammatical unit. The notion of the word is universal in human languages. All languages
have what is intuitively called a ‘word’. Everyone seems to be able to divide speech strings
in their native language into words. Words have been found to consist of smaller elements.
As such, a word may be analyzed into one or more minimally meaningful and grammatical
elements that contrast with one another in their functions. These are called morphemes,
e.g. un-time-ly, tree-s, great-er, re-cover-ed.
Many morphemes exhibit variation. Their variants are allomorphs. These are
conditioned phonologically, morphologically, or lexically. The actual ‘phonetic’ shape of
the morpheme is the result of the interaction of any of these factors. However, we will not
deal with the morphophonemic processes in our discussion in this chapter.
Some of these morphemes, e.g. time, great, cover, in the above examples, can stand
alone. These are free morphemes. Others, which can only appear in combination with other
morphemes, like: un-, re-, -ly, -ed, are bound morphemes, The central morpheme which
represents the core of the word, i.e. that which remains after all other morphemes are taken
away, like tree, cover, time, is the root. It usually represents the basic lexical meaning of
the word. The root needs to be distinguished from the base and the stem. A base simply
refers to the element, whether made of one or more morphemes, to which a certain
morpheme is added. In the above example, time is the root, but it is also the base for –ly,
to form timely. However, the base for un-, is timely, which consists of two morphemes. The
stem is the element to which inflectional affixes are added. In the above examples, recover
is both the stem, and base for -ed, to form recovered.
Most bound morphemes are affixes, which are added to the base in different ways. Some
come before the base and are thus called prefixes, e.g. un- in untimely, others are affixed

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after the stem and are thus called suffixes, e.g. -ly in the same word. Yet a third type of
affixes is added inside the base, e.g. the ‫ت‬, /-t-/ in ‫اجتمع‬. These are infixes.

Functionally, affixes are divided into two kinds: derivational and inflectional.
Derivational affixes create new words from others, e.g. organ>organic,
derivation>derivational, king>kingdom, ‫ج>استخرج‬-‫ر‬-‫ خ‬، ‫ب> مكتب‬-‫ت‬-‫ك‬. Inflectional affixes
have a grammatical function; they signal the grammatical relations and functions of the
words they are affixed to, e.g. case, number, definiteness, gender, in nouns, tense, voice,
aspect, in verbs. girl’s, washed, rounds, ‫ معلمون‬،‫ طالبان‬، ‫شاعرة‬
In this chapter, we will look closely into some areas of the morphology of Arabic and
English which involve how words in the two languages are built and what processes are
used in their formation. This is the domain of derivational morphology. As for the
morphological changes that these words undergo to indicate various grammatical
properties, functions and relations, i.e. the domain of inflectional morphology, these have
been dealt with in the previous chapters about the syntax of lexical and phrasal categories.
Our discussion will proceed in a similar fashion to that in the previous chapters. Frist
we will attempt a description of word derivation in English. This is followed by a
description of how words are derived in Arabic. Then we conduct a comparison between
the two systems to find out where they are similar and where they differ.
As is the case with other linguistic systems, no two languages are identical in their
morphological systems. This difference is only too obvious in the case of such genetically
unrelated languages as English and Arabic are. However, beside this difference we will
also notice the similarity between the two languages in the general principles that underlie
their morphological structure. Human languages are cast of the same mold.

11.2. Word derivation

One of the major issues in the morphology of human languages concerns how words are
built and the various methods these languages use to form their new words. These various
methods range from the very common methods of affixation and compounding to the less
common ones like conversion and internal modification of the root morpheme among
others.

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11.2.1. Word derivation in English

Words in English are divided into word classes that are distinguishable both
morphologically and/or syntactically: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
articles, pronouns, conjunctions, and interjections. Four of these are of interest to us due to
their morphological structure: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The discussion below
will be about how words of these classes are derived. English uses different methods to
derive its lexical items. We will discuss these one by one.

11.2.1.1. Affixation

Affixation is the addition of an affix to a base to derive a new word, e.g. proud<proudly.
This appears to be the most common method of word derivation in English. Affixes in
English are either prefixes or suffixes. Infixes are rare.
Affixes are attached to bases that could be simple roots. Alternatively, they could be
attached to bases that comprise the root and one or more affixes. Note the difference
between timely, where the affix /-ly/ is attached to a base that is made of the root /time/,
and untimely, where the affix /un-/ is attached to a base that is made of the root /time/, and
the affix /-ly/. In this sense, English allows multiple affixation, e.g.
nation>nation+al>nation+al+ize>de+nation+al+ize>
de+nation+al+iza+tion>anti+de+nation+al+iza+tion,…

Roots in English are usually free morphemes. However, we do find some that are bound
and do not appear alone as independent words. These are mainly roots borrowed from Latin
or Greek, which we always find in combination of some affixes, e.g. /ceive/ in receive,
deceive, perceive, conceive, …
Derivational affixes have two functions: a) they change the category, or sub-category,
of the base they are attached to; b) they change the meaning of the base. The category-
changing affixes may be classified in terms of the lexical categories that result from their
attachment. There are special suffixes for the derivation of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs. The following are some of the common ones.

A. Affixes that change the category of the base

1. noun-forming suffixes:

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/-ion/ V>N promotion, creation, decision

/-ment/ V>N government, settlement, employment
/-er/ V>N learner, writer, player
/-al/ V>N refusal, dismissal, arrival
/-ness/ Adj > N kindness, happiness, loudness
/-ity/ Adj > N sincerity, ability, reality
/-ism/ Adj > N liberalism, colonialism
/-hood/ N>N childhood (concrete > abstract N)
/-ship/ N>N friendship (concrete > abstract N)
/-ist/ N>N receptionist, pianist (abs/con > personal N)

2. verb-forming prefixes and suffixes

/be- N>V behead, behold, beget
/en-/ N, Adj > V encage, endanger; enable, enrich
/-fy/ N, Adj > V notify, glorify; simplify, clarify
/-ize/ N, Adj > V characterize, categorize; specialize, modernize
/-ate/ N, Adj > V assassinate, urinate; activate,
/-en/ Adj > V widen, darken, shorten

3. adjective-forming prefixes and suffixes

/a-/ V > Adj asleep, awake, aboard
/-y/ N > Adj dirty, cloudy, sunny
/-ful/ N > Adj beautiful, successful, spiteful
/-less/ N > Adj shameless, careless, homeless
/-al/ N > Adj inflectional, derivational, distributional
/-able/ V > Adj changeable, acceptable, responsible, plausible
/-ive/ V > Adj active, adaptive, cooperative
/-ed,-en/ V > Adj crowded, educated, chosen, broken,
/-ing/ V > Adj interesting, boring, alarming
4. adverb-forming suffixes
/-ly/ Adj > Adv quickly, carefully, silently
/-wise/ N > Adv clockwise, health-wise, likewise
/-ward(s)/ N > Adv backward, homeward, eastward

B. Affixes that affect the meaning of the base

English also uses affixes that change the meaning of the base of the derived word,
without changing its category. The following are some of the most common ones.

/in-/ ‘not’ inaccurate, inadequate

/un-/ ‘not’ unjust, unkind, unhappy

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/un-/ ‘reversive’ untie, undo

/dis-/ ‘not’ disorder, disagree, dishonest
/dis-/ ‘reversive’ discontinue, disconnect
/re-/ ‘again’ redo, rewrite, rebuild
/mis-/ ‘wrongly’ misunderstand, mistake
/pre-/ ‘before’ preposition, prefix
/post-/ ‘after’ post-operational, postposition
/semi-/ ‘half’ semi-circle, semi-final
/inter-/ ‘between’ interact, international
/ex-/ ‘former’ ex-wife, ex-president, exterminate

You must have noticed that the above affixes were either prefixes or suffixes. These are
the affix types that are commonly used in English. Of the other types of affixes, there are
very rare instances of infixes. Examples of such infixes are words like, im-bloody-possible
and New-frigging-York. Note that what is infixed is not a bound morpheme, but rather a
word: bloody, frigging. Besides, these and other infixes like them are expletives.

11.2.1.2. Conversion

English uses another strategy or process for forming new words that is closely related to
affixation. This is the process of conversion where a word is derived from another word
without making any modification to the base from which the new word is derived. That is,
the old word remains as it is, but is used as belonging to a category that is different from
that of the old word. The noun play, is not different from the verb play, from which it is
derived. They are phonologically identical. Only their syntactic distribution and their
morphological structure determine whether they are the old base, the verb, or the new one,
the noun.
We know that in ‘Jane played basketball’, play is a verb only depending on the
inflectional ‘past tense’ suffix that is affixed to it. However, in ‘The plays she starred in
were all comedies’ the word play is a noun because of the inflectional ‘plural’ suffix. The
information about the category of the word play in the two sentences can also be retrieved
from its position in these sentences. In the first sentence, it occurs after the subject noun
phrase Jane, which is typically a position occupied by a verb. In the second sentence, it
occurs after an article, which is a position where nouns appear in.

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It is claimed that this mode of derivation is achieved by the affixation of a zero affix or
morpheme, an affix that has no phonetic value. This phonetically ‘silent’ affix is treated
like the suffix /-er/, which changes the verb into a noun when it is affixed to it, except that
the affix in our case is not spelled out; it is silent.

11.2.1.3. Compounding

Compounding does not involve the derivation of new lexical items by adding affixes.
Rather, it involves the joining of bases, roots or words that may themselves be derived by
affixation. Bases of similar or different categories may be joined to form new words.
Compounds are distinguished from phrases in that their meaning may not be always
determined from the combined meaning of their elements. Note that while the phrase green
`house means a ‘house that is green’, the compound `greenhouse means a certain enclosure
where plants are grown, which is not necessarily green. So is the difference between white
`house and the compound `Whitehouse, which is the residence of the US President.
Difference in the stress pattern may signal the difference between them too. Compounds
are mostly stressed on their first elements. Phrases are usually stressed on their second
elements.
The category of the compound is usually determined by the category of its head element.
Thus, toothbrush is a noun because its head element brush is a noun, and navy-blue is an
adjective because its head blue is an adjective.
In English, we find noun compounds, verb compounds and adjective compounds. Noun
compounds are the most common and productive of all compounds. We have VN
compounds, breakfast, playtime, drophammer; NN: ice-cream, suitcase, hair-dryer; AN:
greenhouse, blackboard, faintheart; PN: in-group, overcoat, outpost.
The meaning of some NN compounds can be precisely interpreted. For example, the
meaning of the compound hair-remover, can be easily predicted because the second
element is a noun that is derived from the verb remove. Here, the first element is interpreted
as the object of the second element, which is the head of the compound; it is something
that ‘removes hair’. This is the way we interpret hair-cutter and hair-restorer. Similar are
other compounds whose second element is derived from a verb, e.g. script-writer and
crime prevention

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However, other NN compounds may not be so regularly interpreted. For example a

storybook is a ‘book of stories or contains stories’, but a schoolbook, is not a ‘book of, or
contains schools’. Rather it is a book used as a ‘textbook at schools’, and a promptbook is
not really a ‘book of prompts’, but a ‘script used by a prompter in the theatre’. Compounds
whose head noun on the right is not derived from a verb, and whose interpretation is not
precisely predicted in terms of object-verb relation, are called primary compounds. Those
compounds whose first element is interpreted as the object of the verb from which the
second element is derived are called secondary compounds.
These compounds have a noun as their second element. They also denote a particular
type of entity, action, state,… A script-writer refers to a certain type of writer, law
enforcement is a type of enforcement, and blackboard is a kind of board. The rightmost
element, which is a noun, is the head of the compound. Most noun compounds are right-
headed.
English exhibits compounding in verbs too, though they are less common or productive
than noun compounding. We may have VV compounds: freeze-dry, typewrite; NV: steam-
clean, hand-wash; AV: deep-fry, dry-clean; PV: upload, undertake, outgrow.
The second element i.e. the one on the right, in the above compounds is a verb. Most of
them denote a special type of the activity that the second element refers to. In typewrite,
reference is to a kind of writing, hand-wash denotes washing of hands, and in dry-clean,
we are talking about a special kind of cleaning. In this sense, we say that the verb is the
head of the compound and that these compounds are right-headed.
We also find compound adjectives in English. There are NA compounds: oil-rich,
airtight, baby blue; AA: grey-green, light-blue, red-hot; PA: outlying, overcrowded,
undernourished. The second element in these compound adjectives is an adjective, which
functions as the head of the compound. All of them denote a special type of attribute that
the second element refers to. The adjective baby blue refers to a special type of blue, so
does oil-rich which refers to a special type of richness, i.e. rich in having oil. The adjectives
in these compounds make their heads. They are right-headed.
The compound nouns, verbs, and adjectives that we have dealt with above are all right-
headed. The second element in the compound heads it. It determines the compound’s
category and provides the base for its meaning. As was noted above, blackboard is a kind

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of board, dry-clean, is a type of cleaning, and light is a shade of blue. In semantic terms,
compounds of this sort are said to be endocentric compounds.
However, not all compounds are headed. Some compounds are headless. A NN
compound like sabretooth is not a kind of tooth. It is the name of a large extinct carnivorous
mammal, with large upper canine teeth. So, although tooth is a noun, it is not the head of
this compound. This compound is headless. Neither of the two elements determines its
category as a noun, nor does any of them provide a basis for what it means. Another
example of headless compounds is the AN compound redneck. Now redneck is not a kind
of neck, but rather a person of a certain social status. Thus, we cannot call neck the head of
this compound though it is a noun. Such compounds as sabretooth and redneck are
exocentric, in contrast to the endocentric and headed compounds.
The notion of headedness is related to the semantic endocentric vs exocentric contrast
that we find in these compounds. Endocentric compounds have heads, and the compound
is a hyponym of the head, while the exocentric ones do not have heads. However, though
this may be semantically true, the notion of head is not limited to semantic criteria. The
head of a compound determines its category too. If neither component plays this latter role,
then the compound is headless.
That tooth in sabretooth and neck in redneck are nouns is not what makes these
compounds nouns. If so, then we need to find out if there are compound nouns whose
second elements are not nouns. This is what we see in noun compounds like take-off, input,
sell-out, and sit-in, which are formed of a preposition and a verb, or a verb and a preposition
or adverb.
A special kind of compounding is when only portions of existing roots are joined to
derive new words. One such process known as blending. Words like brunch, smog, sci-fi,
info-tech are conventionally referred to as blends. What is joined in this case is only
portions from words and not full words. ‘brunch’ is derived by joining portions from two
words breakfast and lunch; ‘smog’ by putting together portions from smoke and fog, ‘sci-
fi’ is derived by joining portions from science and fiction, and ‘info-tech’ by joining
portions from information and technology. Similarly, we may also consider such words as
Afro-Asiatic, electro-magnetic, psycholinguistics, and high-tech to be blends, or

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compounds in our classification, although they are derived by combining a portion of one
word root/base with a complete version of another.
Yet an extreme type of blending involves joining only the first sounds/letters of the
elements. These blends are called acronyms, e.g. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, RAM (random access memory), and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency
syndrome). Note that each of these letter strings is pronounced as a word and not as a
sequence of letters. If a string is pronounced by reading the name of each letter, as in UN
and USA, then it is not an acronym.

11.2.2. Word derivation in Arabic

Like any other language, Arabic uses a variety of methods or procedures to derive its
words: adding elements to roots or bases, repeating the root, or by joining together
independent words to build new words. However, the most salient morphological feature
that characterizes word derivation in Arabic, and all other Semitic languages, lies in the
rather special way that affixation works in them.
In these languages, there are no independent roots from which their words are derived.
The roots, which carry the basic meaning of the words, are discontinuous consonantal
strings, and they never occur alone. Words are derived by interspersing various patterns
of vowels into these roots. Like any other morpheme, each one of these patterns has a
specific derivational or inflectional function.
We need to add a note here about the Arabic transcription used in this section to
illustrate these patterns. Each consonant and vowel, is given a separate symbol, and is
written separately. Vowels are indicated in the following ways. The vowel we find between
/k/ and /t/ in ‫ كتب‬wrote is /a/, /‫ ﹷ‬/ in the Arabic transcription; /u/ in ‫ كتب‬books is /‫ ﹹ‬/, and the
vowel between /t/ and /b/ in ‫ كتب‬was written is /i/ and /‫ ﹻ‬/. Vowel length is indicated by
doubling. The long vowel that we find between /k/ and /t/ in ‫ كاتب‬writer will be transcribed
as /aa/, /‫ﹷ ﹷ‬/ In the Arabic transcription; the long vowel /uu/ in ‫ مكتوب‬written is /‫ ﹹ ﹹ‬/; and /ii/
in ‫ فيل‬elephant is /‫ ﹻ ﹻ‬/. Likewise, consonant length – i.e. gemination- is also indicated by
ّ ‫ و‬enlarged is transcribed as ]‫ [و ﹷ س س ﹷ ع‬.
doubling the consonant. Thus, ‫سع‬

11.2.2.1. Affixation

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Affixation is the major mechanism for word formation in Arabic, of which there are
different types. As in the case in English and other languages, we find instances of the use
of prefixes and suffixes to derive new words. However, word derivation in Arabic is mainly
achieved via the interaction between a discontinuous root morpheme and another
morpheme represented by a vowel pattern, which is inserted between the root consonants.
Our description of the derivation of words in Arabic will begin by discussing affixation by
vowel patterns, followed by a description of the derivational prefixes and suffixes in
Arabic.

Vowel patterns

If we look into the words ‫ كاتب‬/kaatib/, ‫ أكتب‬/aktub/, ‫ كتب‬/katab/ we will find that they
share something: they contain the same three consonants /‫ ك‬/, / ‫ت‬/ , and / ‫ب‬/ , and they are
all about ‘writing’ though they are of different categories: two are verbs and one is an
active participle. Where they differ is the vowels that we find between the consonants. This
suggests that each of these words is made of two elements, one providing the basic semantic
information of the word, the three discontinuous consonants, and a second one, the in-
between vowels, providing information about its lexical category and other grammatical
categories, like tense/ aspect, or number for example.
Thus, we can say that ‫ كتب‬is formed of the discontinuous consonant root [K-T-B]
]‫ب‬-‫ت‬-‫ [ك‬and the vowel pattern [-a-a-]~[ - ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-] which is interspersed into it forming the
perfect verb[‫]ك ﹷ ت ﹷ ب‬. The second word ‫ أكتب‬is similarly derived from the same consonant
root and the vowel pattern [a - - u-]~ [- ‫ ﹹ‬- - ‫] ﹷ‬, indicating that this word is a verb of imperfect
tense/aspect. And for the derivation of ‫ كاتب‬, we have the consonantal root and the vowel
pattern [- aa - i -]~ [- ‫ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬-] interposed onto the root. It provides the information that this
word is an active participle. We can think of many other words that are derived from this
consonantal root by interposing onto it different vowel patterns, e.g. [-i-aa-]~[- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹻ‬-] to
derive ‫كتاب‬, [-i-aa-at]~]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹻ‬-[ to derive ‫كتابة‬, and [ma- - a-] ~]- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫ [م ﹷ‬to derive ‫ َمكتب‬.
These vowel patterns have been given different names. Some linguists think they are
kinds of affixes and call them ‘infixes’ or ‘transfixes’. Others, who propose a two-layer
morphological structure for Arabic, have called them ‘vowel melodies’. Here, we shall
consider them a special type of affixes, and call them ‘vowel patterns’. However, we need

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to mention here that these patterns may occasionally consist of a combination of both
consonants and vowels. Besides, the derivation of a word may involve the addition of more
than one morpheme of different types, to the root base. Finally, the discussion will only
involve those vowel and consonant patterns that are used in the derivation of new lexical
items. Vowel patterns that have an inflectional function, like those indicating tense and
voice, have been dealt with in the Chapter 3 above when we discussed the verbs in Arabic.
The account for the derivation of words in Arabic starts with the verb forms. These are
based on triliteral consonantal roots, like the above example, and quadriliteral consonantal
roots. We have fifteen verb forms of triliteral consonantal roots, one basic verb stem,
representing the discontinuous consonantal root, plus the vocalic pattern, and fourteen
‘augmented’ verb stem forms that are derived from the basic form. Of the quadriliteral
consonantal roots, there are four forms, one basic verb stem representing the discontinuous
root and the vowel pattern, and three augmented forms. The derivation of the augmented
verb forms is achieved by various methods: doubling of one of the root consonants, a
change in the vowel pattern, the affixation of consonants, or any combination of these.
Below is a list of the common and frequently used forms: ten triliteral and two quadriliteral
verb forms.
The derivation of other lexical categories is dependent on these verb stem forms via the
interposition of various vowel patterns and prefixation of consonants, which signal the
lexical category of the derived word. The derivation is based on the form of the verb stem.

a. Verb forms
Triliteral roots

Form I. [CVCVC]. Consonantal root, vowel pattern [-a-a-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-[ (with some
variation in the second vowel) :]‫ [ك ﹷ ت ﹷ ب‬......‫ كرم‬،‫ كذب‬،‫ سمع‬،‫ عرف‬،‫ نجح‬،

Form II. [CVCCVC]. Consonantal root, doubling of the second root consonant, vowel
ّ ،‫ س ّمع‬،‫سلّم‬
pattern: ]‫ [ك ﹷ ت ت ﹷ ب‬....‫ شجّع‬،‫طوف‬

Form III [CVVCVC]. Consonantal root, doubling of the first vowel, vowel pattern:
]‫ [ك ﹷ ﹷ ت ﹷ ب‬...‫ جالس‬،‫ سامر‬،‫قاتل‬

Form IV [ʔVCCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ʔ/, vowel pattern:

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]‫[ أ ﹷ ج ل ﹷ س‬.....‫ أرى‬،‫ أكرم‬،‫أسمع‬

Form V [taCVCCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ta/, doubling of second root

consonant, vowel pattern: ]‫ [ت ﹷ ش ﹷ ج ج ﹷ ع‬..... ‫ تل ّمس‬،‫سم‬
ّ ‫ تب‬،‫ تربّع‬،‫سح‬
ّ ‫تف‬

Form VI [taCVVCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ta/, doubling of first vowel

in the pattern, vowel pattern: ]‫ [ت ﹷ ر ﹷ ﹷ ك ﹷ م‬....‫ تفاعل‬،‫ تكاثر‬،‫ تراجع‬،‫ تعاقد‬،‫تسامح‬

Form VII [ʔinCVCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ʔin/, vowel pattern:

]‫ [ا ﹻ ن ك ﹷ س ﹷ ر‬.....‫ انفتح‬،‫ انقلب‬،‫ اندحر‬،‫انسحب‬

Form VIII [ʔiCtVCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ʔi/ and infixation of /t/ after
first consonant, vowel pattern: ]‫ [ا ﹻج ت ﹷ م ﹷ ع‬......‫ ازدهر‬،‫ اكتتب‬،‫ اقتسم‬،‫التحم‬

Form IX [ʔiCCVCC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ʔi/ and doubling of third root
consonant, vowel pattern: ]‫[اﹻ ح م ﹷ رر‬.......‫ اصفر‬،‫ اخضر‬،‫اسود‬

Form X [ʔistVCCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ʔist/, vowel pattern:

]‫ [ اﹻ س ت ﹷ غ ف ﹷ ر‬........ ‫ استرحم‬،‫ استقبل‬،‫ استعظم‬،‫استخرج‬

Quadriliteral roots

Form qI [CVCCVC]. Consonantal root, vowel pattern: ]‫ [د ﹷ ح ر ﹷ ج‬.‫ فلسف‬،‫ هندس‬،‫طمأن‬

Form qII [taCVCCVC]. Consonantal root, prefixation of /ta/, vowel pattern:

]‫ [ت ﹷ د ﹷ ح ر ﹷ ج‬....‫ تقهقر‬،‫ تفلسف‬،‫تدهور‬

b. Participle forms
Active and passive participles ‫ إسم الفاعل‬, ‫ إسم المفعول‬are forms of multiple functions.
Besides their occasional verbal function, they are commonly used as adjectives, and are
also used as substantives referring to doers of actions (Cf. Chapters 3 and 5).
Active participles are derived from the basic triliteral roots via the pattern [-aa-i-]~
]- ‫ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- [: ]‫[ل ﹷ ﹷ ع ﹻ ب] [ش ﹷ ﹷ ع ﹻ ر‬. The derivation of this participle from augmented triliteral
forms and quadriliteral forms is via the pattern [mu-a-i-]~]- ‫ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫[م ﹹ‬, with an initial /mu/
and vowels /a/ before or after the first root consonant and /i/ before the last root consonant.
This is the same vowel pattern found in the imperfect verb form of these bases, with the
addition of the initial /mu/.

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Comparing Arabic with English

،]‫ [م ﹹ ت ﹷ م ﹷ ك ك ﹻ ن] [م ﹹ ت ﹷ س ﹷ ﹷ م ﹻ ح‬،]‫ [م ﹹ ش ر ﹻ ف‬،]‫ [م ﹹ ق ﹷ ﹷ ت ﹻ ل‬،]‫[م ﹹ ف ﹷ ك ك ﹻ ر‬

]‫[م ﹹ ن ك ﹷ س ﹻ ر‬، ]‫ [م ﹹ س ت ﹷ ع ل ﹻ م] [م ﹹ ن ت ﹷ ظ ﹻ ر‬،]‫ [م ﹹ د ﹷ ح ر ﹻ ج‬، ]‫[م ﹹ ت ﹷ ق ﹷ ه ق ﹻ ر‬

Passive participles are derived from the basic triliteral roots via the pattern
[ma- -uu-]~]- ‫ ﹹ ﹹ‬- - ‫[م ﹷ‬: with an initial /ma/ and the vowel /uu/ before the last root consonant:
]‫[م ﹷ ق ب ﹹ ﹹ ل] [م ﹷ ح م ﹹ ﹹ د] [م ﹷ ش ر ﹹ ﹹ ع‬. The derivation of this participle from augmented
triliteral and quadriliteral verb forms is via the following pattern [mu-a- a-]~]- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ [م ﹹ‬:
an initial /mu/ and the vowel /a/ before or after the first root consonant and last root
consonant, and /a/ before the last root consonant.

]‫ [م ﹹ ت ﹷ ع ﹷ م م ﹷ د] [م ﹹ ت ﹷ ج ﹷ ﹷ و ﹷ ز‬،]‫ [م ﹹ د رﹷ ج‬،]‫ [م ﹹ ب ﹷ ﹷ ر ﹷ ك‬،]‫[م ﹹ ح ﹷ م م ﹷ د‬

،]‫[م ﹹ ن ق ﹷ ل ﹷ ب‬، ]‫ [م ﹹ س ت ﹷ خ ر ﹷ ج] [م ﹹ ن ت ﹷ ظ ﹷ ر‬،]‫ [م ﹹ د ﹷ ح ر ﹷ ج‬، ]‫[م ﹹ ت ﹷ د ﹷ ح ر ﹷ ج‬

c. Noun forms
Verbal nouns

The verbal noun ‫ مصدر‬is the abstract, and sometimes concrete, noun that is related to the
action or state denoted by the verb. Its derivation is determined by the verb form. For each
verb form there is one or more verbal noun form(s). The derivation of the verbal noun
involves the interposition of a specific vowel pattern onto the root or augmented verb
forms. Some verb forms may have several verbal noun forms. In the case of Form I, the
triliteral verb form, Wright lists forty-four noun forms. The following is a list of the most
common of these forms.

F I. [-a- -]~ ]- - ‫ ﹷ‬-[ ‫[ ; نَصر‬-u--]~ ]- - ‫ ﹹ‬-[ ‫[ ; حسن‬-i- -] ~ ]- - ‫ ﹻ‬-[ ‫ [ ; ِسلم‬-a-a-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-[
‫[ بَصَر‬-i-aa-at]~]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹻ‬-[ ‫[ ; ِسبا َحة‬ma- - i-at]~]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹻ‬- - ‫عرفَة [م ﹷ‬
ِ ‫[ ; َم‬-u-uu-]~
َ ‫[ ; َخ‬-u-uu-at]~ ]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹹ ﹹ‬- ‫ ﹹ‬-[ ‫; سهولَة‬
]- ‫ ﹹ ﹹ‬- ‫ ﹹ‬-[ ‫[ ; جلوس‬-a-aa-at]~]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-[ ‫سارة‬
ِ ‫[ ; َم‬-a-ii-]~ ]- ‫ ﹻ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-[ ‫[;نَعيق‬- a- -at]~
[ma- -a-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫[ ; َمد َخل[م ﹷ‬ma- - i-]~]- ‫ ﹻ‬- - ‫رجع [م ﹷ‬
]‫ ﹷ ة‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬-[ ‫َرح َمة‬

F II. [ta- -ii-]~ ]- ‫ ﹻ ﹻ‬- - ‫[ ;تَكريم [ت ﹷ‬ta- -i-at] ~ ]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹻ‬- - ‫بص َرة [ت ﹷ‬
ِ َ‫[ ;ت‬ta- - aa-] ~
]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫تَجوال [ت ﹷ‬

F III. [mu- aa-a-at]~ ]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫شاركَة [م ﹹ‬

َ ‫م‬

F IV. [ʔi- - aa-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫اسعاد [إ ﹻ‬

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F V. [ta-a- -u-]~ ]- ‫ ﹹ‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫تَ َكلُّم [ت ﹷ‬

F VI. [ta- aa-u-] ]- ‫ ﹹ‬- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫تَكاثر [ت ﹷ‬

F VII. [ʔin-i-aa-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹻ‬- ‫انكِسار [ا ﹻ ن‬

F VIII.[ ʔi-ti-aa-] ~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ت ﹻ‬- ‫اكتِساب [ا ﹻ‬

F IX. [ʔi- - i-aa-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹻ‬- - ‫احمِ رار [ا ﹻ‬

F X. [ʔisti- -aa-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫استِخراج [ ا ﹻ س ت ﹻ‬

Fq I. [-a- -a-at]~ ]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬-[ ‫ت َر َج َمة‬

Fq II. [ta-a- -u-]~ ]- ‫ ﹹ‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫تَ َخلخل [ت ﹷ‬

Instance nouns

These are nouns that refer to actions taking place only once, or one instance of such actions.
These nouns have the same derivational patterns of the verbal nouns plus the inflection
with the feminine gender marker /at/‫ة‬/.The verbal noun vowel pattern [-a- -]~]- - ‫ ﹷ‬-[is used
for the derivation of these instance nouns from triliteral Form I roots. Examples of these
instance nouns are:

]‫ [إﹻ ل ت ﹻ ف ﹷ ﹷ ت ﹷ ة‬،]‫ [اﹻ ط ل ﹷ ﹷ ل ﹷ ة‬،]‫ [ت ﹷ رو ﹻ ﹻ ح ﹷ ة‬،]‫ [ف ﹷ ر ح ﹷ ة‬،] ‫[ج ﹷ ل س ﹷ ة] [ق ﹷ ف ز ﹷ ة‬

Nouns of kind

The noun of kind ‫ إسم النوع‬is a noun indicating the manner in which an action takes place.
The most common form of derivation of this noun is with the pattern [-i- -at] ]‫ ﹷ ة‬- - ‫ ﹻ‬-[
which ends with the feminine marker, e.g. ]‫ [م ﹻ ي ت ﹷ ة‬، ]‫[ج ﹻ ل س ﹷ ة‬.

Nouns of time and place

The nouns of time and place ‫ إسم المكان وإسم الزمان‬are nouns that refer to the place and time
at which an action takes place. These nouns are derived with the following patterns
beginning with the prefix /ma/, [ma- - a-] ~ ]- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫[ َمكتب [م ﹷ‬ma- - i-] ~]- ‫ ﹻ‬- - ‫; َمجلِس [م ﹷ‬
[ma- - a-at]~]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫[م ﹷ‬: ‫[ ; مكتبة‬mi- -aa-] ~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫[م ﹻ‬: ‫ ميعاد‬.

Instrument nouns

Nouns that denote instruments that are used to perform an action ‫ إسم اآللة‬are derived via
the following patterns all beginning with the prefix /mi/: [mi- -aa-]~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫[م ﹻ‬: ‫;مِ فتاح‬

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Comparing Arabic with English

[mi- - a-] ~ ]- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫[م ﹻ‬: ‫مِ بضَع‬, and [mi- - a - at] ~ ]‫ ﹷ ة‬- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫[م ﹻ‬: ‫ مِ ك َحلَة‬.

Abstract nouns of quality

These make a rather special subcategory of abstract nouns that are derived from relative
adjectives (see below) by the suffixation of the feminine gender suffix /at/~/ ‫ ﹷ ة‬/ to these
adjectives. Thus, from the relative adjective ‫ وطني‬we get ]‫[و ﹷ ط ﹷ ن ﹻ ي ي ﹷ ة‬. Other examples
ِ ،‫ الشيوعِية‬،‫القَومِ ية‬
are ‫ الح ِرية‬،‫اإلنسانِية‬

Diminutive nouns

Nouns may exhibit a diminutive form indicating a smaller size. A diminutive noun may
also denote some endearing or adoring sense. Diminutive nouns are derived by interposing
special vowel patterns onto their consonantal roots. The diminutive vowel pattern for
triliteral nouns is [-u-ei-] ~ ]- ‫ ﹷ ي‬- ‫ ﹹ‬-[, e.g. ‫ جبَيل‬from ‫ َجبَل‬, ‫سين‬ َ ‫ َح‬and ‫ كلَيب‬from
َ ‫ ح‬from ‫سن‬
‫كَلب‬. Diminutive forms of quadriliteral nouns are derived via the vowel pattern [-u-ei-i-] ~
َ ‫ ُم‬from ‫ َمس ِجد‬, ‫ د َري ِهم‬from ‫ دِرهَم‬, ‫ أحَيمِ ر‬from ‫أَح َمر‬, and ‫ سلَيمى‬from ‫سلمى‬
] - ‫ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ ي‬- ‫ ﹹ‬-[ e.g. ‫سي ِجد‬ َ

d. Adjective forms
In the derivation of adjectives from the basic verb stem forms, numerous patterns are used.
These are adjectives resembling participles ‫ الصفة المشبهة‬. The main patterns for the
derivation of these adjectives are:

[-a- - ]~ [- - ‫ ﹷ‬-]: ]‫ [ص ﹷ ع ب‬، ]‫[عذب‬ [-a-i-]~ [- ‫ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-] : ]‫[فَطِ ن] [ف ﹷ رﹻ ح‬

[-a-a-]~ [- ‫ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-]: ]‫ [ح ﹷ س ﹷ ن‬، ]‫[ َجلَل‬ [-u- -]~ [- - ‫ ﹹ‬-]: ]‫[حلو] [ص ﹹ ل ب‬
[-a-aa-]~ [ - ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-]: ]‫ [ج ﹷ و ﹷ ﹷ د‬, ]‫[حَصان‬ [- u-aa-]~ [- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- ‫ ﹹ‬-]: ]‫ [ش ﹹ ج ﹷ ﹷع‬،]‫[فرات‬
[-a-ii-]~ [- ‫ ﹻ ﹻ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-]: ]‫[ج ﹷ م ﹻ ﹻ ل‬, [‫]كَثير‬ [-a-uu-]~ [ - ‫ ﹹ ﹹ‬- ‫ ﹷ‬-]: ]‫[صَدوق] [ع ﹷ ط ﹹ ﹹ ف‬
َ ] [ʔa- -a-]~ [- ‫ ﹷ‬- - ‫] أ ﹷ‬: ]‫[أَكبَر] [أ ﹷ ج م ﹷ ل‬
[-a- -aan]~ [- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬-]: ]‫[ع ﹷ ط شﹷ ﹷ ن‬، [‫سكران‬

The last form [?a- -a-] is the one used in comparative constructions for the comparison
between two or more entities in having a certain property (Cf. Chapter 5 on adjectives).

Intensive adjectives

Certain adjective forms denote intensity or frequency of action. These are ‫صيغ المبالغة‬.
One of the above forms, [-a-uu-], as in ]‫[ك ﹷ ذ ﹹ ﹹ ب‬, may denote this notion of intensity.
Other common forms are derived via the patterns [-a- -aa-]~]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬-[, [-i- - ii-]~

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Comparing Arabic with English

]- ‫ ﹻ ﹻ‬- - ‫ ﹻ‬-[ and [-u- -uu-]~]- ‫ ﹹ ﹹ‬- - ‫ ﹹ‬-[ with the doubling of the second root consonant, e.g.
]‫ [ك ﹷ ذ ذ ﹷ ﹷ ب‬and ‫ [ص ﹻ د د ﹻ ﹻ ق] ; بَكّاء‬and ‫سكّير‬
ِ ; and ]‫[ق ﹹ دد ﹹ ﹹ س‬and ‫ سبّوح‬respectively.
Another common pattern is [mi- -aa-]~]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫ [م ﹻ‬like ]‫مِ قوال [م ﹻ ه ذ ﹷ ﹷ ر‬. Adding the
feminine gender marker /at/ to these adjectival forms strengthens the intensiveness of the
adjective, as in ]‫ [ع ﹷ ل ل ﹷ ﹷ م ﹷ ة‬and ‫ داهِية‬،, ‫سو َءلَة‬.
Intensive adjectives of the pattern [-a- -aa-]~]- ‫ ﹷ ﹷ‬- - ‫ ﹷ‬-[ are used as nouns referring to
ّ ،‫ ع ّطار‬،‫ بقّال‬،‫ حدّاد‬.
persons of profession like ]‫ [ن ﹷ ج ج ﹷ ﹷ ر‬and ... ‫بزاز‬

Relative adjectives

These adjectives denote belonging or connection to a place, an entity, a person, etc. They
are derived by the addition of the suffix /iy/~ /‫ ﹻ ي‬/ to the noun. So, for example, from the
noun ‫ شمس‬, we have the relative adjective ‫[ش ﹷ م س ﹻ ي] شمسي‬. Other examples are:
‫عقل > عقلي؛ عراق > عراقي؛ بصرة > بصري؛ دنيا > دنيوي‬.

Prefixes and suffixes

Besides vowel pattern interposition, affixation in Arabic may also be of the more traditional
types that we encounter in English: prefixation and suffixation. Words are formed by
adding prefixes and suffixes, though this method of word derivation is much less common
than the interposition of vowel patterns. As we saw above, some of the augmented verb
bases onto which vowel patterns are interposed may be derived via adding prefixes. This
is what we see in forms V [taCVCCVC], VI [taCVVCVC], and qII [taCVCCVC], in
which the verb bases into which the vowel pattern is interspersed are derived by the
affixation of the prefix /ta/. Form VII [ʔinCVCVC] is derived by the prefixation of /n/, and
form X [ʔistVCCVC] by the prefixation of /st/. On the other hand, verb form VIII
[ʔiCtVCVC] is derived by the infixation of /t/ between the first and second root consonants.
A certain type of adjectives, i.e. the relative adjective, is derived from a nouns via a
specific suffix /iy/~ /‫ ﹻ ي‬/, e.g. ‫ وطني< وطن‬. Abstract nouns may be derived from this relative
adjective by adding the suffix /at/~/ ‫ ﹷ ة‬/ as in ‫وطنية < وطني‬

11.2.2.2. Compounding

New words in Arabic are also derived by joining independent bases, i.e. words, to form
new ‘compound words’. Of course, compounding, the process of joining two independent

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Comparing Arabic with English

words to form another with a new, and sometimes unrelated, meaning is a feature that is
not particular to Arabic. We do find words like ‫‘ رأسمال‬capital’ which is the result of joining
‫‘ رأس‬head’ and ‫‘ مال‬money’, ‫‘ ماصدق‬extension’, which is derived from the relative marker
‫‘ ما‬what’ and the verb ‫‘ صدق‬was true’, and ‫‘ الأخالقي‬immoral’ from the negative particle ‫ال‬
‘not’ and the relative adjective ‫‘ أخالقي‬moral’.
The above examples are orthographically considered single words with no space
between their components. There are few compound proper names that are occasionally
written as single words, e.g. ‫ خانيونس‬. However, most of the time, the components of the
compound words in Arabic are orthographically treated as separate units. This is what we
find in compounds like: ،‫ ليل نهار‬، ‫ دودة القز‬، ‫ عين الماء‬، ‫ عروس البحر‬، ‫ شهر العسل‬،‫ خاتم الذهب‬،
،‫ أحمر صارخ‬،‫لطيف المعشر‬
Compounds in Arabic may consist of elements of various categories. The most common
of which are of the N+N type like: ‫ ناطحة سحاب‬،‫ عروس البحر‬،‫ بيت الدرج‬،‫جرس االنذار‬
Syntactically, all these are construct state constructions. There are A+N compounds which
are similarly structured, e.g. ،‫ حسن النية‬،‫ ناعم الملمس‬،‫ واثق الخطوة‬،‫لطيف المعشر‬. We also have
A+A compounds like ‫ أصفر فاقع‬،‫أحمر صارخ‬. There are compounds that consist of a relative
marker +Verb compounds like ‫‘ ماصدقات‬extensions’, from the particle ‫ ما‬and the verb ‫صدق‬,
and those that consist of Adv +Adv like ‫ صباح مساء‬and ‫ ليل نهار‬, both meaning ‘always’ or
‘all day long’. We may also include here compound verbs made of the negative particle
‫ ما‬and a verb, like ‫ ما فتئ‬،‫ ما انفك‬،‫ ما برح‬،‫ ما دام‬،‫ال زال‬/‫ما‬, and compound adverbs formed of
the relative marker ‫ ما‬and an adverb, like ‫ ربما‬،‫ سيما‬،‫ وقتما‬،‫ حالما‬،‫ حيثما‬،‫حينما‬
Compounds in Arabic may be semantically divided into endocentric and exocentric
compounds. Endocentric compounds are those that refer to a particular type of what the
first component in the compound refers to. So ‫ دودة القز‬is a kind of worm, and ‫ غرفة الطعام‬is
a room where food is taken. However, ‫ رأسمال‬is not a kind of head, nor is ‫ عروس البحر‬a
special type of bride. These two compounds are exocentric.

The endocentric vs exocentric contrast is sometimes linked to the notion of headedness

in compounds. A headed compound is endocentric: the compound is a hyponym of the
head. Headless compounds are exocentric. There is no hyponymy relation between the
compound and one of its elements. However, as mentioned above, the notion of ‘head’ is
not based totally on semantic grounds. The head of a compound also determines its

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Comparing Arabic with English

category. In Arabic, it seems that the overwhelming majority of the compounds are headed.
Exceptions to this may be found in such compounds as ‫ صباح مساء‬and ‫ليل نهار‬. The head
element of a compound in Arabic is the first element. Therefore, in ‫ رب البيت‬the word ‫ رب‬is
the head, and so is ‫ لطيف‬in ‫لطيف المعشر‬. The head of the compound determines its lexical
category. The compound ‫ رب البيت‬is a noun because its head ‫ رب‬is a noun, and ‫لطيف المعشر‬
is an adjective because its head ‫ لطيف‬is one.
The pluralization of compounds provides further evidence for the notion of headedness.
In those Arabic compounds where only one of the two elements is pluralized, it is the head
that carries the plural inflection. Thus we have ‫ جوازات سفر‬،‫غرف الطعام‬, ‫ عيون الماء‬, ‫عرائس‬
‫ البحر‬, ‫ ناطحات السحاب‬and ‫ لطيفو المعشر‬. However, in many instances where both elements of
the compounds are pluralized, as in ‫رؤوس أموال‬, ‫أولياء األمور‬. The exception to this trend in
pluralization is where the compound is taken as one single lexical item and is pluralized as
such. This is what we see in ‫ ماصدقات‬, the plural of ‫ ماصدق‬and ‫ رساميل‬, which is an alternative
plural form of ‫رأسمال‬.
Compounding in Arabic may involve joining parts, or portions of independent lexical
items. In this process, known as blending, one or both words that are joined lose some of
their vowels and consonants. Though very few instances of blending have been attested in
Classical Arabic, e.g. ‫‘ جلمود‬boulder’ from ‫‘ جلِد‬freeze’ and ‫‘ جمد‬harden’, Standard Arabic
today contains many of these blends, e.g, ‫ األفروآسيوية‬،‫ الفوقومية‬،‫ القروسطي‬،‫البرمائي‬,
‫…كهرومغناطيسي‬..
The more drastic mode of compounding, acronymy, which involves forming new words
from the initial letters of phrase, may also be found in Standard Arabic. The noun ‫ بسملة‬is
said to be derived from the phrase ‫ بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬in this way. In modern use, we may
find instances of acronyms used for naming units, movements or parties, e.g. ‫ قسد‬for ‫قوات‬
‫ سوريا الديمقراطية‬and ‫ حشد‬for ‫حزب الشعب الديمقراطي‬, or ‫ فتح‬which is the reverse of ‫ حتف‬for ‫حركة‬
‫ التحرير الفلسطيني‬and ‫ حماس‬for ‫حركة المقاومة اإلسالمية‬. These are not pronounced as strings of
letters. Rather they are taken as words and are pronounced as such.

11.2.2.3. Reduplication

Besides deriving words via the interposition of a vowel pattern within a discontinuous
consonantal root, prefixation, suffixation, or compounding, few Arabic lexical items are

258

258
Comparing Arabic with English

derived from roots that exhibit reduplication. Reduplication is a process where all or part
of a morpheme is repeated. This [‫– ك‬hod of derivation could be seen in quadriliteral roots
like ]‫ح‬- ‫ن‬- ‫ح‬- ‫ [ن‬،]‫ ر‬-‫ ك‬-‫ [ك –ر‬، ]‫ه‬-‫ق‬- ‫ه‬-‫ [ق‬, from which the verbs ]‫[ك ﹷ ر ك ﹷ ر] [ق ﹷ ه ق ﹷ ه‬
and ]‫ [ن ﹷ ح ن ﹷ ح‬are derived via the interposition of a vowel pattern /- a- - a -/. It is suggested
that in these roots, reduplication of a two-consonant root has taken place. In this mode of
derivation, one may include the derivation of Form II triliteral roots, which are derived by
duplicating the second root consonant, e.g. ]‫ ب‬- ‫ [ك – ت ت‬from the base root ]‫ ب‬- ‫[ك – ت‬,
and Form III triliteral roots, which are derived by the lengthening, or duplication, of the
first vowel in the vowel pattern, e.g. ]‫[ك ﹷ ﹷ ت ﹷ ب‬. In this light, these might constitute an
instance of partial reduplication.

11.2.3. Comparing word derivation in English and Arabic

When we look at how Arabic and English form their lexical items, the first thing that
attracts our attention is the wide difference between them. However, the two languages
also share some features.

1. English and Arabic differ in the way their morphemes combine, or are structured
within the derived word. While morphemes in English are joined in a linear fashion, i.e.
they are positioned either before or after one another, in Arabic the main method of
building lexical items is for morphemes to be interposed onto one another. That is, one
may picture them as belonging to two different levels, or ‘tiers’. Affixation of bound
morphemes to bases in English in the derivation of new words is achieved by the
prefixation or suffixation of these morphemes to the bases. On the other hand, in Arabic,
words are derived by interposing ‘vowel patterns’ onto discontinuous consonantal roots,
i.e. the vowels occupy positions between the consonants and not before or after them.
2. In English, affixes are classified according to whether they change the category of the
base they are attached to, or change its meaning. This distinction does not generally
apply to Arabic. The main method of deriving new words, i.e. the interposition of vowel
patterns, does not act on a pre-existing word to change its category. Without the vowel
pattern, the root does not make an independent lexical item. The lexical item comes into
existence and adopts a category only after the vowel pattern is inserted. There are,
however, very few suffixes in Arabic that change the category of the base they are

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attached to, like those used in deriving relative adjectives from nouns, or abstract nouns
of quality from relative adjectives.
3. In Arabic, some of the vowel patterns contain consonantal elements. These are the
initial consonants that we find in nouns of time and place, instrument nouns, active and
passive participles of the augmented triliteral and quadriliteral verb forms, and one or
two forms of intensive adjectives. They might be taken as separate prefixes, except that
in the derivation of the words, they function in conjunction with the interposed vowels.
4. Each category-changing affix in English is specified as to the category that results
from its addition and the category of the base it is affixed to. So, there are noun-forming
affixes, verb-forming affixes, adjective-forming affixes, and adverb-forming affixes. In
Arabic, for the derivation of lexical items of each category, there are a number of
specific patterns that are used for this purpose. Generally, there is no overlapping in the
patterns. There are specific patterns for the derivation of the base and augmented verb
forms, patterns for the derivation of the active and passive participles, the various types
of nouns and of adjectives.
5. As for the meaning-changing affixes, this seems to be a feature of English morphology.
There are no affixes in Arabic that are attached to affect the meaning of the base. The
negative adjectives like ‫ الأخالقي‬and ‫المعقول‬, seem to be compound words that are derived
via joining the negative particle ‫ ال‬to the adjective.
6. Both languages use compounding as a method to derive new words from old ones. In
both Arabic and English, lexical items of similar or different categories combine to
make compound words. However, the variety of such combinations is wider in English
than in Arabic as the discussion above shows.
7. Orthographically, many of the compound words in English are written as single lexical
items, though some are hyphenated and others are written with the two components
treated as separate items. In Arabic, the overwhelming majority of the components of
the compounds are written as separate items. There are few compounds that are written
as single lexical items.
8. The endocentric vs. exocentric semantic contrast is maintained in the compounds of
both languages. In Arabic and English, we find endocentric compounds in which the
compound refers to a type of its head element, or is a hyponym of the head. We also

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find exocentric compounds in the two languages in which no such semantic relation
obtains, e.g. redneck and sabretooth in English and ‫ بيت الدرج‬،‫ عروس البحر‬in Arabic.
9. The above semantic contrast is sometimes linked to the notion of ‘head’ in compounds.
However, the head of a compound is also identified as the element that determines its
lexical category and carries the plural inflection. This is the case in the compounds of
both languages, though these heads do not occupy the same position in the compounds
of the two languages. In English it is the second element, while in Arabic, it is mostly
the first. However, both languages exhibit instances of headless compounds.
10. Both languages show instances of blending where only portions of one or both
elements in the compound are joined together instead of the full words. Blending in
English is commonly used as a method of deriving new words in science, technology,
names of new products, advertisement, etc…
11. Both languages make use of a special mode of compounding, acronymy, to derive
new words via joining the initial letters or sounds of the elements of phrases to form a
new word. New acronyms are created everyday in English and Arabic.
12. While conversion is a widely used method of deriving new words in English,
resulting in many words of multiple categories, conversion is not used for the derivation
of new words in Arabic .
13. In Arabic, we may find instances of another method of word derivation. This is
reduplication, which is not so common in English. Many quadriliteral verbs are the
result of reduplication, it is even suggested that some of the augmented verb stem forms
are the result of partial reduplication: forms II, V and IX.

Exercises

1. Collect as many examples as you can of the augmented verbal forms V, VII, and
VIII in Arabic. What aspects in meaning do they share and where do they differ,
compared to their basic stems? How do verbs in English express the same shades
of meaning that these forms express in Arabic?
2. Headless compounds are found in both English and Arabic. Collect more instances
of such compounds and find out if they are equally common in English and Arabic,
and how they are treated in the two languages. Check the compounds whose
categories differ from those of their two elements

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3. Are there any other processes of word formation? (Hint: eponymy, where a word
that refers to an entity is derived from the proper name of a person, place, etc.. that
is connected with the entity). Find out how this method is used in Arabic and
English and see where they differ or are similar.

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