Abdullah S . Al-Dobaian | King Saud University (original) (raw)
Papers by Abdullah S . Al-Dobaian
The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two i... more The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two instances of two distinct morphological processes involving different characteristics and mechanisms. I propose an analysis based on how morphology operates in the lexicon and the syntax and provide data from Arabic and Hebrew. I argue that the BP is derived lexically as one atomic complex word while the SP involves a two-unit merger deriving a non-atomic word in the syntax. Evidence follows from the lexical access, morphological productivity, semantic distinctions of number and the lexical representation of BP and SP. Atomicity plays a crucial role in the distinction of morphology in the lexicon and the syntax not just in Arabic morphology but also cross-linguistically as illustrated by the Hebrew diminutives which add further evidence to the effect of atomicity in the morphological analysis of words.
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2021
The Arabic traditional grammar as well as Chomsky’s mainstream theory may not be able to provide ... more The Arabic traditional grammar as well as Chomsky’s mainstream theory may not be able to provide a good analysis of some fixed Arabic phrases. The challenge of such data directly stems from the fact that the general syntactic rules assumed by the two opposing theories cannot explain the syntactic and the semantic aspects of the fixed Arabic data. I argue that the Construction Grammar provides an adequate account that does not rely on syntactic structure alone, as assumed by the mainstream theory or the Arabic traditional grammar, but rather it links phonological, syntactic, and semantic information together in one basic construction by means of some correspondence rules. The Arabic data proves that there is a strong need for a linguistic theory that takes into consideration all data of different range of productivity.
مجلة الفنون والأدب وعلوم الإنسانيات والاجتماع, 2017
Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstre... more Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstream theories because they are relegated to an irregular lexicon that is distinct from a rule-based syntax despite the fact that collocations may have lexical and syntactic properties. In this paper, I argue that we need to relax this this strict division between the lexicon and the syntax in order to account for collocations. The minimalist program can address, as other non-Chomskyan theories, the basic properties of collocations. Therefore, I argue that there are general rules applying at the lexicon and the syntax to achieve specific structural and semantic goals. Merger is one important rule that applies in the lexicon to generate a phrase structure (i.e. a collocation structure that speakers of the language learn as ready-made chunks(. I argue that merger is a direct result of Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) requiring the phrase structure constituents to be linearly order. Merger also applies to the syntax as explained in Chomsky’s mainstream tradition and is conditioned by the LCA.
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2018
I discuss the morphological analysis of tense and aspect proposed by early Arab grammarians and i... more I discuss the morphological analysis of tense and aspect proposed by early Arab grammarians and illustrate some of its problems. In order to account for these problems, the Arab grammarians had to relegate the effects of tense and aspect to the morphological forms of faÀal and yafÀal. I show that these forms marked different tense specifications other than the default past tense for faÀal and present or future tense for yafÀal. As for aspect it has only received a sporadic and inconsistent analysis by early Arab grammarians. I agree with Fassi Fehri (1993) and Juhfah (2006) that a comprehensive theory of tense and aspect is essential for Arabic. I propose a syntactic analysis of tense and aspect in Arabic based on MacDonald’s (2008) analysis with some modifications needed to account for the Arabic data. Unlike Fassi Fehri and Juhfah’s analyses, this analysis is based on the verb interaction with its arguments and modifiers in which the verb checks tense and aspect syntactically by m...
I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of... more I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of the verb. Evidence for the lexical analysis of denominal verbs is based on lexical, semantic, and syntactic arguments. I argue that, unlike the lexical analysis, Baker’s syntactic analysis of denominative verbs fails to account for the lexical properties of denominative verbs particularly the lack of referential index of the noun and the non-ambiguity of these verbs with adverbs. Furthermore, the dual projection of a verb and a noun in syntax as assumed by the syntactic analysis violates syntactic principles.
Language and Linguistics. 語言暨語言學
This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection i... more This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection is included inside compounds. These data pose problems to Kiparsky’s (1982) level-ordering lexical morphology model and Li’s (1990) generalization on verb incorporation. I argue that such compounds are lexically formed based on some pieces of evidence. To support the analysis, I compare the compounds and the construct state constructions in Arabic and Hebrew. Then I show that the lexical analysis explains the morphological, syntactic properties, and the semantics of Arabic synthetic compounds. More specifically, I explain how the lexical analysis applies to theta-role assignment inside the compound and then discuss the number specification of the non-head in the compound of Arabic and English.
Language and Linguistics. 語言暨語言學
This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection i... more This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection is included inside compounds. These data pose problems to Kiparsky’s (1982) level-ordering lexical morphology model and Li’s (1990) generalization on verb incorporation. I argue that such compounds are lexically formed based on some pieces of evidence. To support the analysis, I compare the compounds and the construct state constructions in Arabic and Hebrew. Then I show that the lexical analysis explains the morphological, syntactic properties, and the semantics of Arabic synthetic compounds. More specifically, I explain how the lexical analysis applies to theta-role assignment inside the compound and then discuss the number specification of the non-head in the compound of Arabic and English.
Journal of Arts, Literature, Humanities and Social Sciences, May 2017
Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstre... more Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstream theories because they are relegated to an irregular lexicon that is distinct from a rule-based syntax despite the fact that collocations may have lexical and syntactic properties. In this paper, I argue that we need to relax this this strict division between the lexicon and the syntax in order to account for collocations. The minimalist program can address, as other non-Chomskyan theories, the basic properties of collocations. Therefore, I argue that there are general rules applying at the lexicon and the syntax to achieve specific structural and semantic goals. Merger is one important rule that applies in the lexicon to generate a phrase structure (i.e. a collocation structure that speakers of the language learn as ready-made chunks(. I argue that merger is a direct result of Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) requiring the phrase structure constituents to be linearly order. Merger also applies to the syntax as explained in Chomsky’s mainstream tradition and is conditioned by the LCA.
Language and Linguistics, Jan 2018
This paper discusses some data of ASC in which regular plural inflection is included inside compo... more This paper discusses some data of ASC in which regular plural inflection is included inside compounds. These data pose problems to Kiparsky’s level-ordering lexical morphology model (1982) and Li’s generalization on verb incorporation (1990). I argue that ASC is lexically formed based on some pieces of evidence. To support the analysis, I compare the compounds and the construct state constructions in Arabic and Hebrew. Then I show that the lexical analysis explains the morphological, syntactic properties, and the semantics of ASC. More specifically, I explain how the lexical analysis applies to theta-role assignment inside the compound and then
discuss the number specification of the non-head in the compound of Arabic and English.
Journal of Imam Muhammed ibn Saud University, 2007
There are many analyses that attempt to account for Polarity Items (PI) any. Among such analyses ... more There are many analyses that attempt to account for Polarity Items (PI) any. Among such analyses are Ladusaw's (1980), Kadmon and Landman's (1993), and Linebarger's (1987). In this paper, I illustrate the problems of these analyses and I provide a unified analysis of any in its different contexts and usages. This suggested analysis is based on the semantic structure of the verb.
Journal of Arts, King Saud University, 2014
The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two i... more The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two instances of two distinct morphological processes involving different characteristics and mechanisms. I propose an analysis based on how morphology operates in the lexicon and the syntax and provide data from Arabic and Hebrew. I argue that the BP is derived lexically as one atomic complex word while the SP involves a two-unit merger deriving a non-atomic word in the syntax. Evidence follows from the lexical access, morphological productivity, semantic distinctions of number and the lexical representation of BP and SP. Atomicity plays a crucial role in the distinction of morphology in the lexicon and the syntax not just in Arabic morphology but also cross-linguistically as illustrated by the Hebrew diminutives which add further evidence to the effect of atomicity in the morphological analysis of words.
Journal of King Saud University , 2005
I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of... more I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of the verb. Evidence for the lexical analysis of denominal verbs is based on lexical, semantic, and syntactic arguments. I argue that, unlike the lexical analysis, Baker's syntactic analysis of denominative verbs fails to account for the lexical properties of denominative verbs particularly the lack of referential index of the noun and the non-ambiguity of these verbs with adverbs. Furthermore the dual projection of a verb and a noun in syntax as assumed by the syntactic analysis violates syntactic principles.
Linguistic Research, 2006
Are unaccusatives verbal or non-verbal predicates? Baker (2003) suggests that they are nonverbal ... more Are unaccusatives verbal or non-verbal predicates? Baker (2003) suggests that they are nonverbal predicates and they are decomposed syntactically into a functional predicate and an adjective. However I argue in this paper that unaccusatives really involve verbal predicates and not functional predicates. I discuss three types of predicates: verbal predicate, functional adjectival predicate, and adjectival predicate. The evidence that can conclusively distinguish the type of predicate follows from tense and aspect morphological markings. Furthermore, I argue that a Minimalist analysis (Chomsky, 1995, 2002) can exactly explain the asymmetric unaccusative behavior in Arabic1. That’s, it simultaneously explains the phonological presence of the verbal predicate of the unaccusative on one hand and the absence of that predicate on another hand by means of satisfying the requirements of the two interface structures: phonological form (PF) and logical form (LF).
Conference Presentations by Abdullah S . Al-Dobaian
A paper presented in a conference at Minia University, Egypt, 2006
Soon after Malaysia got its independence from the British colonization in 1957, it has been stri... more Soon after Malaysia got its independence from the British colonization
in 1957, it has been striving to establish the Malay language (Bahasa
Melayu) as the National language (Hassan, 2004). Malay has been seen
as a symbol of unity and identity in a country with various ethnic
backgrounds speaking unintelligible languages. There was an urgent
need to use one common language among all the ethnic communities -
Indians, Chinese, and Malay – to achieve two basic goals:
communication and social integration. This paper attempts to evaluate
the planning process of Malay language in the last fifty years. This
planning process is examined based on Haugen’s language planning
model (Haugen, 1983). It is shown that the language policy succeeded
in implementing Malay as a national language. Nonetheless, the Malay
language policy has not been implemented at the official level. As a
result of globalization and the open market economy, there has been a
shift in the language policy. More specifically there has been a change
from Malay to English as the language of business and industry at the
economy level. Moreover English was adopted as the instruction
language for math and science at the higher education level. I argue
that the change of language policy threatens Malay language not only at
the official level but also at the national level. In order for Malay
language to eventually assume the official tasks educationally and
economically, this language has to be developed through the prolific
translations and publications; furthermore, the Malay language should
be enriched with technical and scientific terms as Haugen’s model
predicts.
The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two i... more The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two instances of two distinct morphological processes involving different characteristics and mechanisms. I propose an analysis based on how morphology operates in the lexicon and the syntax and provide data from Arabic and Hebrew. I argue that the BP is derived lexically as one atomic complex word while the SP involves a two-unit merger deriving a non-atomic word in the syntax. Evidence follows from the lexical access, morphological productivity, semantic distinctions of number and the lexical representation of BP and SP. Atomicity plays a crucial role in the distinction of morphology in the lexicon and the syntax not just in Arabic morphology but also cross-linguistically as illustrated by the Hebrew diminutives which add further evidence to the effect of atomicity in the morphological analysis of words.
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2021
The Arabic traditional grammar as well as Chomsky’s mainstream theory may not be able to provide ... more The Arabic traditional grammar as well as Chomsky’s mainstream theory may not be able to provide a good analysis of some fixed Arabic phrases. The challenge of such data directly stems from the fact that the general syntactic rules assumed by the two opposing theories cannot explain the syntactic and the semantic aspects of the fixed Arabic data. I argue that the Construction Grammar provides an adequate account that does not rely on syntactic structure alone, as assumed by the mainstream theory or the Arabic traditional grammar, but rather it links phonological, syntactic, and semantic information together in one basic construction by means of some correspondence rules. The Arabic data proves that there is a strong need for a linguistic theory that takes into consideration all data of different range of productivity.
مجلة الفنون والأدب وعلوم الإنسانيات والاجتماع, 2017
Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstre... more Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstream theories because they are relegated to an irregular lexicon that is distinct from a rule-based syntax despite the fact that collocations may have lexical and syntactic properties. In this paper, I argue that we need to relax this this strict division between the lexicon and the syntax in order to account for collocations. The minimalist program can address, as other non-Chomskyan theories, the basic properties of collocations. Therefore, I argue that there are general rules applying at the lexicon and the syntax to achieve specific structural and semantic goals. Merger is one important rule that applies in the lexicon to generate a phrase structure (i.e. a collocation structure that speakers of the language learn as ready-made chunks(. I argue that merger is a direct result of Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) requiring the phrase structure constituents to be linearly order. Merger also applies to the syntax as explained in Chomsky’s mainstream tradition and is conditioned by the LCA.
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2018
I discuss the morphological analysis of tense and aspect proposed by early Arab grammarians and i... more I discuss the morphological analysis of tense and aspect proposed by early Arab grammarians and illustrate some of its problems. In order to account for these problems, the Arab grammarians had to relegate the effects of tense and aspect to the morphological forms of faÀal and yafÀal. I show that these forms marked different tense specifications other than the default past tense for faÀal and present or future tense for yafÀal. As for aspect it has only received a sporadic and inconsistent analysis by early Arab grammarians. I agree with Fassi Fehri (1993) and Juhfah (2006) that a comprehensive theory of tense and aspect is essential for Arabic. I propose a syntactic analysis of tense and aspect in Arabic based on MacDonald’s (2008) analysis with some modifications needed to account for the Arabic data. Unlike Fassi Fehri and Juhfah’s analyses, this analysis is based on the verb interaction with its arguments and modifiers in which the verb checks tense and aspect syntactically by m...
I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of... more I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of the verb. Evidence for the lexical analysis of denominal verbs is based on lexical, semantic, and syntactic arguments. I argue that, unlike the lexical analysis, Baker’s syntactic analysis of denominative verbs fails to account for the lexical properties of denominative verbs particularly the lack of referential index of the noun and the non-ambiguity of these verbs with adverbs. Furthermore, the dual projection of a verb and a noun in syntax as assumed by the syntactic analysis violates syntactic principles.
Language and Linguistics. 語言暨語言學
This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection i... more This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection is included inside compounds. These data pose problems to Kiparsky’s (1982) level-ordering lexical morphology model and Li’s (1990) generalization on verb incorporation. I argue that such compounds are lexically formed based on some pieces of evidence. To support the analysis, I compare the compounds and the construct state constructions in Arabic and Hebrew. Then I show that the lexical analysis explains the morphological, syntactic properties, and the semantics of Arabic synthetic compounds. More specifically, I explain how the lexical analysis applies to theta-role assignment inside the compound and then discuss the number specification of the non-head in the compound of Arabic and English.
Language and Linguistics. 語言暨語言學
This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection i... more This paper discusses some data of Arabic synthetic compounds in which regular plural inflection is included inside compounds. These data pose problems to Kiparsky’s (1982) level-ordering lexical morphology model and Li’s (1990) generalization on verb incorporation. I argue that such compounds are lexically formed based on some pieces of evidence. To support the analysis, I compare the compounds and the construct state constructions in Arabic and Hebrew. Then I show that the lexical analysis explains the morphological, syntactic properties, and the semantics of Arabic synthetic compounds. More specifically, I explain how the lexical analysis applies to theta-role assignment inside the compound and then discuss the number specification of the non-head in the compound of Arabic and English.
Journal of Arts, Literature, Humanities and Social Sciences, May 2017
Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstre... more Collocations are not examined adequately within the minimalist program and other earlier mainstream theories because they are relegated to an irregular lexicon that is distinct from a rule-based syntax despite the fact that collocations may have lexical and syntactic properties. In this paper, I argue that we need to relax this this strict division between the lexicon and the syntax in order to account for collocations. The minimalist program can address, as other non-Chomskyan theories, the basic properties of collocations. Therefore, I argue that there are general rules applying at the lexicon and the syntax to achieve specific structural and semantic goals. Merger is one important rule that applies in the lexicon to generate a phrase structure (i.e. a collocation structure that speakers of the language learn as ready-made chunks(. I argue that merger is a direct result of Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) requiring the phrase structure constituents to be linearly order. Merger also applies to the syntax as explained in Chomsky’s mainstream tradition and is conditioned by the LCA.
Language and Linguistics, Jan 2018
This paper discusses some data of ASC in which regular plural inflection is included inside compo... more This paper discusses some data of ASC in which regular plural inflection is included inside compounds. These data pose problems to Kiparsky’s level-ordering lexical morphology model (1982) and Li’s generalization on verb incorporation (1990). I argue that ASC is lexically formed based on some pieces of evidence. To support the analysis, I compare the compounds and the construct state constructions in Arabic and Hebrew. Then I show that the lexical analysis explains the morphological, syntactic properties, and the semantics of ASC. More specifically, I explain how the lexical analysis applies to theta-role assignment inside the compound and then
discuss the number specification of the non-head in the compound of Arabic and English.
Journal of Imam Muhammed ibn Saud University, 2007
There are many analyses that attempt to account for Polarity Items (PI) any. Among such analyses ... more There are many analyses that attempt to account for Polarity Items (PI) any. Among such analyses are Ladusaw's (1980), Kadmon and Landman's (1993), and Linebarger's (1987). In this paper, I illustrate the problems of these analyses and I provide a unified analysis of any in its different contexts and usages. This suggested analysis is based on the semantic structure of the verb.
Journal of Arts, King Saud University, 2014
The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two i... more The paper discusses the Arabic Broken plural and the Sound plural (BP and SP henceforth) as two instances of two distinct morphological processes involving different characteristics and mechanisms. I propose an analysis based on how morphology operates in the lexicon and the syntax and provide data from Arabic and Hebrew. I argue that the BP is derived lexically as one atomic complex word while the SP involves a two-unit merger deriving a non-atomic word in the syntax. Evidence follows from the lexical access, morphological productivity, semantic distinctions of number and the lexical representation of BP and SP. Atomicity plays a crucial role in the distinction of morphology in the lexicon and the syntax not just in Arabic morphology but also cross-linguistically as illustrated by the Hebrew diminutives which add further evidence to the effect of atomicity in the morphological analysis of words.
Journal of King Saud University , 2005
I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of... more I argue that the noun in denominative verbs in Arabic and Hebrew is a lexical indivisible part of the verb. Evidence for the lexical analysis of denominal verbs is based on lexical, semantic, and syntactic arguments. I argue that, unlike the lexical analysis, Baker's syntactic analysis of denominative verbs fails to account for the lexical properties of denominative verbs particularly the lack of referential index of the noun and the non-ambiguity of these verbs with adverbs. Furthermore the dual projection of a verb and a noun in syntax as assumed by the syntactic analysis violates syntactic principles.
Linguistic Research, 2006
Are unaccusatives verbal or non-verbal predicates? Baker (2003) suggests that they are nonverbal ... more Are unaccusatives verbal or non-verbal predicates? Baker (2003) suggests that they are nonverbal predicates and they are decomposed syntactically into a functional predicate and an adjective. However I argue in this paper that unaccusatives really involve verbal predicates and not functional predicates. I discuss three types of predicates: verbal predicate, functional adjectival predicate, and adjectival predicate. The evidence that can conclusively distinguish the type of predicate follows from tense and aspect morphological markings. Furthermore, I argue that a Minimalist analysis (Chomsky, 1995, 2002) can exactly explain the asymmetric unaccusative behavior in Arabic1. That’s, it simultaneously explains the phonological presence of the verbal predicate of the unaccusative on one hand and the absence of that predicate on another hand by means of satisfying the requirements of the two interface structures: phonological form (PF) and logical form (LF).
A paper presented in a conference at Minia University, Egypt, 2006
Soon after Malaysia got its independence from the British colonization in 1957, it has been stri... more Soon after Malaysia got its independence from the British colonization
in 1957, it has been striving to establish the Malay language (Bahasa
Melayu) as the National language (Hassan, 2004). Malay has been seen
as a symbol of unity and identity in a country with various ethnic
backgrounds speaking unintelligible languages. There was an urgent
need to use one common language among all the ethnic communities -
Indians, Chinese, and Malay – to achieve two basic goals:
communication and social integration. This paper attempts to evaluate
the planning process of Malay language in the last fifty years. This
planning process is examined based on Haugen’s language planning
model (Haugen, 1983). It is shown that the language policy succeeded
in implementing Malay as a national language. Nonetheless, the Malay
language policy has not been implemented at the official level. As a
result of globalization and the open market economy, there has been a
shift in the language policy. More specifically there has been a change
from Malay to English as the language of business and industry at the
economy level. Moreover English was adopted as the instruction
language for math and science at the higher education level. I argue
that the change of language policy threatens Malay language not only at
the official level but also at the national level. In order for Malay
language to eventually assume the official tasks educationally and
economically, this language has to be developed through the prolific
translations and publications; furthermore, the Malay language should
be enriched with technical and scientific terms as Haugen’s model
predicts.