Arabic-L:term for basic form of words: summary and thanks

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 12 Jul  2004
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:term for basic form of words: summary and thanks

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1)
Date: 12 Jul 2004
From:Munther Younes <may2 at cornell.edu>
Subject:term for basic form of words: summary and thanks


I would like to thank the following colleagues for responding to my
question about the most appropriate term for the basic or dictionary
form of a word:
Tim Buckwalter, G. Mejdell, Jackie Murgida, Ernest McCarus, Abdessatar
Mahfoudhi, David Wilmsen, Mike Schub, Tom Emerson, Nori Heikkinen.

I should have explained  in my earlier message that I was planning to
use the term in an introductory (Arabic) language textbook. That would
limit the options to "citation form" or "stem"; "verbum" and "lemma"
strike me as being too technical for such a context. There were no
suggestions of an Arabic term. I am still wondering if there is one
besides the word "kalima" such as "Siigha mujarrada" that is used in
Arabic grammars.

Munther Younes

1)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:timbuckwalter at qamus.org
Subject:term for basic form of words response

The term you're looking for is the dictionary "citation/canonical form,"
which, as you mentioned, is often the uninflected or most "basic" form
of the word. The term "lemma" (pl. -s or lemmata) is also used, and
"lemmatization" is the process of identifying and grouping all the
inflected forms of a dictionary "head word" or "lemma."
Tim Buckwalter
Philadelphia

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2)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:gunvor.mejdell at east.uio.no
Subject:term for basic form of words response

What about 'lexical (entry)form' ?
G. Mejdell, Oslo

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3)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:jmurg at ttlc.net
Subject:term for basic form of words response

Munther, I think lexicographers say "lemma," and we regular folks say
"citation form."  Of course, these are also stems, but it's a matter of
convention *which* stem is used as the dictionary entry form, as you
pointed
out. I look forward to finding out what the term is in Arabic.
Best regards,
Jackie Murgida

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4)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:enm at umich.edu
Subject:term for basic form of words response

Dear Professor Younes:
I would recommend that you refer to the lexemes you mentioned as their
"citation forms".
Ernest McCarus

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5)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:mabessatar at yahoo.com
Subject:term for basic form of words response

Hi
  What about "citation form", isn't it a bit more neutral?
Abdessatar Mahfoudhi

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6)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:dwilmsen at aucegypt.edu
Subject:term for basic form of words response

Call it the citation form
or the entry term, or the headword
David Wilmsen

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7)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:Michael.Schub at trincoll.edu
Subject:term for basic form of words response

May I suggest "verbum:"  The Latin translation of John 1.1 "In the
beginning was the word (Greek:  logos)" is "verbum,"  which is also a
nice parallel to the Qur'an's  /kalima/.
                                                                   Mike
Schub

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8)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:Michael.Schub at trincoll.edu
Subject:term for basic form of words response

Dear Munthir,
      On second and third thought, "verbum," plural "verba"  might also
be expressed as "entry" (pl.  "entries"), as in a dictionary entry.
(3)  "camel"  (pl. "camels") conflates  /kaamil/  =  "perfect,
complete," /kalima/  = "word," and a ubiquitous cultural icon.
      Best wishes,

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9)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:Tom Emerson <tree at basistech.com>
Subject:term for basic form of words response

Munther Younes asks:
[...]
> 	The term "basic word" or "basic form", doesn't work well,
> because "basic" is often used to refer to Form I verbs as opposed to
> the derived verb forms. "Stem" wouldn't work either, because it is
> often used to refer to that part of the word (often an
> unpronounceable sequence) that excludes certain suffixes and
> prefixes.

I think 'stem' is a perfectly valid term for this. Indeed, there is
precedent for it in both Erwin's "A Short Reference Grammar of Iraqi
Arabic" and Badawi et al.'s "Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive
Grammar". In each case the stem is viewed as the appropriately
vocalized root with inflectional affixation removed. So, for example,
taSaffaH is a stem representing the application of form V to the
triliteral root SfH. It seems (to me at least) that your definition
for 'stem' is is appropriate to your need.

     -tree

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10)
Date: 23 Jun 2004
From:Nori Heikkinen <nori+arabic-l at maenad.net>
Subject:term for basic form of words response

How about "lemma"?  from gcide:

    main entry word \main entry word\ n.
      The form of a word that heads a lexical entry and is
      alphabetized in a dictionary; also called {entry word},
      {headword}, and {lemma}.

      Syn: citation form, entry word, headword, lemma.
           [WordNet 1.5]

      Note: In different languages, different wordforms, such as
            cases for verbs, may be taken as the main entry word.
            In English dictionaries, it is the infinitive form, but
            in latin dictionaries it is usually the first person
            singular present.
            [PJC]

</nori>

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End of Arabic-L:  12 Jul  2004