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In linguistics, broken plurals is a grammatical phenomenon typical in many Semitic languages of the Middle East and Ethiopia in which a singular noun is "broken" to form a plural by having its root consonant embedded in a different "frame", rather than by merely adding a prefix or suffix to the original singular noun, as in English. (Example: cat → cats) Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist or linguistician. ...
Semitic is a linguistic term referring to a subdivision of largely Middle Eastern Afro-Asiatic languages, the Semitic languages, as well as their speakers corresponding cultures, and ethnicities. ...
A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...
Look up prefix on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Suffix has meanings in linguistics, nomenclature and computer science. ...
In other words, it means that even though a language may possess a regular form of making a plural (like the suffix "s" in English), it will actually posses a plethora of irregular ways for making a plural out of a singular noun.
Broken plurals in Arabic
In Arabic, the regular way of making a plural for a masculine noun is adding the suffix -oon at the end. For feminine nouns, the regular way is to add the suffix -aat. Yet one finds that less than 10% of all plurals used in everyday speech or in written texts (modern and classical, even the Quran) adhere to these simple rules. Instead, spoken and written Arabic produces plurals using a system of groups based on the vocalization of the word. This system is not fully regular, as can be seen in the examples and the article below. Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ...
The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ...
Broken plurals are known as "Jam' Takseer" (جمع تكسير) in Arabic grammar. These plurals are one of the most bizarre aspects of the language, given the very strong and highly detailed grammar and derivation rules that govern the written language. Arabic is a Semitic language. ...
Full knowledge of these plurals comes with extended exposure to the language. Much like spelling in English, this system has so many special cases that can only be known by reading a lot of Arabic texts. (An example from English spelling: sheik is spelled with "-eik" and shriek with "-iek.")
Example As Semitic languages typically form word roots from 2, 3, or 4 consonants without any vowels, vowels may be removed or inserted without affecting the basic root.
Here are a few examples; note that the commonality is in the vowels, not consonants.
- KiTaaB كتاب "book" → KuTuB كتب "books"
- KaaTiB كاتب "writer, scribe" → KuTTaaB كتاب "writers, scribes"
- maKTooB مكتوب "letter" → maKaaTeeB مكاتيب "letters"
- note: these three words all have a common word root, K-T-B ك – ت – ب "to write"
- WaLaD ولد "boy" → aWLaaD أولاد "boys, children"
- WaRaQ ورق "paper" → aWRaaQ أوراق "papers"
- SHaJaR شجر "tree" → aSHJaaR أشجار "trees, timber"
- but: JaMaL جمل "camel" → JiMaaL جمال "camels"
- maKTaB مكتب "desk, office" → maKaaTiB مكاتب "desks, offices"
- maLBaS ملبس "dress, garb" → maLaaBiS ملابس "apparel, clothes"
- JaDD جدّ "grandfather" → JuDooD جدود "grandfathers"
- FaNN فنّ "art" → FuNooN فنون "arts"
- but: RaBB ربّ "master, owner" → aRBaaB أرباب "masters"
See also In the terminology used to discuss the grammar of the Semitic languages, a triliteral is a root containing a sequence of three consonants. ...
Nonconcatenative morphology is an account of morphology developed in the 1980s by J. J. McCarthy and inspired by Autosegmental phonology. ...
In linguistics, apophony (also ablaut, gradation, alternation, internal modification, stem modification, stem alternation, replacive morphology, stem mutation, internal inflection) is the alternation of sounds within a word that indicates grammatical information (often inflectional). ...
External links - The Arabic Noun System Generation
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