Arabic morphology: diminutive verbs and diminutive nouns in San'ani Arabic

Watson, JCE

Abstract

Word formation in Arabic has traditionally been assumed to involve interdigitation of a consonantal root with a vocalic pattern. This view is adopted by a large number of modern generative morphologists. More recently, however, several morphologists have argued that words in Semitic are formed from fully vocalised stems. In this paper, I argue that in San'ani (the dialect of San'a), and in some other Arabic dialects, there is a class of verbs that have as part of either their denotations or connotations a diminutive sense. I then consider diminutive nouns in the dialect. On the basis of semantic and phonological relationships between diminutive verbs and their non-diminutive counterparts, as well as native speakers' explanations of certain diminutive verbs, and the relationship between diminutive nouns and their non-diminutive counterparts, I argue that while some derivational processes take the root as the basic morphological unit, phonological and semantic similarities between certain stems can only be accounted for by derivation from a fully vocalised stem. I therefore conclude that both root-based and stem-based types of word formation occur.

Citation

Watson, J. (2006). Arabic morphology: diminutive verbs and diminutive nouns in San'ani Arabic. Morphology, 16(2), 189-204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-006-9103-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Jan 27, 2009
• Journal: Morphology
• Print ISSN: 1871-5621
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 189-204
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-006-9103-5
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11525-006-9103-5