Verbal and Nominal Forms of Najdi Arabic

7/28/2019 Verbal and Nominal Forms of Najdi Arabic

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Trustees of Indiana UniversityAnthropological Linguistics

Verbal and Nominal Forms of Najdi ArabicAuthor(s): A. Aziz I. Al-SweelSource: Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Spring, 1987), pp. 71-90Published by: The Trustees of Indiana University on behalf of Anthropological LinguisticsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30028090 .Accessed: 12/09/2011 07:57

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VERBAL NDNOMINAL ORMS F NAJDI ARABIC*

A. Aziz I. Al-SweelKing Saud University

ABSTRACT, This paper is a descriptive account of the verbal andnominal forms of Najdi Arabic. NA is the dialect of the desertregion of the Arabian Peninsula. This dialect is the leaststudied, among Arabic dialects, within modern linguistics. Itis hypothesized that NA is the closest dialect, still spoken, tothe Classical Arabic. Through studies like this we hope to beable to shed more light on more facts of Classical Arabic. More

studies on so-called peninsular dialects in general will cer-tainly unveil much of the alleged truth about the many generali-zations made regarding all Arabic dialects.

0,0, NAJDI ARABIC. (NA) is a dialect of Arabic spoken inNajd, the middle region of the desert part of Arabia constitut-ing today's Saudi Arabia. There is no scientific geographicallimitation for the area called Najd, but usually (locally) it isused to refer to the area lying from Yemen to the south to theborders of Jordan to the north, and from the Ahsa oasis to theeast to the mountains of Hijaz and the plains of Asiir to thewest.

Thispaper, however,

is limited to the dialectspoken

inthe Al-Qassim area and to some extent in Hail to the north.This dialect is what Johnston refers to as the Shammari type(see Johnston 1967a, b). NA is the least studied among Arabicdialects in the framework of modern linguistics, and thereforereferences are less than one hand's fingers in number (see, forexample, Lehn 1967; and Abboud 1975, 1978; Czapkiewicz 1975).Eurpoean explorers who visited Najd in the 18th and 19th centur-ies (not much visited at that time) wrote some descriptiveaccounts of the dialect.

0.1, INTRODUCTION TO DERIVATION, This paper is aboutverbal and nominal forms of NA, especially derived forms. Theterm "derived" is used here to indicate a regular relationshipof form and meaning between existing words of the same root, nothistorical development. In this sense the more complex of twoforms is considered to be derived from the simpler; the latteris termed the basic one (see Al-Sweel 1981).

1.1, NA BASIC VERBAL FORMS, Three basic patterns areencountered in the verbal system of NA (Bakalla 1979; Ingham1982). The following table illustrates the three forms:

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72 Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 29, No. 1

Strong Verbs Weak Verbs Doubled Verbs

sirib to drink diri to know 9add to count

kitab to write wigaf to stop yamm o aim at

hasab to calculate gal to say bass to feelThe pattern fvcvl is usually used as a canonical shape, but dueto the fact that the second radical ' affects the vowels in itsneighbourhood (see Al-Sweel 1981; Brame 1970), the arbitrarilychosen form fvbvl will be used instead. The three basic pat-terns of NA verbs are given below:a. fibil: may be referred to as high pattern.1 Examples:

girib to drink simi9 to hear

fitin to remember yibis to dry upb. fibal: may be referred to as mixed pattern. Examples:

kitab to write bital to continuegita9 to cut fitah to open

c. fabal: may be referred to as low pattern. Examples:ahaa6 to beg hasad to envyhasab to calculate sarag to steal

1,2, NADERIVED ERBAL ORMS, NA exhibits the main ninederived forms exhibited by Classical Arabic (CA) (see Thorton1919; Wright 1933). These derived forms are given below:(2) Fabbal is formed from the basic fvbvl class by doubling thesecond radical. This form signifies intensivity or extensive-

ness. It also functions as a causative in some cases. The fol-lowing examples illustrate this form:

kassar to smash kisar to break

gallal to cause to be few gall to be few

daxxal to cause to go in daxal to go in

talla9 to cause to go out tala to go out

(3) Fabal is formed from the basic fvbvl pattern by lengtheningthe vowel a after the first radical. It has many functions, themost important of which is that of reciprocity. Examples ofthis include the following:

xibar to tell each other xabar news

katab to write to each other kitab to write

k~tal to fight each other kital to kill

This pattern sometimes exhibits a stative function as the fol-lowing examples show:


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Forms of Najdi Arabic 73

nabar to look

calam to call

s~qad to help

(4) The fourth form, ?afbal, is formed by prefixing?a-

to thebasic form fvbvl, causing the first vowel to drop. This form isfactive or causative. Examples of this form are provided below.

7arcab to give a ride ricib to ride

?adxal to get ... in daxal to get in

?arbak to confuse ribak to be confused

(5) The fifth form, tvfabbal, is formed from the second pattern,fabbal, by prefixing ti- (or ta-) to it. The prefix ti- addsthe reflexive function to the functions of the second form men-tioned in (2) above. The following examples are of this pat-tern.

ticallam to speak kallam to talk to

tifarraj to watch farraj to show

taCallam to learn 9allam to teach

taxarraj to graduate xarraj to take out

(6) The sixth form, tvfabal, is formed by prefixing ti- (or ta-)to the third form. This form is reflexive because of the prefixti-, but also reciprocal in that the f~bal form itself is recip-rocal. The result is a collective. Examples of this form fol-low.

tikItab to write to each other katab to write totisavad to help each other saqad to help ...

taxagar to share xaar to share withtaqCraf to know each other qaraf to know ...

(7) The seventh form, infvbal, is formed from the basic pattern,fvbvl, by prefixing n-. ?- is inserted at the beginning of theword after a pause, and i is inserted to break the cluster ofthree consonants. This form has a passive function.

inkitab it was written kitab to write

inlitabit was cracked

litabto crack

inhalab it was milked halab to milk

inxatab he was engaged xatab to get engaged

(8) The eighth form, ?iftvbal, is formed from the basic patternby inserting -ti- (or -ta-) between the first and the secondradicals. As expected, the first a drops, giving rise to acluster of three consonants at the beginning of the word. Thistriggers epenthesis of i- to the form. This is properly thereflexive form of the basic fvbvl pattern. The reciprocal


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function is also very common to this form. This latter functionarises from its being reflexive.

?iftilal to feel shy figil to be shy?ibtisam to smile bisam to smile

?iftaxar to be proud faxar to be proud?ibtlas to be in trouble bilig to be in trouble

(9) The ninth form, ?ifball, is formed from the basic pattern bydoubling the third radical. Its function is intensiveness. Itis usually used to express properties of color, defect, and emo-tions (see Erwin 1962 and Qafisheh 1977 for comparable dialects).The following are examples of this pattern:

?iswadd to become black siwid to be black

?ilmarr to become red himir to be red

?istarr to become happy sarr to make ... happy?ihtarr to become hot harr to make ... hot

(10) The tenth form, ?istafbal, is formed by prefixing sta- tothe basic form. This form is frequently denominative. In NA,this form is particularly interesting in that it has two sub-classes: the normal one mentioned above and a cluster form,?istfvbal, which is formed from a gutteral-initial verb. Thenormal form, however, exists for these verbs but it is lessencountered than their cluster forms as the following examplesshow.

?istarjal to be a man

?istarxa to relax

?istarba to seek to satisfy

?istcadal or istacdal to sit upright

?istxadam or istaxdam to use (a person) as a servant

?isthadaf or istahdaf to aim at something

2,0, NA-PECULIAR DERIVED FORMS, Despite its relation toClassical Arabic, NA has some particular and peculiar derivedverbal forms that do not exist in CA and perhaps in any otherArabic dialect. In what follows I will introduce these peculiar

verbal forms and discuss their morphological construction andfunction.2,1,0, POTENTIAL. Two derived verbal forms, which I will

henceforth refer to collecitvely as the potential, exist in NA.There is the form yintifabbal which will be called the normalpotential, and there is the form yintif~bal which will be calledthe reciprocal potential.

The potential form indicates that the subject is capable ofundergoing an action. Only the imperfect is inflected for the


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potential. Its formation is a complex morphological process,and may be analyzed as follows.

2..1.. Normal potential is formed by prefixing n- to theform fabbal which has already had ti- (or ta-) prefixed to it,i.e., from the derived verbal form numbered (2) discussed in

1.2, above. This is formed by doubling the second radical ofthe basic form fvbvl. The formation of the normal potentialform in NA may be schematized as follows:

fvbvl + fabbal + tvfabbal + -ntvfabbal.

The following paradigms illustrate forms related to thispattern.

High Pattern

1. gibiv he became full2. gabbe he made somebody full

5. tivabbaq he made himself fullp. yintigabbaq he could be made fullLow Pattern

1. xalat he mixed

2. xallat he mixed repeatedly

5. taxallat it got mixed

p. yintaxallat it could be mixed

Mixed Pattern

1. kitab he wrote

2. kattab he wrote repeatedly5. tikattab it got written repeatedly

p. yintikattab it could be written repeatedlyMore examples of normal potential in NA follow:

yintaqallam he could be told

yintisanna9 it could be fixed

yintiga2- it could be shopped or shopping could be done

Inflection of normal potential in NA is given below:

Singular Pluralantacallam I could be nintaeallam we could be

told told

tintatallam you s.m. could tintacallimn you p.m. couldbe told be told

tintarallimln you s.f. could tintacalliman you p.f. couldbe told be told


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yintacallam he could be yintacallim~n they m. couldtold be told

tintaqallam she could be yintaqalliman they f. couldtold be told

2.1.2. Reciprocal potential is formed by prefixing n- tothe form fabal, which as is the case in normal potential, hasalready had ti- (or ta-) prefixed to it, i.e., from the thirdderived verbal form number (3) discussed in 1.2, above. Thisis formed by lengthening the vowel of the first syllable of thebasic form. The formation of the reciprocal potential form inNA may be schematized as follows:

fvbvl fabal tvfabal -ntifabal.

The following paradigms illustrate forms related to thispattern.High Pattern

1. simi9 to hear

3. samaq to whisper5. tisamaq to whisper to each other

P. yintis&maq to be able to be whispered to

Low Pattern

1. xalat to mix

3. xalat to mix with

5. taxalat to mix with each other

P. yintaxalat to be able to be mixed with

More examples of this pattern follow:

yintisaham could be shared with

yintifiham could be negotiated with

yintaqada could be treated as an enemyInflexion of reciprocal potential in NA goes as follows:

Singular Plural

antax~lat I could be nintaxalat we could bemixed with mixed

withtintaxalat you s.m. could tintaxalitan you p.m. could

be mixed with be mixed with

tintaxalitin you s.f. could tintaxalitan you p.f. couldbe mixed with be mixed with

yintaxalat he could be yintaxalitan them m. couldmixed with be mixed with

tintaxalat she could be tintaxalitan they f. couldmixed with be mixed with


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2,2, PRETENSIVE, The form tif8bal is a verbal form whichdoes not exist in CA, but is a NA verbal form. It is not easyto label this particular form with any of the available termi-nological labels. Among other less common functions, it donatesthe function of pretending. It most frequently means to pretendto be ... or to appear like ..., and we may, henceforth, call itpretensive.

The pretensive is formed by raising the first vowel of thebasic form fvbvl to the mid-vowel e, i.e., to f~bal. Further-more, it requires tv- to be prefixed to it. The pretensive isinflected in both the perfective and the imperfective as thefollowing examples show:

Perfect Imperfect

titawal to pretend to be taZZll ytitgwalta1hwal to pretend to be cross-eyed ytabhwal

fvbvl + febal + tvf8bal ytvfgbalThe form fabal exists in the dialect but is very rare.

Some examples follow:

newat to pass ... to ...

d~war to make a U turn in a car

rawas to back up in a car

9awaj to bend

More examples of the pretensive pattern follow:

tayvba to pretend to be dumb

timawat to pretend to be dead

taieraj to pretend to be lame

tijhal to pretend to be ignorantThe perfective inflexion of this form runs as follows:

Singular Plural

tah9walt I pretended to tahgwalna we pretended tobe cross-eyed be cross-eyed

tabwal you s.m. pre- tabwaltu you p.m. pre-tended to be tended to be

cross-eyed cross-eyedtahbwalti you s.f. pre- tahbwalan you p.f. pre-

tended to be tended to becross-eyed cross-eyed

tat~wal -he pretended tahbwalaw they m. pre-to be cross- tended to beeyed cross-eyed


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tah9walat she pretended tahewalan they f. pre-to be cross- tended to beeyed cross-eyed

Its imperfective inflection is as follows:

Singular Plural?atahgwal I pretend to ntahBwal we pretend to

be cross-eyed be cross-eyedtahbwal you s.m. pre- tahbwalfn you p.m. pre-

tend to be tend to becross-eyed cross-eyed

tah-walgn you s.f. pre- tabhwalan you p.f. pre-tend to be tend to becross-eyed cross-eyed

ytah9wal he pretends to ytahgwalbn they m. pre-

be cross-eyed tend to be cross-eyedtahbwal she pretends ytahgwalan they f. pretend

to be cross- to be cross-eyedeyed

Notice that the first-person singular feminine ending is-an instead of the usual -in, and that the first-person pluralmasculine is -6n instead of the usual -an. It is interestingto notice that the vowel in both cases is a mid-vowel whichcharacterizes the formation of this verbal form. Another inter-esting point to notice here is the assimilation in the cases oft-initial prefixes.

3,0, DERIVED NOUNS, Most of NA's nominal forms arederived from other more basic forms. Verbs are the source ofthe majority of derived nouns. These forms are referred to asVerbal Nouns. Some nominal forms are derived from adjectives.And a number of them are derived from other nouns. The follow-ing examples illustrate the three categories of derived nominalforms respectively:

falah to farm flabih farming

habib friendly hababih friendliness

rajil a man marjlih manliness

3.1.0, Verbal nouns are nominal forms that express thenotion contained in the radicals of the underlying verb. Theyhave the general meaning of that verb. They usually indicate anevent, a function, a state, or a quality of the base verb. Thederivation of these forms depends to a great degree on the classof verbal base from which it is derived. Within these classes,however, a number of different nominal patterns are derivable.This is noticeable especially in Class I verbs, and is lessencountered in other classes.


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3.1.1, TRILITERALS., There are ten different triliteralnominal forms. There are a number of possible nominal forms foreach verbal class; Class I verbs are the basic verbal forms of1.1, above; Classes II-X, consist of the derived verbal formswith corresponding numbers in 1,2.

3.1.1.1. CLASS I, This is by far the most productiveclass. It exhibits a number of nominal forms. Its derivationis quite irregular. The following are the most common nominalforms of Class I triliteral verbs. Notice that the pattern(i.e., high, low, or mixed) does not affect the pattern of thenominal forms derived from verbs of this class:

1. Nominal pattern fbUl

high ricib to ride rclb ridingmixed rijaV to return rjaT returninglow harab to flee hrib fleeing

2. Nominal pattern fabl - fibl

high lihidz to follow labg followingmixed litas to mind lats mindinglow darab to hit darb hitting

high ribih to win ribh a win

3. Nominal pattern fabal - fabil

high tiqib to get tired tacab tiredness

mixed sibar to withhold sabir patience

low talab to demand talab demanding4. Nominal pattern fba:lih

high sibih to swim sbahih swimmingmixed siby to dye sbcyih dyelow daras to study drasih studying

5. Nominal pattern fibil - fabal

high hizin to be sad hizin sadness

mixed sitar to cover sitir cover

low mayal to make busy liyil worklow racad to thunder racad thunder

Weak verbs:

6. Pattern 1 fbu:l

yibis to dry ybu:s dryness

wisil to reach, arrive wsu:1 arrival


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7. Pattern 4 fba:lih

sag to drive swagih/syagih drivingras to head ryasih heading

8. Nominal patternfa:bi

bay' to want bayi want

sawa to roast sawi roasting9. Nominal pattern fo:l and fe:12

gal to say g61 saying xat to sew xat a thread

Xaf to fear x5l fear bar to sell bg9 selling

10. Nominal pattern fibl

high zilim to know 9ilm knowledge

mixed --

low --

3,1,1.2. CLASS II, There are two patterns for nominalforms derived from Class II verbs.

A. The nominal pattern tafbi:l for Class II verbs exceptweak (lame) verbs:3

fattas to search taftiv search

gassam to divide tagsIm dividing

nawwar to light tanwir light

yabbas to dry taybIs drying

B. The nominal pattern tafbat for weak Class II verbs:rabba to grow something tarbat growing something

sawwa to make even taswat making something even

3.1,1,3, CLASS III. There are three patterns for nominalforms derived from Class III verbs.

A. The nominal pattern mfaralih or mfabilih:

saad to help msaadih helping

Iawal to try mhawilih a trial

B. The nominal pattern mfabal

n~aar to look mnabar looking

gbab to hold each other mga.ab holding eachother

hawal to quarrel mhwal a quarrel

C. The nominal pattern mfab~t

ganB to sue mga6at a suit

s5da to be enemy to m9ad't hostility

lawa to bend mlawat bending each other


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3.1.1.4. CLASS IV, One pattern of nominal forms is possi-ble from these verbs. That is the pattern ifbl:

adxal to cause to enter idxal causing something to enterarcab to give a ride irc~b giving a ride

3.1.1.5. CLASS V. There is one possible nominal form ofthese verbs. That is tifibbil:

ticallam to talk ticillim talkingtifarrav to watch tifirri5 watching

tacallam to learn ticillim learning

taxarra' to graduate tixirri5 graduating

3.1.1.6. CLASSVI, There is one pattern for nominal formsof these verbs. That is tifibil (or tifibi for weak verbs):taV5raf

to know each other tiqirif knowing each othertanasa to pretend to forget tinisi pretending to forgettaXa'ar to share tixivir sharing

3.1.1.7. CLASS VII. The only pattern possible for nominalforms derived from these verbs is the pattern infiba:l:4intibah to pay attention intibah attention

insitab to crack insitab a crack

insidah to Zay down insidah Zaying down

3.1.1.8. CLASSVIII, The only possible pattern for theverbs is iftiba:l:5ifti'al to feel shy iftial shynessibtisam to smile ibtis:m smilingiftaxar to feel proud iftixar pride

3.1.1.9 CLASS X, One pattern is possible. That isifbil=1:6

isfarr to become yellow isfirar becoming yellowimtadd to stretch imtidad stretching

3.1.1.10. CLASS X,A. istifbal:

istarxas to seek permission istirxms seeking a permissionista9mal to use istiemal using

B. istifalih for Class X verbs derived fromweak low verbs(triliterals):

istifad to make use of istifadih making use ofistara to relax istirahih relaxation

ista9~n to seek help isti9nih seeking help


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3,1.2. QUADRILITERALS. The only possible pattern forquadriliteral verbs in NA fablilih:

laqwaz to trouble laqwizih troubling

naxjar to annoy naxjirih annoying

nagras to bother nagrisih bothering

Reduplicated quadriliteral verbs follow the regular pattern:

zalzal to quake zalzilih quakinglaclaV to shout la9licih a shout

Derived quadriliterals have the pattern tifiblil:

talaqwaz to have troubles tiliqwiz having troubles

tifanjal to have tea tifinjil having tea in a cuptizalzal to quake tizilzil quaking

The forms fibal/fgbal and tif6bal/tifgbal, referred to in 2.2 asthe pretensive.A. The form fEbal/fibal.

febal + flbilih

newat to hand newitih handing

rewas7 to make a reverse riwisih a reverseor rewas

2. fobal + f~bal/fibilih:

96kas to cause trouble 9ckas causing trouble

hasan to makesomebody

hnsanmaking somebodyfeel sorry feel sorry

h56al to make singing- h5bilih making singing-like noise like noise

s5far to whistle sbfirih whistling

B. The form tifgbal/tif6bal:

1. The form tif~bal -+ taf5bal:

titgwal to pretend to be tall titiwil pretending tobe taZZll

tabwal to pretend to be tihiwil pretending to

cross-eyed be cross-eyed

tanewat to try to reach tintwit trying to reachsomething something

2. The form tifbbal + tafibal:

tacDkas to have problems 9ikis having problems

ta96mas to have a dilemma i~m~ms having a dilemma

taIasan not to know what hfasan not knowing whatto do to do


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3.1.3. INSTANCE NOUNS. This is an attested ClassicalArabic form (ismul marrah) although the particular pattern maydiffer in NA. It designates a single occurrence of the underly-ing verbal form. Instance nouns are usually derived by suffix-ing -ih to the verbal noun.

A. Strong Verbs:rigas to dance ragsih a dance

li9ib to play li9bih a gamesirib to drink giribih a sip

B. Weak Verbs:1. fl + f6lih:

nam to sleep namih a nap

gam to stand up gjmih standing

2. fl + filih:

sad to become a leader sidih becoming a leader

yab to be absent ygbih8 absence

But notice also forms like:A. mAt to die mitih a death

1 to live 91!ih a living

say to form siyih a formB. ticallam to talk cilmih a word

3. Derived verbs (Classes II-X) and quadriliterals donot usually have instance nouns.

3,1.4, UNIT NOUNS, This is also a Classical Arabic form(ismu lhayah). The pattern in NA may, however, differ fromthat of the classical language. This form designates an indi-vidual unit of the underlying collective noun. Derived by suf-fixing -ih to the collective noun:

dijaj chickens dij2jih a chicken

b36 eggs bSbih an eggxUx peaches xTIxih a peachromman pomegranate rommnnih a pomegranate

There are, however, some exceptions to this pattern. Thefollowing are some examples of these exceptions.5ibin cheese 5ibnih a piece of cheeseramil sand ramlih a sand

dihin fat dihnih a piece of fatMacar hair l9arih a hair

naxal palm trees nxalih a palm tree


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bigar cows bgirih a cow

bisal onions bsalih an onion

sijar trees s3irih a tree

gita sandpipers gitat a sandpiperhasa pebbles hasat a pebble

3.1.5. FEMININE OUNS,A. Human and animal feminine forms are formed by suffixing

-ih to the corresponding masculine nominal form.

jidd a grandfather viddih a grandmother

camm an uncle cammih an aunt

calb a dog calbih a bitch

zoo3 a husband zoovih a wife

B. A group of feminine forms require a vowel elision:jahil ignorant m. jahlih ignorant f.9dilp wise m. qdzlih wife f.

talib a student m. tlbih a student f.C. Another group of feminine forms are formed by vowel

elision and a consonantal elision:

mqazzib an employer m. mqazbih an employer f.mdarris a teacher m. mdarsih a teacher f.myassil a washer m. myaslih a washer f.

D. Nouns ending in i or u go through the following changeafter suffixing -ih: i + y and u + w.

rami a shooter m. ramyih a shooter f.sagi a drink server m. sagyih a drink server f.6abi an antelope m. babyih an antelope f.9ibu a member m. ci6wih a member f.luulu a pearl m. luulwih a pearl m.

filu a young stallion filwih a mare

E. The suffix -iyyih is added to some nouns to form thefeminine counterpart. It is the feminine (nisbah)relative suffix, too.

yani a rich male yaniyyih a rich woman

h~di a quiet male h~diyyih a quiet woman

yabi a stupid male yabiyyih a stupid woman

giwi a strong male giwiyyih a strong female

sc9di a Saudi male ssidiyyih a Saudi female


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forms of najdi arabic 85

gtiri a qatari male gtiriyyih a qatari femalesari a syrian male striyyih a syrian female

3,2.1, participles as nouns, first, active participles:1. class i:

a. fa:bil for strong verbs:

hasab to count lhsib a counter

kitab to write katib a writer

girib to drink sarib a drinker

b. fa:bi for defective verbs:

sara to buy gari a buyer

liga to find ldzi a finder

diri to know dari a knowledged m.

c. weak verbs fa:yib:gal to say gayil a sayer

xaf to fear xayif afraid

c~b to defect c defectived. doubled verbs fabb:

gass to tell a story gass a story telling9add to count 9add countingmadd to stretch madd stretching

2. class ii:a. mfabbil:

faval to embarrass mfallil an embarrassing (matter)

xayyam to tent mxayyim a camper

xawwaf to cause somebody to mxawwif dreadfulbe afraid

saffag to clap one's hands msaffidz clapperb. defective verbs mfabbi:

salla to pray msalli a praying one

hayya to greet mhayyi a greeting onerawwa to water mrawwi a watering (thing)

sadda to rust msaddi rusty3. class iii mfa:bil:

safar to travel msifir a traveller

kitab to write to each other mkatib a writer

catab to rebuke m9atib rebuke


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4. Class IV:A. mifbil for strong verbs:

axbar to tell mixbir a teller

adxal to cause something to midxil somebody who causesenter something to enter

azcal to cause somebody to mizil somebody causingbe angry somebody to be

angryB. mifbi for defective verbs:

arxa to loosen mirxi a Zoosener

arba to satisfy mir8i a satisfier

ayra to attract miyri attractive

arsa to anchor mirsi anchorer

5. Class V:A. mtifabbil + mtafabbil:

tisallaf to borrow mtisallif borrower

tavallam to learn mta9allim learned

ta9awwar to get injured mtaqawwir injured

B. mtifabbil S mtafaffi for defective verbs:

tisalla to pass time mtisalli time-passer

tayadda to have lunch mtayaddi somebody who had lunch

6. Class VI:A. mtifa:bil + mtafa:bil for strong verbs:

ti'wa to get well mti'wi getting wellta9~fa to get fat mtaqafi fat

B. mtifabi + mtafabi for defective verbs:

tibara to match each other mtibari somebody who matches

tahaca to talk to each other mtahaci talking to each other

7. Class VII:A. minfibil + minfabil for strong verbs:

inticar to be spilled mintieir spilledinharag to burn minharidz burnt

B. minfibi + minfabi for defective verbs:

intala to get full mintili fullinhaca to be told minhaci told

C. minfabb:

ingass to get cut mingass cut


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incall to get ill minall ill

8. Class VIII:A. miftibil for strong verbs:

ixtaral to get excited mixtirig excited

irtacad to shake mirticid shaken

B. miftibi for defective verbs:istaha to feel shy mistihi shy

iAtaha to want migtihi wanting

C. mift:1 for weak verbs:

ihtaj to need mihttj needy

irtah to relax mirtah relaxed

D. miftabb:

ihtamm to get worried mihtamm worried

ihtadd to have to mihtadd having to

istadd to do without mistadd doing without

9. Class X:A. mistafbil for strong verbs:

istamal to use mistacmil user

istarxas to take a permission mistarxis permission-taker

B. mistafbi for defective verbs:

istar6a to seek mistarbi satisfaction-seekersatisfaction

istahda to advise mistahdi (mistahdi) advisor

C. miftifibb for doubled verbs:

istababb to like mistihibb likingistaradd to recapture mistiridd recapturing

10. Quadriliterals:A. mfablil for basic and reduplicated verbs:

xarbat to paint non- mxarbit painting nonsensesense lines

zalzal to quake itself mtizalzil quaking

taxarbat to get confused mtaxarbit confused

3,2,2, PASSIVE PARTICIPLES,1. Triliterals mafbl:6arab to hit maSrib hit

sirib to drink mari-b a drink


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kitab to write makttb written

2. Augmented (derived triliterals):A. m-forms (non-clustered forms):

kattab to write repeatedly mkattab written repeatedlyB. mi-forms (forms with two consonantal clusters):

istacjal to be quick mistacjal quick

istardab to seek to satisfy mistarda8 satisfied

3. Quadriliterals mfablal:

xarbat to paint nonsense mxarbat confusedlaqwaz to cause troubles mlaqwaz troubled

zalzal to quake mzalzal quaked

Adjectives:

1. Positive Adjectives:The following adjectives are mainly with verbal underlyingforms:

A. fibil + fabil:

tiwil tall m.s.

nibif clean m.s.

habib beloved m.s.

xabie wicked m.s.

B. Weak verbs fayyil:

tayyib + tRb kind m.s.

hayyin + hMn easy m.s.

6ayyidz + d'g narrow m.s.

C. The following adjectives have nouns underlying themfibil:

giwi strong + giwih strength

6aki intelligent + 6ika intelligence

sixi generous + saxa generosity

yabi dullZZ + yaba dullness

D. Doubled fa:ll:~arr hot + tarr heat

marr passing by + marr to pass

2. fabla:n form. Derived from Class I verbs. Usually indi-cates emotional states:'

ta9ban tired + ticib to get tired

xailfn shy + xijil to get shy


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sab9~n full + ibi9 to get full

nadmin sorry + nidim to get sorry

3. Nisbah adjectives (relative adjectives). These are mainlyderived from nouns, or adjectives. They are formed by suf-

fixing -i to the word:

scdi a Saudi scd a proper name Saud

masri an Egyptian masir Egyptbahri sea . . . bahar sea.10

WORKS ITED

Abboud, P. F. 1975. Verb Suffixation in Najdi Arabic. Etudes Arabes etIslamiques. II. Langue et Litterature Vol. i., Paris.

. 1978. The vowel of the imperfect prefix in Arabic. In Linguis-tics and Literary Studies in Honor of Archibald A. Hill, Mohammad AliJazayery, E. C. Polme, and W. Winter, eds. II, Descriptive Linguistics.

Al-Sweel, A. Aziz. 1981. The Verbal System of Najdi Arabic, A morphologi-cal and phonological study. University of Washington M.A. Thesis.

Bakalla, M. H. 1979. The Phonological and Morphological Components of theArabic Verb. London, Beirut: Longman and Librairie du Liban.

Brame, M. 1970. Arabic Phonology: Implications for Phonological Theoryand General Semitic. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.

Czapkiewicz, A. 1975. The Verb in Modern Arabic Dialects as an Exponent ofthe Development Process Occurring in Them. Warsaw.

Erwin, W. M. 1962. A Short Reference Grammar of Iraqi Arabic. Washington,D. C.: Georgetown University Press.

Ingham, B. 1982. North East Arabian Dialects. London and Boston: KeganPaul International.

Johnstone, T. M. 1967a. Eastern Arabian Dialect Studies. London OrientalSeries, Vol. 17. London: Oxford University Press.

. 1967b. Aspects of syllabification in the spoken Arabic of Anizah.Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 30.

Lehn, W. 1967. Vowel Contrasts of Najdi Arabic. Linguistics Studies inMemory of Richard Salade Harell, Graham Stuart, ed. Georgetown Univer-sity Press, 123-31.


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Qafisheh, H. A. 1977. A Short Reference Grammar of Gulf Arabic. Tucson:The University of Arizona Press.

Thorton, F. D. 1919. Elementary Arabic. A Grammar. Cambridge UniversityPress.

Wright, W. 1933. A Grammar of the Arabic Language. [Translated fromCaspari's German. Cambridge University Press 1964.]

NOTES*. The IPA conventional phonetic symbols will be used throughout the

paper. The following symbols are of special interest:[9]: This symbol stands for the voiced pharyngeal.[h]: This symbol stands for thevoiceless counterpart of [9]

1. The terms "high", "mixed", and "low" refer to the nature of thevocalic segments of the pattern. Thus the "high" pattern contains highvowels in its two syllables; the mixed contains a high, then a low vowel,while the low contains two low vowels.

2. Notice the forms tal -+ til, not t51, and mas + miis, not mis.

3. As usual a clustered pattern has two nominal forms, e.g., callameither ta9lim or tcallm and qawwar either taqwir or tqawir.

4. The pattern infbdl prevails in the clustered forms such as insayal +

inssy:l.

5. The pattern iftib5l is preferred in the clustered patterns, ixtalaf +ixtlaf.

6. The pattern ?iftba:l is obtained in the case of the clustered exam-

ple ?ihtamm + ?ihtma:m.

7. This is a borrowed English word (reverse).

8. This differs from ylbih slander, from ?iytRab to slander.

9. There is an interesting relation between this form and the excep-tional class of triliteral fibil verbs.

10. The phonological change in the last two examples is due to the dif-ferences in stress.

Documents

Verbal and Nominal Forms of Najdi Arabic