Arabic-L:LING:Lexical Relationships query

[Dilworth Parkinson]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Arabic-L: Fri 12 Mar  2004
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
[To post messages to the list, send them to arabic-l at byu.edu]
[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to
listserv at byu.edu with first line reading:
            unsubscribe arabic-l                                      ]

-------------------------Directory------------------------------------

1) Subject:Lexical Relationships query

-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 12 Mar 2004
From: "Robert R. Ratcliffe" <ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp>
Subject:Lexical Relationships query

Dear listmembers,

     I'd like to take an informal survey of Arabists, with regard to the
question of the relationship (or lack thereof) between what are
traditionally called biradical, geminate, and weak stems. For example,
given the words ibn "son," bunn "coffee beans," and binaaya "building,"
there are, I think four possible ways to analyze the relationship among
them:

1. No relation. ibn belongs to (or is derived from) a biconsonantal root
b-n, bunn belongs to a triconsonantal root b-n-n (where the second and
third conosonant happen to be the same), binaaya belongs to a
triconsonantal root b-n-y
2. All are related-- derived (through a productive, synchronic process)
from a bi-consonantal root b-n
3. ibn and bunn are related. Both belong to a biradical root b-n.
binaaya is unrelated
4. ibn and binaaya are related. Both belong to triconsonantal root with
final glide. bunn is unrelated.
4a. ibn doesn't belong to the same root as binaaya, but to a different
root, perhaps b-n-w, with final glide.

If you have a minute please tell which of these you prefer. Just sending
me the number of the response is enough. If you want to explain your
reasons that's fine too. Note that for my purposes 4 and 4a are the
same. I'm not asking about the specific case of this example, but in
general about the relation among biradicals, geminates, and final-weaks.

The reason, I'm asking, by the way is that I think a reasonable case can
be made for only two of the four possible answers, and I think (though I
don't know) that most people who actualy work on Arabic would favor one
of these two. However, I've discovered that theoretical linguists who
don't work on Arabic are absolutely certain that a different one of
these four possible answers is the correct one, and you can't convince
them otherwise.

Look forward to your responses. I'll post a summary if there is
sufficient interest.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
End of Arabic-L:  12 Mar  2004