Nonconcatenative Morphology of MSA as Represented by Deverbal Verbs

Abstract

The present paper considers how the derivation of deverbal verbs occurs in Arabic, a language with nonconcatenative morphology. As Arabic linguists have carefully investigated Arabic deverbal verbs, English literature lacks such investigations. Demonstrating how a word modifies meaning while explaining the intriguing nonconcatenative morphology of Arabic are reasons for considering deverbal verbs. To illustrate the hierarchical structure of Arabic deverbal verbs efficiently, autosegmental analysis was used. Arabic manuscripts and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) dictionaries, using the Alshamela search engine and the Almaany search engine, were consulted to create a list of deverbal verbs. The manuscripts were utilized to find the initial lists, while the dictionaries were used to filter the list to only include the current deverbal verbs. The author found MSA deverbal verbs are derived through nonconcatenative morphology. The meanings of deverbal verb particles were concluded to belong to an additional autosegmental tier that is distinct from the tier of the root meaning. Notice how the meaning of the deverbal verb تضرّب [taDar:aba] ‘hit oneself’ as an intransitive verb retains the root meaning of ضرب [Daraba] ‘hit’ and adds the deverbal meaning indicating the action happening to oneself. It had been expected that all the verb roots would interact with the deverbal verb templates; however, this was not the case. These morphological gaps were attributed to violations of MSA phonotactics or semantic oddities. Further investigation of the deverbal verbs, considering other languages with nonconcatenative morphology, while investigating the deverbal verb meanings from an Optimality Theory perspective, presents promising plans for future research.