This book is the first comprehensive account of the phonology and morphology of Arabic. It is a pioneering work of scholarship, based on the author's research in the region. Arabic is a Semitic language spoken by some 250 million people in an area stretching from Morocco in the West to parts of Iran in the East. Apart from its great intrinsic interest, the importance of the language for phonological and morphological theory lies, as the author shows, in its rich root-and-pattern morphology and its large set of guttural consonants. Dr Watson focuses on two eastern dialects, Cairene and San'ani. Cairene is typical of an advanced urban Mediterranean dialect and has a cultural importance throughout the Arab world; it is also the variety learned by most foreign speakers of Arabic. San'ani, spoken in Yemen, is representative of a conservative peninsula dialect. In addition the book makes extensive reference to other dialects as well as to classical and Modern Standard Arabic. The volume opens with an overview of the history and varieties of Arabic, and of the study of phonology within the Arab linguistic tradition. Successive chapters then cover dialectal differences and similarities, and the position of Arabic within Semitic; the phoneme system and the representation of phonological features; the syllable and syllabification; word stress; derivational morphology; inflectional morphology; lexical phonology; and post-lexical phonology. The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic will be of great interest to Arabists and comparative Semiticists, as well as to phonologists, morphologists, and linguists more generally.

This is an account of the phonology and morphology of modern spoken Arabic, the first to be published in any language and based largely on the author's research. Dr. Watson's approach is theoretically innovative and aware, but accessible to Arabic language specialists outside linguistics. Broad in coverage, this is an important and pioneering book.

This book is the first comprehensive account of the phonology and morphology of Arabic. It is a pioneering work of scholarship based on the author's research in the region.Arabic is a Semitic language spoken by some 250 million people in an area stretching from Morocco in the West to parts of Iran in the East. Apart from its great intrinsic interest, the importance of the language for phonological and morphological theory lies, as the author shows, in its rich root-and-pattern morphology and its large set of guttural consonants. Dr Watson focuses on two eastern dialects, Cairene and San'ani. Cairene is typical of an advanced urban Mediterranean dialect and has acultural importance throughout the Arab world; it is also the variety learned by most foreign speakers of Arabic. San'ani, spoken in Yemen, is representative of a conservative peninsula dialect. In addition the book makes extensive reference to other dialects as well as to classical and ModernStandard Arabic.The volume opens with an overview of the history and varieties of Arabic, and the position of Arabic within Semitic. Dialectal differences and similarities are discussed in successive chapters which cover the phoneme system and the representation of phonological features; the syllable and syllabification; word stress; derivational morphology; inflectional morphology; lexical phonology; and post-lexical phonology. The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic will be of great interest toArabists and comparative Semiticists, as well as to phonologists, morphologists, and linguists more generally.

This volume presents a comprehensive study of Arabic morpho-phonology with its basics and intricacies, by making available a wide range of material from the 8th century A.D. until our days and exploring the main topics that arise. It uses as its point of departure an unused source: the end of the 13th century Marāḥ al-arwāḥ by Aḥmad b. ‘alī Mas‘ūd, which is critically edited and provided with an introduction, an English translation and an extensive commentary. It offers an analysis of many grammatical theories, paradigms, qur'anical citations, verses of poetry, dialectal variants and Semitic words and concludes with various indices that make the enormous body of information easily accessible.

Product Description Phonology is the study of the changes that can affect a word, and sometimes even two words, for different reasons relating to a certain implied heaviness, like the existence of two identical letters or two letters that are close to each other or a hamza or a weak letter. The phonological changes are recognized as the assimilation of a letter to another, the substitution of a letter for another, the addition or elision of a letter or vowel and the transfer of a letter or vowel to another position. This study explores in detail when these changes are necessary, allowed or forbidden. The presentation of the rich data, the theoretical analyzes of the phonological elements and the references to the different works from the classical period of the 8th century until our days, offer a detailed and accessible study for both the students and researchers of Arabic. About the Author Joyce Akesson has studied the Semitic languages at Lund's University, Sweden, and has previously been a lecturer there during many years. Beside the present book, she is the author of "The Basics & Intricacies of Arabic Morphology" (Pallas Athena 2010), "The Phonological Changes due to the Hamza and Weak Consonant in Arabic" (Pallas Athena 2010), "A Study of the Assimilation and Substitution in Arabic" (Pallas Athena 2010), "The Essentials of the Class of the Strong Verb in Arabic" (Pallas Athena 2010), "The Complexity of the Irregular Verbal Nominal Forms & the Phonological Changes in Arabic" (Pallas Athena Distribution 2009), "Arabic Morphology and Phonology: Based on the Marah Al-Arwah by Ahmad B. Ali B. Masud" (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, Brill Academic Publishers 2001) and "Ahmad B. 'Ali B. Mas'Ud on Arabic Morphology Marah Al-Arwah: Part 1: The Strong Verb" (Studia Orientalia Ludensia, Vol 4, Brill Academic Pub 1990). She has also published several articles about Arabic linguistics in two Journals, the Journal of Arabic Linguistics (the ZAL or Zeitschrift fur Arabische Linguistik) Wiesbaden, and the previous Acta Orientalia, Denmark. She has also written a lemma about sarf "morphology/phonology in the Encyclopaedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, vol. 4. Leiden: Brill, 20.

Product Description Despite the amount of material about Arabic grammar, phonology, and morphology, the need for a book combining an independent study in morphology with theoretical discussions is more than evident. This book fills that void by proposing an in-depth analysis of various morphological issues based on the seven classes of verbs and their nine derivatives. These classical classes are the strong verb, the doubled, the hamzated, the verb with 1st radical w or y, the verb with 2nd radical w or y, the verb with 3rd radical w or y, and the verb that is doubly weak. The nine derivatives are the perfect, imperfect, imperative, infinitive noun, active participle, passive participle, noun of time, noun of place and noun of instrument. The different sections introduce several paradigms of verbs, a carefully explored data and explicit information about the morphological structures and the various phonological changes that can affect them, such as the addition, transfer or elision of a vowel or letter, the assimilation of two letters and the substitution of one letter for another. The study pays also particular attention to the most representative works from the 8th century until our days. About the Author Joyce Akesson has studied the Semitic languages at Lund's University, Sweden, and has previously been a lecturer there during many years. Beside the present book, she is the author of "The Phonological Changes due to the Hamza and Weak Consonant in Arabic" (Pallas Athena 2010), "A Study of the Assimilation and Substitution in Arabic" (Pallas Athena 2010), "The Essentials of the Class of the Strong Verb in Arabic" (Pallas Athena 2010), "The Complexity of the Irregular Verbal Nominal Forms & the Phonological Changes in Arabic" (Pallas Athena Distribution 2009), "Arabic Morphology and Phonology: Based on the Marah Al-Arwah by Ahmad B. Ali B. Masud" (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics), Brill Academic Publishers (July 2001) and "Ahmad B. 'Ali B. Mas'Ud on Arabic Morphology Marah Al-Arwah: Part 1: The Strong Verb" (Studia Orientalia Ludensia, Vol 4), Brill Academic Pub (October 1990). She has also published several articles about Arabic linguistics in two Journals, the Journal of Arabic Linguistics (the ZAL or Zeitschrift fur Arabische Linguistik) Wiesbaden, and the previous Acta Orientalia, Denmark. She has also written a lemma about sarf "morphology/phonology in the Encyclopaedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, vol. 4. Leiden: Brill, 20.

This volume provides important contributions to Arabic linguistics and Linguistic research in general by presenting new empirical facts and innovative theoretical analyses. It consists of two major parts: the first contains four papers on phonology and morphology, most of which deal with phonology/morphology interface, while the second part includes five papers on syntax. The papers featured represent some of the current trends in Arabic Linguistics especially in the areas of Phonology and Syntax. Some of the articles are contributions to ongoing debates on the nature and properties of specific aspects of Arabic, such as: gemination and stress assignment in Phonology, and negation in Syntax. Other papers introduce new topics such as: analyzing intonational patterns in Arabic Phonology, investigating the source of the morpheme /-in/ in the less studied varieties of Central Asian Arabic in Morphology, and analyzing “sluicing” in Syntax.