Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine the semantic development, specifically the Arabization versus the derivation, of quadrilateral verbal nouns and trilateral verbal nouns augmented by one letter in Modern Standard Arabic (â MSAâ ). These types of verbal nouns are commonly used in written and spoken Arabic today and it is of great importance to anyone studying the Arabic language to understand the development of these forms. The main sources used in this study were issues form three Arabic language newspapers, nemely Asharq Al-Awast, Okaz and Al-Ahram. The method used in this analysis consisted first of identifying verbal nouns in the source newspapers and then comparing the rates of occurance of these words across these periodicals. These verbal nouns were then cross-referenced in dictionaries, including ٠سا٠ا٠عرب , as representative of old, Arabic-Arabic dictionaries, ا٠٠عج٠ا٠٠س٠ط , as representative of modern, Arabic-Arabic dictionaries, and ا٠٠٠رد ا٠٠ر٠ب and Hans Wehr, as representative of modern, Arabic-English dictionaries and a subsequent comparison across dictionaries was carried out. The analysis resulted in the conclusion that derivation is more common than Arabization in MSA and that derivation leverages many patterns, the most common of which include: (taf3il) ت٠ع٠٠and (fa3lanat) ٠ع٠٠ة , while Arabization mostly leverages the pattern of (fa3lalat) ٠ع٠٠ة . In addition, these types of verbal nouns appear more frequently in Asharq Al-Awast, as compared to the other newspapers, and in the modern Arabic-English dictionaries, as compared to the Arabic-Arabic dictionaries.
