Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiv
Abbreviations xv
Glossary xvi
1 Arabic: An Insider’s Perspective 1
1.1 My Experience with Arabic 4
1.2 My Experience with Other Languages 10
1.3 About this Book 12
Part I Arabic Sounds and Sound Systems 15
2 Speech Sounds: An Insider’s Perspective 17
2.1 Production of Speech Sounds 18
2.2 The International Phonetic Alphabet 21
2.3 The Arabic Writing System 23
2.4 Conclusion 27
3 Arabic Consonants and Vowels 28
3.1 Modern Standard Arabic Consonants 28
3.1.1 Place of Articulation 29
3.1.1.1 Bilabial Consonants 29
3.1.1.2 Labiodental Consonants 32
3.1.1.3 Interdental Consonants 32
3.1.1.4 Alveolar Consonants 34
3.1.1.5 Palatal Consonants 35
3.1.1.6 Velar Consonants 36
3.1.1.7 Uvular Consonants 37
3.1.1.7 Pharyngeal Consonants 38
3.1.1.8 Glottal Consonants 39
3.1.2 Voicing 40
3.1.3 Manner of Articulation 40
3.1.3.1 Oral Stops 41
3.1.3.2 Nasal Stops 43
3.1.3.3 Fricatives 43
3.1.3.4 Liquids 46
3.1.3.5 Glides 47
3.2 Modern Standard Arabic Vowels 48
3.3 Modern Standard Arabic Sounds: Putting it all Together 52
3.4 Levantine Arabic Sounds 56
3.4.1 Levantine Arabic Consonants 56
3.4.2 Levantine Arabic Vowels 58
3.4.3 Levantine Arabic Sounds: Putting it all Together 58
3.5 Conclusion 63
4 Arabic Syllable Structure and Stress 65
4.1 Syllable Structure in Modern Standard Arabic 66
4.2 Stress in Modern Standard Arabic 76
4.3 Syllable Structure and Stress in Levantine Arabic 79
4.4 Conclusion 85
5 Arabic Sound System 87
5.1 Minimal Pairs and Phonemes vs. Allophones 89
5.2 Phonological Derivation 93
5.2.1 Assimilation 93
5.2.2 Epenthesis 104
5.2.3 Syncope and Vowel Shortening 109
5.2.4 Ordering of Rules 111
5.3 Conclusion 113
Part II Arabic Words: Their Structure and Meaning 115
6 Arabic Morphology: An Overview 117
6.1 Agglutination 118
6.2 Interdigitation: Root-and-Pattern Morphology 124
6.3 Conclusion 128
7 Arabic Verbs: Form and Meaning 130
7.1 Modern Standard Arabic Verbs 130
7.2 Pattern I: C1VC2VC3 or faʕal-a/faʕil-a/faʕul-a 136
7.3 Augmented Patterns II through X 142
7.3.1 Patterns II and V: faʕʕal-a and tafaʕʕal-a 142
7.3.2 Patterns III and VI: faːʕal-a – tafaːʕal-a 146
7.3.3 Patterns IV and X: ʔafʕal-a – stafʕal-a 150
7.3.4 Patterns VII and VIII: nfaʕal-a – ftaʕal-a 153
7.3.5 Patterns I–VIII, X: Looking at Them Together! 156
7.3.6 Patterns IX: fʕall-a 158
7.3.7 Verb Patterns: A Word of Caution 159
7.4 Levantine Arabic Verbs 161
7.4.1 Verb Conjugation in Levantine Arabic 161
7.4.2 LA Pattern I Verbs 164
7.4.3 LA Pattern II 165
7.4.4 LA Pattern III 167
7.4.5 LA Pattern IV 169
7.4.6 LA Pattern V 171
7.4.7 LA Pattern VI 173
7.4.8 LA Pattern VII 174
7.4.9 LA Pattern VIII 176
7.4.10 LA Pattern X 177
7.4.11 LA Pattern IX 179
7.5 Conclusion 179
8 Arabic Nouns: Form and Meaning 181
8.1 The Modern Standard Arabic masˤdar 182
8.1.1 Pattern I Verbal Nouns 183
8.1.2 Patterns II–X Verbal Nouns 185
8.2 Modern Standard Arabic Participles 189
8.2.1 Participles Derived from Pattern I Verbs 189
8.2.2 Participles Derived from Patterns II–X Verbs 191
8.3 Other Types of Modern Standard Arabic Nouns 198
8.3.1 Nouns of Instance 198
8.3.2 Nouns of Profession: C1iC2aːC3a(t)/fiʕaːla(t) 201
8.3.3 Nouns of Instrument 202
8.3.4 Nouns of Place 203
8.4 Modern Standard Arabic Adjectives 204
8.4.1 Adjective Derivation from Pattern I Verbs 204
8.4.2 Adjectives Denoting Color and Physical Traits 206
8.4.3 Relative Adjectives 206
8.4.4 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives 208
8.5 Modern Standard Arabic Nouns and Adjectives: Inflectional Categories 210
8.5.1 Modern Standard Arabic Gender 210
8.5.2 Modern Standard Arabic Number 211
8.5.2.1 Modern Standard Arabic Dual 212
8.5.2.2 Modern Standard Arabic Sound Feminine Plural 212
8.5.2.3 Modern Standard Arabic Sound Masculine Plural 215
8.5.2.4 Modern Standard Arabic Broken Plural 216
8.5.3 Modern Standard Arabic Case 219
8.5.4 Modern Standard Arabic Definiteness 221
8.6 Levantine Arabic Noun Morphology 223
8.6.1 Levantine Arabic Definiteness 224
8.6.2 Levantine Arabic Gender 224
8.6.3 Levantine Arabic Number 225
8.6.4 Levantine Arabic Case 226
8.7 Conclusion 229
Part III Arabic Phrases and Phrase Structure 253
9 Arabic Morphophonology 231
9.1 The Arabic Verb Root 232
9.2 Verb Roots and Morphophonology 234
9.2.1 The Morphophonology of Assimilated Roots 234
9.2.2 The Morphophonology of Hollow Roots 236
9.2.3 The Morphophonology of Defective Roots 240
9.2.4 The Morphophonology of Verbs Derived from Geminated Roots 244
9.3 Other Morphophonological Phenomena 248
9.3.1 The Morphophonology of Imperatives 248
9.3.2 Syncope and Epenthesis in Lebanese Arabic Verb Paradigms 250
9.4 Conclusion 252
10 Phrase Structure: An Overview 255
10.1 Categories and Phrases 256
10.2 Constituency 263
10.3 Conclusion 267
11 The Simple Sentence in Arabic 269
11.1 Verbal Sentences 269
11.2 Nominal Sentences 280
11.2.1 Verbless Nominal Sentences 281
11.2.2 Nominal Sentences with Linking Verbs 283
11.2.3 Nominal Sentences with Lexical Verbs 289
11.3 Conclusion 295
12 Arabic Noun Phrases 296
12.1 The Minimal Noun Phrase 296
12.2 Noun Phrases with Specifiers 301
12.2.1 Indefiniteness 301
12.2.2 Definiteness via l- Suffixation 303
12.2.3 Demonstratives 308
12.3 Noun Phrases with Modifiers 309
12.3.1 Noun Phrases with Adjectives 309
12.3.2 Noun Phrases with Prepositional Phrases 315
12.4 Construct Noun Phrases 317
12.4.1 The Structure of Construct Noun Phrases 317
12.4.2 Construct Noun Phrases as Single Prosodic Units 322
12.4.3 Construct Noun Phrases: Meaning Contributions 331
12.4.4 Other Uses of Construct Noun Phrases 341
12.5 Conclusion 343
13 Arabic Verb Phrases 345
13.1 Verb Phrases: Selectional Requirements 345
13.2 Tense, Aspect, and Mood 352
13.2.1 The Perfective 353
13.2.2 The Imperfective 357
13.2.2.1 The Imperfective in Modern Standard Arabic 357
13.2.2.2 The Imperfective in Levantine Arabic 365
13.3 Verb Phrases with Compounds Verbs 372
13.4 Conclusion 381
14 Before You Go 382
14.1 What Have We Accomplished? 382
14.2 Where Do We Go Now? 384
Bibliography 385
Index 391
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