Arabic-L:LING:term for basic/dictionary forms of words

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Thu  16 Jun  2004
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:term for basic/dictionary forms of words

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1)
Date: 16 Jun 2004
From:Munther Younes <may2 at cornell.edu>
Subject:term for basic/dictionary forms of words

Dear Colleagues,
	I am trying to find a simple way (in Arabic or English) to refer to
un-inflected Arabic words that unambiguously distinguishes them from
roots and inflected forms. The term I am looking for would identify the
form of the word typically listed in the dictionary; from the root
q-b-l, for example, words like qabil, qabbal, qaabal, taqaabal,
istaqbal, muqaabala, istiqbaal, etc. For verbs, it would be the third
person singular active form in the perfect (katab, darras, istaqbal,
etc.), and for nouns it would be the singular form with no affixes such
as those indicating possession, number, gender, or definiteness (walad,
Taalib, kitaab, maktab, maktaba, kabiir, tijaara, etc.)
	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 would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

	Munther Younes
	Cornell University

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End of Arabic-L:  16 Jun  2004