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Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXIX: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2015
Edited by Hamid Ouali
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 5] 2017
► pp. 129–150

Chapter 5
Some issues for an analysis of the templatic comparative in Arabic with a focus on the Egyptian dialect

| Indiana University

The comparative in Arabic appears to be a quintessential case of templatic morphology. In most Arabic dialects, the comparative seems to be formed by taking the base adjective and matching it to the templatic shape aCCaC. For example, [kibi:r] ‘big’ has the comparative [akbar]. However, when the details of comparative formation are taken into consideration, various issues arise concerning morphology, syntax, semantics, and phonology. This paper identifies and discusses several of these issues regarding the Arabic comparative, with a primary focus on the Egyptian dialect. Among several novel observations, this study demonstrates that the Arabic comparative reflects a root-based process. This finding offers important support for the consonantal-root-based view of Arabic word formation and, consequently, argues against a strictly stem- or word-based view of Arabic morphology.

Keywords: Egyptian Arabic, comparative, allomorphy, root-based morphology, color terms
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The canonical templatic comparative
  • 3.Issues of agreement and word order
  • 4.Templatic allomorphy
  • 5.Gaps
  • 6.The comparative as a derivational process: Evidence from [R]-depharyngealization
  • 7.The comparative as a root-based word formation process
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.5.06dav
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