Cover not available

Article published In: What is a verb? – Linguistic, psycholinguistic and developmental perspectives on verbs in Germanic and Semitic languages
Edited by Eva Smolka and Dorit Ravid
[The Mental Lexicon 14:2] 2019
► pp. 209–236

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Verbal patterns in Palestinian Arabic

 | Bar-Ilan University
 | Bar-Ilan University
 | Bar-Ilan University
Published online: 15 January 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.00005.lak
Abstract
The study examines the distribution of verbal patterns and their semantic-syntactic functions as they are used in spoken narrative text production by adult native speakers of Palestinian Arabic. 30 native Palestinian Arabic adult speakers from Kufur Qareʕ, a village in Central Israel, were shown a clip demonstrating conflicts and were asked to produce an oral narrative text based on it. The verbs used in these narratives were examined according to root, pattern, transitivity and semantic class. The results revealed strong tendencies with regard to the distribution of the patterns that were used. CaCaC was the most productive pattern by type and token counts. This stands in contradiction to the results for verb innovation, where the CaCCaC and tCaCCaC patterns are selected almost exclusively, and it highlights the gap between productivity based on new formations and productivty based on basic forms in use. In addition, some verbal patterns were extermely rarely used. The results also show that there was no transparent form-function relation with respect to the semantic functions of verbal patterns. Most semantic functions were delivered in a small number of patterns (between 1–3) and the majority of them were in were found in one pattern, CaCaC. The results shed light on the actual usage of Arabic verbal patterns in text production and their semantic and syntactic features.
Article outline
  • The verbal system of PA
    • Traditional classification of the verbal patterns
    • Semantic-syntactic relations between verb patterns: A psycholinguistic perspective
  • Methodology
    • Participants
    • Procedure
    • Coding
  • Results
    • Pattern distribution
    • Semantic-syntactic classification of verbs patterns
    • Semantic functions across patterns
    • Root-related verbs
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (74)
References
Abu Chacra, F. (2007). Arabic: An Essential Grammar. London and New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aronoff, M. (1994). Morphology by itself. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ashkenazi, O., Ravid, D. & Gillis, S. (2016). Breaking into the Hebrew verb system: A learning problem. First language, 36,5, 505–524. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bat-El, O. (1989). Phonology and word structure in Modern Hebrew. Doctoral dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1994. Stem modification and cluster transfer in Modern Hebrew. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 121, 572–596.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). HYPERLINK “[URL]” Semitic verb structure within a universal perspective. In J. Shimron (ed.), Languages Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-based, Morphology, 29–59. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bat-El, Outi. (2011). Semitic templates. To appear in M. van Oostendrop, C. Ewen, E. Hume & K. Rice (eds.), Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bat-El, O. 2017. HYPERLINK “http://www.outibatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Bat-El-2017-No-semitic-roots-.pdf” Word-based items-and processes (WoBIP): Evidence from Hebrew morphology. In C. Bowern, L. Horn, and R. Zanuttini (eds), On Looking into Words (and beyond), 115–135. Berlin: Language Sciences Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benmamoun, E. (2003). The role of the imperfective template in Arabic morphology. J. Shimron (ed.), Language processing and acquisition in languages of Semitic, root-based morphology, 99–114. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A. (1978). Modern Hebrew structure. Tel Aviv: Universities Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1980). Child language as evidence for grammatical description: Preschoolers’ construal of transitivity in Hebrew. Linguistics, 181, 677–701. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. (1982). Verb-pattern alternation: The interface of morphology, syntax and semantics in Hebrew child language. Journal of child language, 91, 169–191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A. (1987). Productivity in the lexicon: New word formation in Modern Hebrew. Floia linguistica xxi, 2–4, 425–461.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). Developmental perspectives on transitivity: A confluence of cues. In Y. Levy (ed.), Other children, other languages: Issues in the theory of acquisition, 189–241. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Children’s lexical innovations: Developmental perspectives on Hebrew verb structure. In J. Shimron (ed.), Language processing and language acquisition in a root-based morphology, 243–291. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Between emergence and mastery: The long developmental route of language acquisition. In R. Berman (ed.), Language development across childhood and adolescence, 9–34. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). The psycholinguistics of developing text construction. Journal of Child Language, 351, 735–771. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A. & Ravid, D. (2009). Becoming a literate language user: Oral and written text construction in adolescence. In R. David & N. Torrance (eds.), Cambridge handbook of literacy, 92–111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A., Nayditz, R. & Ravid, D. (2011). Linguistic diagnostics of written texts in two school-age populations. Written language and literacy, 14, 2, 161–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolozky, S. (1978). Word formation strategies in Modern Hebrew verb system: Denominative Verbs. Afroasiatic linguistics, 51, 1–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Measuring productivity in word formation: The case of Israeli Hebrew. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolozky, S. & Saad, G. (1983). On active and non-active causativizable verbs in Arabic and Hebrew. Zeitschrift fur Arabische Linguistik, 101, 71–79.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolozky, S. 2005. Linear first-time derivation of verbs and consonant cluster preservation in Israeli Hebrew. In D. Ravid & H. Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot (eds.), Perspectives on Language and Language Development, 35–43. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeMiller, A. L. (1988). Syntax and semantics of the form II Modern Standard Arabic verb. Al-Arabiyya, 21,1–2, 19–50.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doron, E. (2003). Transitivity alternations in the Semitic template system. In J. Lecarme (ed.), Research in Afroasiatic grammar II. Selected papers from the fifth conference on Afroasiatic languages, Paris 2000, 127–150. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eid, M. (1990). Arabic linguistics: The current scene. In M. Eid (ed.), Perspectives on Arabic linguistics I1, 3–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fassi Fehri, A. (1994). Configurations and transitivity splits in the Arabic lexicon. In A. Di Sciulo (ed.), Configurations, 51–78. Somervilee: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 141, 47–56.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ford, D. C. (2009). The three forms of Arabic causative. OPAL, 21, 1–10.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glanville, P. (2011). The Arabic verb root and stem and their contribution to verb meaning. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldenberg, G. (1998). Studies in Semitic linguistics. Jerusalem: Magnes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Golinkoff, R. M. & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2006). Action abets accomplishment: Progress on the verb learning front. In R. M. Golinkoff & K. Hirsh-Pasek (Eds.), When action meets words: How young children learn verbs, 1–46. London: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guerssel, M. & Lowenstamm, J. (1996). Ablaut in Classical Arabic measure I active verbal forms. In J. Lecarme, J. Lowenstamm & U. Shlonsky (eds.), Studies in Afroasiatic Grammar, 123–134. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hallman, P. (2006). Causativity and transitivity in Arabic. [URL]
Henkin, R. (2009). The cognate curse in Negev Arabic: From playful punning to coexistence conflicts. Israel studies in language and society, 2, 2, 169–206.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Negev Arabic: Dialectal, sociolinguistic, and stylistic variation. Semitica viva series. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holes, C. (1995). Modern Arabic: Structures, functions and varieties. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998). Retention and loss of the passive verb in the Arabic dialects of northern Oman and eastern Arabia. Journal of Semitic studies, 43, 2, 347–362. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibrahim, M. (1983). Linguistic distance and literacy in Arabic. Journal of pragmatics, 71, 507–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Izre’el, S. (2010). Constructive constructions: Semitic verbal morphology and beyond. In G. Goldenberg & A. Shisha-Halevy (eds.), Egyptian, Semitic and General Grammar (Workshop in Memory of H. J. Polotsky), 106–130. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jastrow, O. (2004). The Arabic dialects of the Muthallath (central Israel). JSAI, 291, 166–175.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laks, L. (2018). Verb innovation in Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic: The interaction of morpho-phonological and thematic-semantic criteria. Brill’s Annual Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics, 10(2), 238–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levin, A. (1994). A Grammar of the Arabic Dialect of Jerusalem.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maamouri, M. (1998). Language education and human development: Arabic diglossia and its impact on the quality of education in the Arab region. The Mediterranean development forum. Washington: The World Bank.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ouhalla, J. (2014). Causatives, anticausatives and lexicalization. In S. Benjaballah, N. Faust, M. Lahrouchi & N. Lampitelli (eds.), The form of structure, the structure of form: Essays in honor of Jean Lowenstamm, 333–348. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pine, J. M., Lieven, E. V. M. & Rowland, C. F. (1998). Comparing different models of the development of the English verb category. Linguistics, 361, 807–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ravid, D. (1990). Internal structure constraints on new-word formation devices in Modern Hebrew. Folia Linguistica, 241, 289–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1995). Language change in child and adult Hebrew: A psycholinguistic perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). A developmental perspective on root perception in Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic. In Y. Shimron (ed.), Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based Morphology. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 293–319. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Later lexical development in Hebrew: Derivational morphology revisited. Language acquisition research (vol. 31), 53–82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). The dual binyan system in Hebrew. Talk presented at the Vienna Morphology Meeting. University of Vienna, February, 2008.
(2011). The emergence of the Hebrew verb category in toddlers: A new psycholinguistic perspective. Literacy and Language 31, 131–160. (in Hebrew).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ravid, D., Ashkenazi, O., & Levie, R. (2015). Emergence and consolidation of the derivational verb family in Hebrew. Word Formation Theories conference, University of Kosice, 2015.
Ravid, D., Ashkenazi, O., Levie, R., Ben Zadok, G., Grunwald, T., Bratslavsky & Gillis, S. (2016). Foundations of the root category: Analyses of linguistic input to Hebrew-speaking children. In R. A. Berman (ed.), Acquisition and development of Hebrew: From infancy to adolescence. TILAR (Trends in language acquisition research) series, 95–143. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ravid, D. & Vered, L. (2017). Hebrew passive morphology in later language development: The interface of verb temporality and register. Journal of Child Language 441, 1309–1336. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosenhouse, J. (1991–1992). The occurrence of passive in some Bedouin dialects. Journal of Afroasiatic Linguistics, 31, 9–21.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ryding, K. (2005). A Reference of Modern Standard Arabic (6th edition). Cambridge: CPU. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saad, G. (1982). Transitivity, causation and passivization. London: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saed, S. (2006). The distribution of Palestinian Arabic verb patterns in preschoolers’ conversation. MA thesis, Tel-Aviv University. (in Hebrew).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saiegh-Haddad, E. & Henkin-Roitfarb, R. (2014). The structure of Arabic language and orthography. In E. Saiegh-Haddad & R. M. Joshi (eds.), Handbook of Arabic literacy: Insights and perspectives, 3–28. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saiegh-Haddad, E. & Spolsky, B. (2014). Acquiring literacy in diglossic context: Problems and prospects. In E. Saiegh-Haddad & R. M. Joshi (eds.), Handbook of Arabic literacy: Insights and perspectives, 225–240. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schachter, P. (1985). Parts of speech systems. In T. Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description: Clause structure, 3–61. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwarzwald, O. R. (1981). Frequency factors as determinants in the binyanim meanings. Studies of Hebrew 221, 31–37.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. Verbal roots and their links to nouns. In O. R. Schwarzwald, S. Blum-Kulka & E. Olshtain (eds.), Raphael Nir Jubilee Book, 426–438. Jerusalem: Carmel. (In Hebrew).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). Hebrew morphology. 12 Study units. Tel Aviv: The Open University. (in Hebrew).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shawarbah, M. (2012). A grammar of Negev Arabic: Comparative studies, texts and glossing in the Bedouin dialect of the ʕaza:mih tribe. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stansaz, S. (2016). The Semitic root as a window on verb acquisition in early childhood. MA thesis, Tel-Aviv University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tucker, M. A. (2011). The Morphosyntax of the Arabic Verb: Toward a Unified Syntax-Prosody. In Morphology at Santa Cruz: Papers in Honor of Jorge Hankamer. University of California, Santa Cruz: Linguistics Research Center.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ussishkin, Adam. (1999). The inadequacy of the consonantal root: Modern Hebrew Denominal Verbs and Output-output Correspondence. Phonology, 161, 401–442. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watson, Janet C. E. (2002). The phonology and morphology of Arabic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wittig, S. (1990). Valence patterns and sentence structures of Arabic functional verb complexes-syntactic analysis. Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 21, 17–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Younes, M. (2000). Redundancy and productivity in Palestinian Arabic verb derivation. In M. Mifsud (ed.), Proceedings of the third international conference of A¨ıDA, 27–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (16)

Cited by 16 other publications

Saiegh‐Haddad, Elinor & Rachel Schiff
2025. Diglossic and Orthographic Features of Reading Comprehension in Standard Arabic: The Primacy of the Spoken Language. Reading Research Quarterly 60:1 DOI logo
Shahbari-Kassem, Abeer, Rachel Schiff & Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
2025. Development of morphological awareness in Arabic: the role of morphological system and morphological distance. Reading and Writing 38:8 ► pp. 2235 ff. DOI logo
Tallas-Mahajna, Naila & Dua A. Elhija
2025. Arabic Verb Patterns and Macrostructure in Adolescent Narratives: A Comparative Analysis Across Writing Systems. East European Journal of Psycholinguistics 12:1 DOI logo
Asadi, Ibrahim A., Vered Vaknin‑Nusbaum & Haitham Taha
2023. The Role of Morphological Decomposition in Reading Complex Words in Arabic in Elementary School Years. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 52:6 ► pp. 2863 ff. DOI logo
Joubran-Awadie, Nancy & Yasmin Shalhoub-Awwad
2023. Morphological distance between spoken Palestinian dialect and standard Arabic and its implications for reading acquisition. First Language 43:2 ► pp. 200 ff. DOI logo
Joubran-Awadie, Nancy & Yasmin Shalhoub-Awwad
2025. The Impact of Verb Inflectional Distance on Morphological Awareness in Arabic Diglossia: Insights From a Longitudinal Study (Kindergarten to Grade 3). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 68:3S ► pp. 1424 ff. DOI logo
Shalhoub-Awwad, Yasmin
2023. The role of verbal patterns in Arabic reading acquisition: insights from cross-modal priming. Reading and Writing 36:3 ► pp. 649 ff. DOI logo
Tallas-Mahajna, Naila, Sharon Armon-Lotem & Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
2023. Emergence of verb-pattern morphology in young Arabic speakers: morphological and semantic features. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo
Tallas-Mahajna, Naila, Sharon Armon-Lotem & Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
2025. The Emergence of Verb Patterns in Arabic in Children With Developmental Language Disorder Compared to Children With Typical Development. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 68:3S ► pp. 1484 ff. DOI logo
Laks, Lior, Ibrahim Hamad & Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
2022. The Distibution of Arabic Verbal Patterns in Text Production: Between Varieties and Modalities. In Developing Language and Literacy [Literacy Studies, 23], ► pp. 387 ff. DOI logo
Laks, Lior & Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
2022. Between Varieties and Modalities in the Production of Narrative Texts in Arabic. In Handbook of Literacy in Diglossia and in Dialectal Contexts [Literacy Studies, 22], ► pp. 247 ff. DOI logo
Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor
2022. A Psycholinguistic-Developmental Approach to the Study of Reading in Arabic Diglossia: Assumptions, Methods, Findings and Educational Implications. In Handbook of Literacy in Diglossia and in Dialectal Contexts [Literacy Studies, 22], ► pp. 135 ff. DOI logo
SHALHOUB-AWWAD, Yasmin & Maram KHAMIS-JUBRAN
2021. Distribution of Nominal Word-Patterns and Roots in Palestinian Arabic: A Developmental Perspective in Early Childhood. Journal of Child Language 48:3 ► pp. 569 ff. DOI logo
Mashaqba, Bassil, Anas Huneety, Wael Zuraiq, Moh’D Al-Omari & Sabri Al-Shboul
2020. Labile anticausatives in Jordanian Arabic. Lingua Posnaniensis 62:2 ► pp. 19 ff. DOI logo
Scholz, Norbert
2020. Bibliography of Recent Works. Journal of Palestine Studies 49:3 ► pp. 105 ff. DOI logo
Vaknin-Nusbaum, Vered & Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
2020. The contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Arabic-speaking second graders. Reading and Writing 33:10 ► pp. 2413 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue