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The morphological integration of loanwords into Modern Standard Arabic

Gadelii, Niklas LU (2015) ALSK11 20142
General Linguistics
Abstract
This thesis explores the morphological integration of Standard Average European (SAE) words into Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The topic constitutes a challenge insofar as SAE and MSA are typologically very different, and integration of words from SAE into MSA should therefore be generally difficult. Loanwords were selected from a collection of contemporary short stories and filtered through a Modern Standard Arabic dictionary of words with non-Semitic origin. This was followed by a morphological analysis and categorization of the loanwords. The loanwords can be divided into two groups. Words in the first group do not fit into the so called root and pattern system of MSA, i.e. the configuration where a verbal root serves as the basis for... (More)
This thesis explores the morphological integration of Standard Average European (SAE) words into Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The topic constitutes a challenge insofar as SAE and MSA are typologically very different, and integration of words from SAE into MSA should therefore be generally difficult. Loanwords were selected from a collection of contemporary short stories and filtered through a Modern Standard Arabic dictionary of words with non-Semitic origin. This was followed by a morphological analysis and categorization of the loanwords. The loanwords can be divided into two groups. Words in the first group do not fit into the so called root and pattern system of MSA, i.e. the configuration where a verbal root serves as the basis for derivations and inflections produced via internal vowel or consonant alternations. However, words in this group can take Arabic suffixes. The latter group can be subdivided into (i) loanwords which can be linked to formal roots as evident from their broken (= root internal) plural pattern, (ii) proper verbal roots or (iii) a combination of these. This classification enables us to create a scale of morphological integration. It is shown that suffixing (as in group 1) is not a viable strategy for integrating loanwords into a language exhibiting the root and pattern-system, such as MSA. Of special interest is the border between loanwords consisting of unintegrated solid stem words on one side, and on the other, loanwords that can be linked to a root. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Gadelii, Niklas LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Towards a morphological categorization of loanwords
course
ALSK11 20142
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
broken plurals, morphology, Modern Standard Arabic, loanwords, roots and patterns
language
English
id
5053170
date added to LUP
2015-02-24 10:54:29
date last changed
2015-02-24 10:54:29
@misc{5053170,
  abstract     = {{This thesis explores the morphological integration of Standard Average European (SAE) words into Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The topic constitutes a challenge insofar as SAE and MSA are typologically very different, and integration of words from SAE into MSA should therefore be generally difficult. Loanwords were selected from a collection of contemporary short stories and filtered through a Modern Standard Arabic dictionary of words with non-Semitic origin. This was followed by a morphological analysis and categorization of the loanwords. The loanwords can be divided into two groups. Words in the first group do not fit into the so called root and pattern system of MSA, i.e. the configuration where a verbal root serves as the basis for derivations and inflections produced via internal vowel or consonant alternations. However, words in this group can take Arabic suffixes. The latter group can be subdivided into (i) loanwords which can be linked to formal roots as evident from their broken (= root internal) plural pattern, (ii) proper verbal roots or (iii) a combination of these. This classification enables us to create a scale of morphological integration. It is shown that suffixing (as in group 1) is not a viable strategy for integrating loanwords into a language exhibiting the root and pattern-system, such as MSA. Of special interest is the border between loanwords consisting of unintegrated solid stem words on one side, and on the other, loanwords that can be linked to a root.}},
  author       = {{Gadelii, Niklas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The morphological integration of loanwords into Modern Standard Arabic}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}