Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic linguistics. Volume XX: Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 2006

265 Pages·2007·2.34 MB·English

by  Mustafa A. Mughazy (Ed.)

PersPectives on ArAbic Linguistics XX
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
general editor
e.F.K. Koerner
(Zentrum für Allgemeine sprachwissenschaft, typologie
und universalienforschung, berlin)
series iv – current issues in Linguistic tHeorY
Advisory Editorial Board
Lyle campbell (salt Lake city); sheila embleton (toronto)
brian D. Joseph (columbus, ohio); John e. Joseph (edinburgh)
Manfred Krifka (berlin); e. Wyn roberts (vancouver, b.c.)
Joseph c. salmons (Madison, Wis.); Hans-Jürgen sasse (Köln)
volume 290
Mustafa A. Mughazy (ed.)
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XX.
Papers from the twentieth annual symposium on Arabic linguistics,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 2006.
PersPectives on
ArAbic Linguistics XX
PAPers FroM tHe tWentietH AnnuAL
sYMPosiuM on ArAbic Linguistics,
KALAMAZoo, MicHigAn, MArcH 2006
edited by
MustAFA A. MugHAZY
Western Michigan University
JoHn benJAMins PubLisHing coMPAnY
AMsterDAM/PHiLADeLPHiA
(cid:52)(cid:45) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
(cid:32)
national standard for information sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, Ansi Z39.48-1984.
Perspectives on Arabic linguistics XX : Papers from the twentieth annual symposium on Arabic linguis-
tics, Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 2006 / Mustafa A. Mughazy.
(Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. series iv, current issues in linguistic
theory, issn 0304-0763 ; v. 290)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978 90 272 4805 3 (Hb; alk. paper)
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CONTENTS

Editorial Note vii

Introduction ix
Mustafa Mughazy

I. Phonology and Morphology

Stretching Ablaut: Morphological adaptation of new *CCu and 3
*CCi stems in Moroccan Arabic
Jeffrey Heath

Hypocoristics Revisited: Challenging the primacy of the 25
consonantal root
Samira Farwaneh

Morphology and Thematic Arity Operations: Evidence from 51
Standard Arabic
Lior Laks

II. Syntax

On the Individual-Property Contrast in Free State Possessive 71
Nominals in Egyptian Arabic
Usama Soltan

Reconstruction and Islandhood in Jordanian Arabic 87
Nouman Malkawi and Nicolas Guilliot

An Arabic Wackernagel Clitic? The morphosyntax of negation in 105
Palestinian Arabic
Frederick Hoyt
CONTENTS

III. Psycholinguistics

The Split-INFL Hypothesis: Findings from English and Japanese 135
L2 learners of Arabic
Mohammad T. Alhawary

Lexical Processing in Two Language Varieties: An even-related 153
brain potential study of Arabic native speakers
Reem Khamis-Dakwar and Karen Froud

IV. Pragmatics

A Cognitive Approach to Analyzing Demonstratives in Tunisian 169
Arabic
Amel Khalfaoui

A Prosodic Feature That Invites Back-Channels in Egyptian 187
Arabic
Nigel Ward and Yaffa Al Bayyari

V. Computational Linguistics

Implementing an Open Source Arabic Resource Grammar in GF 209
Ali Dada and Aarne Ranta

A Link Grammar Parser for Arabic 233
Warren Casbeer, Jon Dehdari and Deryle Lonsdale

Subject Index 245
EDITORIAL NOTE

The papers included in this volume were presented at the Twentieth
Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, held on March 3-5 at Western
Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The symposium was sponsored
by the Arabic Linguistics Society, Western Michigan University, and the
Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR) at Michigan State
University. Mustafa Mughazy was the local organizer of the symposium. The
twenty-eight papers presented at the symposium were selected on the basis of
anonymous reviews of the abstracts submitted to the Symposium Committee.
The twelve papers in this volume were selected through another process of
peer reviewing and editing.
The transcription of the non-English data in this volume follows the
International Phonetic Alphabet or standard equivalents. Arabic emphatics are
transcribed with a dot underneath the symbol, and long vowels are represented
as a sequence of two vowels. Some contributors use special symbols that are
theoretically or computationally motivated; these are explained and justified in
the text.
This volume and Twentieth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics
would not have been possible without the help of many people. I would like to
thank Elabbas Benmamoun, Mushira Eid, and Dilworth Parkinson for their
guidance and efforts. Special thanks to Cynthia Running-Johnson for her
continuous support and invaluable assistance. Tammy Betz and her assistants,
Marlon Boyd and Victor Demetry, coordinated many of the symposium
activities and events. Marwa Elzouka provided assistance in formatting the
manuscript. I am indebted to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful
comments and suggestions. The preparation and printing of the final
manuscript was done using the facilities of Western Michigan University.

INTRODUCTION

Mustafa Mughazy

The papers in this volume address a broad range of theoretical issues
pertaining to Arabic, particularly in the areas of phonology, morphology,
syntax, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, and computational linguistics. These
contributions represent the emerging trend of interface analyses, where
linguistic phenomena are investigated using the techniques, methodologies,
and theoretical frameworks of different linguistic research areas.
The paper by Jeffery Heath on ablaut in Moroccan Arabic presents an
interesting puzzle for the established views on Arabic morpho-phonology. He
identifies six nouns and adjectives of the forms CCi and CCu involving a stem
template that does not exist elsewhere in Muslim or Jewish Moroccan dialects.
The final high vowel in these forms is quite problematic for the ablaut
processes that derive diminutives and plurals. This paper surveys the
diminutives and plurals of these forms in a wide variety of Moroccan dialects
and proposes theoretical models of the historical pattern of upgrading from
triliteral to (pseudo-)quadriliteral stems for ablaut purposes.
Samira Farwaneh addresses the long standing issue of the theoretical
nature of Semitic roots and templates. She develops a purely word-based
surface-to-surface analysis of hypocoristics in Spoken Arabic within the
frameworks of Optimality Theory and Correspondence Theory. This analysis
successfully accounts for the grammatical forms and rules out ungrammatical
ones without making any reference to roots or templates. In fact, templates are
treated as well-formedness constraints that unify hypocoristics with intensive
nouns and verbs, with the potential of extending to other forms as well.
The paper on thematic arity operations by Lior Laks investigates the
interaction between morpho-phonolgy and the theta system. Laks examines
five Standard Arabic derivational processes that generate verbal predicates,
such as passives, causatives, and reciprocals in order to motivate a distinction
between syntactic and lexical derivations. He demonstrates that lexical
operations, such as causativization, are bi-directional with less than full
predictability, as they involve a wide range of complex morpho-phonological
processes. On the other hand, syntactic operations, such as passivization, are
unidirectional, predictable, and often restricted to simple morpho-phonological
processes. This analysis argues against root extraction views by establishing an
interface between morphology and the syntax as well as the lexicon.