Background Concepts

The Templatic Tier

Consider letters as the most basic constituent of speech. Letters are either
consonants (indicated by capital C) or vowels (indicated by capital V). There are
six vowels in Arabic; three short: u, a, i, and three long: uu, aa, ii corresponding to
the short ones.

When we parse a word alphabetically, we assign all consonants the symbol C and
all vowels the symbol V. If we want to be more specific, we can use the actual
vowel sound (u, a, i, uu, aa, or ii) instead of using V. If we want to emphasize that
two consonants are the same, we subscript the C with a number.

Examples: the word “quutila” is alphabetically parsed as CVVCVCV or, less

generally, as CuuCiCa. And the word “zalzala” can be parsed as C​1​VC​2​C​1​VC​2​V or
as C​1​aC​2​C​1​aC​2​a.

The Syllabic Tier

Letters come together to form syllables. Syllables are grouped into one of three
categories depending on their weight; light (L), heavy (H), or super-heavy (S). The
inventory of syllables in Arabic is as follows:

Syllable Weight Example

CV Light L َ‫أ‬

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 CVV Heavy H ‫ﻫﺎ‬

CVC Heavy H ‫إِ ْن‬

Rare CVCC Super-heavy S َ

‫ﺿ ْﺮ ْب‬

CVVC Super-heavy S ْ
‫ﻗﺎل‬

CVVCC Super-heavy S ّ
‫ﺟﺎن‬

The Prosodic Tier

We start parsing words from the left and look for one or two syllables in order to
form feet. Consider two feet: the iamb and the moraic trochee. An iamb is a light
syllable followed by a heavy, and a trochee is two lights or one heavy.

Iamb: LH CVCVV or CVCVC

Trochee: LL or H CVCV, CVV, or CVC

Arabic is a trochee-based language, which means we parse words and look for
trochees; whatever syllables do not form trochees are left as residue.

Examples: “kataba” à CVCVCV. Starting from the left, CV is not a foot. CVCV
together, however, forms a trochee (LL). The final CV cannot form a foot so “ba”
is left as residue.

“nafs” à CVCC. CVC forms a trochee (H) and the final “s” is residue. Similarly in
“rajul” we get CVCVC, so “raju” is a trochee (LL) and “l” is residue.

A Probabilistic Pluralisation Algorithm

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1. if the singular has a round Taa at the end, remove it.

2. look for the first trochee starting from the left edge and map it to a CVCVV
iamb.

A. mapping is done by extending the vowels to fill the new vowel

positions.

B. if there aren’t enough consonants, use “w” as a filler.

3. join the new iamb to the residue, keeping in mind morphophonemic rules.

4. change the vowel pattern to match the appropriate plural pattern; u-u, a-a,
i-a.

5. perform metathesis if necessary.

6. if the new plural is on CiCaaC or CuCuuC, it may require a feminine Taa at

its end.

Examples

The algorithm will make little without accompanying examples:

‫َﻧ ْﻔﺲ‬ 1. “naf” is the first trochee, “s” is residue

(soul) 2. “naf” transformed into an iamb becomes “nafaa” and the
word becomes “nafaas”
3. this word takes the “u” vowel pattern so it becomes
“nufuus”

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‫ِﻗ ْﺪح‬ 1. “qid” is the first trochee, “h” is residue
(arrow) 2. “qid” transformed into an iamb becomes “qidii” and the
complete word is “qidiih”
3. this word takes the “i, a” vowel pattern so it becomes
“qidaah”

‫ُﺣ ْﻜﻢ‬ 1. “huk” is the first trochee, “m” is residue

(judgemen 2. “huk” transformed into an iamb becomes “hukuu” and the
t) complete word is “hukuum”
3. this word takes the “a” vowel pattern so it becomes
“hakaam”
4. metathesis applies, changing “hakaam” to “ahkaam”

‫أَ َﺳﺪ‬ 1. “asa” is the first trochee, “d” is residue

(lion) 2. “asa” transformed into an iamb becomes “asaa” and the
word becomes “asaad”
3. this word takes the “u” vowel so it becomes “usuud”

‫َر ُﺟﻞ‬ 1. “raju” is the first trochee, “l” is residue

(man) 2. “raju” transformed into an iamb becomes “rajuu” and the
complete word is “rajuul”
3. this word takes the “i, a” vowel pattern so it becomes
“rijaal”

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‫ِﻋَﻨﺐ‬ 1. “cina” is the first trochee, “b” is residue
(grape) 2. “cina” transformed into an iamb becomes “cinaa” and the
complete word is “cinaab”
3. this word takes the “a” vowel pattern so it becomes
“canaab”
4. metathesis applies, changing “canaab” to “acnaab”

‫َﺳﺤﺎﺑﺔ‬ 1. removing the Taa gives “sahaab”

(cloud) 2. “saha” is the first trochee, “ab” is residue
3. “saha” transformed into an iamb becomes “sahaa” and the
complete word should be “sahaa-ab”. But based on
morphophonemic rules, there must be an eliding Hamza to
facilitate this. This gives “sahaa’ab”
4. this word takes the “a, i” vowel pattern so it becomes
“sahaa’ib”

‫ﺟﺰﯾﺮة‬ 1. removing the Taa gives “jaziir”

(peninsula 2. “jazi” is the first trochee, “ir” is residue
) 3. “jazi” transformed into an iamb becomes “jazii” and the
complete word should be “jazii-ir”. But there must be an
eliding Hamza to facilitate this. This gives “jazii’ir”
4. this word takes the “a, i” vowel pattern so it becomes
“jazaa’ir”

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‫ﻛﺮﯾﻤﺔ‬ 1. removing the Taa gives “kariim”
(noble) 2. “kari” is the first trochee, “im” is residue
3. “kari” transformed into an iamb becomes “karii” and the
complete word should be “karii-im”. But there must be an
eliding Hamza to facilitate this. This gives “karii’im”
4. this word takes the “a, i” vowel pattern so it becomes
“karaa’im”

‫ﻓﺎ ِﻛﻬﺔ‬ 1. removing the Taa gives “faakih”

(fruit) 2. “faa” is the first trochee, “kih” is the residue
3. “faa” only has one consonant so we compensate with a “w”
and map to an iamb. This gives “fawaa”. The entire word is
“fawaakih”
4. like most plurals, this take the “a, i” vowel pattern so it
remains “fawaakih”

‫آِﻧﺴﺔ‬ 1. removing the Taa gives “aanis”

(cheerful) 2. “aa” is the first trochee and “nis” is the residue
3. “aa” has only one consonant (initial Hamza) so it maps to
an iamb as “awaa”. The entire word is then “awaanis”
4. this plural takes the “a, i” vowel pattern so it remains
“awaanis”

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‫ﺟﺎﻣﻮس‬ 1. “jaa” is the first trochee and “muus” is the residue
(buffalo) 2. “jaa” mapped to an iamb becomes “jawaa” and the entire
word is “jawaamuus”
3. this plural takes pattern “a, i” resulting in “jawaamiis”

‫ُﺳﻠْﻄﺎن‬ 1. “sul” is the first trochee and “taan” is residue

(sultan) 2. “sul” maps to “suluu” and the word becomes “suluutaan”
3. this plural uses the “a, i” vowel pattern to give “salaatiin”

‫ِﺗّﻨﯿﻦ‬ 1. “tin” is the first trochee and “niin” is the residue

(sea 2. “tin” maps to “tinii” and the word is “tiniiniin”
monster) 3. this plural uses the “a, i” vowel pattern which gives
“tanaaniin”

‫أَ ْﻓﺮاق‬ This is already the plural of “firaq”, which is the plural of “firqa”.
(sects) We can turn this into a level-3 plural as follows:

1. “af” is the first trochee (remember the Hamza at the

beginning), “raaq” is the residue
2. “af” maps to “afaa” and the word becomes “afaaraaq”
3. this plural uses the “a, i” pattern which gives “afaariiq”