Arabic-L:LING:New Dissertation:Morphology of Libyan Arabic Plurals

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 29 May 2012
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1) Subject:New Dissertation:Morphology of Libyan Arabic Plurals

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1)
Date: 29 May 2012
From: daniel.newman at DURHAM.AC.UK
Subject:New Dissertation:Morphology of Libyan Arabic Plurals

Institution: University of Durham
Completed Degree Date: 2012

Author: Gaber Gaber

Dissertation Title: An Optimality Theory Account of the
Non-concatenative Morphology of the Nominal System of Libyan Arabic,
with Special Reference to the Broken Plural

Dissertation URL:  http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3511/

Dissertation Director(s):
Daniel Newman

Dissertation Abstract:

This work presents a full and unified investigation of the phenomenon of
non-concatenative nominal morphology in Libyan Arabic (LA), with special
reference to the formation of the broken plural (BP).  The analysis
provides a morphophonological account of morphologically derived words
in LA. It is based on two main ideas: the first is specifying the input
for the derivational morphological process which represents the
underlying structure of the derived word; the second is to account for
the phonological constraints which interact with each other on the
underlying structure in order to determine the optimal output for the
derived word.

In contrast to previous studies which fail to recognize derivational
morphological processes and consequently cannot identify the nature of
the input of the derived word, this thesis identifies the input as the
starting point to justify the resulting derived output.

This thesis argues that the nature of the input in non-concatenative
morphology must be accounted for first. The morphological process starts
when elements of the input which are carried over to the output are
identified, and the specified derivational morphemes are supplied. These
together form the underlying structure of any derived word. The
underlying structure of the derived word in this thesis is considered to
be the string of root consonants and any morphological component
associated with the input, plus the derivational morphemes of the
intended morphological process. As a consequence of identifying the
nature of the input, the template which has been associated with Arabic
language, is revealed in this thesis that it is not a primitive but
rather it is an artefact of the phonology operating on morphological
products. Thus, phonology has no role in the underlying structure, but
comes into play to repair any ill-formed surfaced structure. The types
of constraints which operate on the outputs are phonological constraints
concerning markedness and faithfulness constraints. The function of
markedness constraints is to maintain the well-formedness of the output,
while the function of faithfulness constraints is to preserve the
morphological identity of the components of the underlying structure.

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End of Arabic-L: 29 May 2012