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Inflectional Morphology in Arabic and English: a Contrastive Study

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Inflectional Morphology in Arabic and English: a Contrastive Study International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 5, No. 2; 2015 ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Inflectional Morphology in Arabic and English: A Contrastive Study Muayad Abdul-Halim Ahmad Shamsan1,2 & Abdul-majeed Attayib3 1 College of Science and Arts, University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia 2 Faculty of Arts, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan 3 English Language Centre, Umm AlQura University, Saudi Arabia Correspondence: Muayad Abdul-Halim Ahmad Shamsan, M. A Lecturer, College of Science and Arts, University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: [email protected] Received: January 14, 2015 Accepted: February 12, 2015 Online Published: March 29, 2015 doi:10.5539/ijel.v5n2p139 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v5n2p139 Abstract This paper investigates Arabic and English inflectional morphology with a view to identifying the similarities and differences between them. The differences between the two languages might be the main reason for making errors by Arab EFL learners. Predicting the sources of such errors might help both teachers and learners to overcome these problems. By identifying the morphological differences between the two languages, teachers will determine how and what to teach, on the one hand, and students will know how and what to focus on when learning the target language, on the other. Keywords: inflectional morphology, modern standard Arabic, contrastive analysis 1. Introduction 1.1 Inflectional Morphology Inflectional affixes are those which are affixed to words to indicate grammatical function. Spencer, (1991, p. 21) points out “Inflectional operations leave untouched the syntactic category of the base, but they too add extra elements. These are elements of meaning (for example, tense, aspect, mood, negation and so on) and also grammatical function.” The grammatical function of a word in a sentence manifests itself clearly in terms of either word inflectional ending as in Arabic or word position in a sentence as in English. It has been pointed out by (Thakur, 1997, p. 86) that “The syntactic relationship that a word has with the other words in the sentence manifests itself in its inflectional endings and not in the place that it occupies in relation to the other words in that sentence.” Arabic language is one of the inflectional languages, whereas, English shows only a few features of these languages. 1.2 Modern Standard Arabic There is a little difference between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The former is the language of the Holy Quran and the latter is currently used in the Arab world. Ryding, (2005, p. 4) says “In terms of linguistic structure, CA and MSA are largely but not completely similar.” Though, there are different dialects of Arabic that are spread all over the Arab countries, the official language that is used by all of them is MSA. It is the language of literature, media and education. 1.3 Contrastive Analysis (CA) Fisiak (1981, p. 1) defines CA as a linguistic discipline that is concerned with comparing two or more systems of languages to determine similarities and differences between them. Interlingual errors made by students usually stem from mother tongue interference. CA helps teachers predict these errors and present some remedial solutions to these problems before they occur. 1.4 Objectives of the Study This study includes both comparing and contrasting Arabic and English inflectional morphology to find out similarities and differences between them. It is hoped that this study will provide some solutions to the linguistic problems that Arab EFL learners face due to the differences between the two languages in terms of inflectional morphology. Both teachers and students will be acquainted with these problems and plan for their solutions. 139 www.ccsenet.org/ijel International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 5, No. 2; 2015 1.5 Limitation of the Study This study is limited to Arabic and English inflectional morphology. However, its theoretical findings and results will help not only teachers and EFL Arab learners, but also syllabus designers to reconsider areas of difficulty that cause problems to students in inflectional morphology. 1.6 Methodology This study is largely a theoretical study. Different books on Standard Arabic and English morphology and syntax have been utilized. Then, a descriptive method has been used to describe the data using the principles of contrastive linguistics. 2. Arabic Words Arabic words consist of one or more morphemes. Unlike English, the morphemes in Arabic content words are discontinuous. Watson, (2002, p. 3) points out “One of the main distinguishing features of Semitic languages is their root-and-pattern morphology.” The root in Arabic language is consonantal and it cannot stand on its own as a word. It indicates meaning but it needs the support of a pattern, i.e., one or more vowels, to form a word. Function words, pronouns and loanwords are regarded as solid stems because “they cannot be reduced or analyzed into the root-pattern paradigm” (Ryding, 2005, p. 50). To derive or inflect words from that root, vowels are usually inserted into it. In other cases consonants can be affixed to that root to derive other words. The root consonant q-t-l (Note 1) indicates something related to killing. Table (1) shows different words related to this meaning. Table 1. Words related to the same meaning with the same consonantal root Word Meaning Word Meaning Qatal kill + perfective Qātala fight + perfective yaqtul kill + imperfective qātil killer/mortal ʔuqtul kill (imperative) qatl killing qatīl killed/martyr/assassinated taqātal fight (one another) maqtūl killed/martyr/assassinated qutila be + killed 2.1 Verb Structure The grammatical categories that pertain to verbs in Arabic are: tense, number, person, mood, gender and voice. There is an agreement between the verb and the subject of the sentence in terms of number, person and gender. (Ryding, 2005, p. 438) argues that “agreement markers ensure that the verb inflects in accordance with the nature of its subject.” The consonants in q-r-ʔ indicate something related to reading. Table (2) presents different sound triliteral verb forms in the past tense that consist of the consonantal root q-r-ʔ, the vowel pattern -a-a- and the suffixes that carry the inflectional markers for number, person and gender. It should be noted that past tense verbs don't take prefixes to inflect. Table 2. Past tense verbs with the same consonantal root conveying related meaning Word Number Person Gender qaraʔtu Sg. 1st Masc./Fem. qaraʔnā Dual/Pl. 1st Masc./Fem. qaraʔa Sg. 3rd Masc. qaraʔat Sg. 3rd Fem. qaraʔā Dual 3rd Masc. qaraʔatā Dual 3rd Fem. qaraʔū Pl. 3rd Masc. qaraʔna Pl. 3rd Fem. qaraʔta Sg. 2nd Masc. qaraʔti Sg. 2nd Fem. qaraʔtumā Dual 2nd Masc./Fem. qaraʔtum Pl. 2nd Masc. qaraʔtun Pl. 2nd Fem. 140 www.ccsenet.org/ijel International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 5, No. 2; 2015 Table (3) presents different forms of the sound triliteral verb in the present tense that consist of the consonantal root cc-c (qr-ʔ). The prefixes ʔa- and na- carry the inflectional marker for person, number, and gender. The prefix ya- carries information about third person. If the verb has the prefix ta- and no suffix is attached to it, this prefix is the sign of singular, third person feminine or singular second person masculine. If the prefix attached to the present form provides complete information and clear image about the subject, a suffix will not be added to that form (Al-Naḥās, 1995, p. 45). The first four verbs in table (3) illustrate this point. Hence, the combination of both the prefix and the suffix carries information about person, number and gender. Table 3. Present tense verbs with the same consonantal root conveying related meaning Word Number Person Gender ʔaqraʔ Sg. 1st Masc./Fem. naqraʔ Dual/Pl. 1st Masc./Fem. yaqraʔ Sg. 3rd Masc. taqraʔ Sg. 3rd Fem. yaqraʔā(n) Dual 3rd Masc. taqraʔā(n) Dual 3rd Fem. yaqraʔū(n) Pl. 3rd Masc. yaqraʔna Pl. 3rd Fem. taqraʔ Sg. 2nd Masc. taqraʔīn Sg. 2nd Fem. taqraʔā(n) Dual 2nd Masc./Fem. taqraʔū(n) Pl. 2nd Masc. taqraʔna Pl. 2nd Fem. The imperative form of the sound triliteral verb in Arabic has the structure cvccvc. The suffixes added to this structure indicate the grammatical categories of person, number and gender. Table 4. Verbs with the same consonantal root conveying imperative meaning Word Number Gender ʔiqraʔ Sg. Masc. ʔiqraʔī Sg. Fem. ʔiqraʔā Dual Masc./Fem. ʔiqraʔū Pl. Masc. ʔiqraʔna Pl. Fem. 2.1.1 Morphological Categories: Person, Number and Gender The first person is one or more who speak/s. The second person refers to one or more one speaks to and the third person refers to animate or inanimate being/s one speaks about (Al-Naḥās, 1995, p. 49). Arabic verbs are conjugated for three numbers: singular, dual and plural. The suffixes -tu and -nā attached to the past tense verb and the prefixes ʔa- and na- attached to the present tense verb refer to the first person and they indicate no gender distinction. Gender is manifested in verbs that refer to second or third person. The first person is gender neutral (Ryding, 2005, p. 438). The tables above carry as much as necessary information on how the verbs are conjugated to carry person, number and gender. 2.1.2 Tense A verb lexeme in Arabic has three forms: past, present and imperative. The former two forms along with different particles can be used to express different tenses in Arabic. Haywood and Nahmad, (1965, p. 96) claim that there are two main tenses in Arabic language: perfect and imperfect. Wright, (1967, pp. 1-24) discusses the two basic Arabic tenses and the different states in which they occur.
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