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17 - Arabic Morphology

Inflectional and Derivational

from Part III - Theoretical and Descriptive Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2021

By
Janet C. E. Watson
Edited by
Karin Ryding  and
David Wilmsen
Karin Ryding
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
David Wilmsen
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut
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Summary

This chapter takes us on a survey of morphological categories, both derivational and inflectional, focusing not only on MSA but even more particularly on Yemeni, Saudi, and Egyptian dialects in contrastive analysis. Starting with the basics of Arabic derivation, Watson notes the key templatic nature of Arabic word formation and reviews concepts such as verb valency and different types of noun categories. In her discussion of Arabic inflectional categories, Watson covers number, gender, person, aspect, tense, mood, voice, degree, and definiteness.

Keywords

derivationmorphologyinflectioninflectional categoriesvalencyroottemplate
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics , pp. 405 - 424
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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