THE SYNTAX OF MODERN STANDARD ARABIC
Modern Standard Arabic, also known by its acronym MSA, is the direct result of modern
Arabic and a standardized version of the language. It is the type of Arabic used in universities,
Arabic language schools, audiovisual and written media, and other formal contexts. Words in the
Arabic syntax can be divided into nouns, verbs, or particles. The first two are seen in English
syntax but the particle is something that is specific to Arabic syntax.
In the Arabic language, a noun is called اسمpronounced /isim/, a verb is called فعلpronounced
/fi’il/, and a particle is called حرفpronounced /harf/. MSA, as a classical Arabic, enjoys a great
deal of freedom in word order because of its rich inflectional morphology. For example, the
following simple sentence:
(1) Qara?-a al-tulaab-u al-kutub-a
read-past the students-nom the books-acc ( The students read the books.)
Seeing that (1) has a VSO word order. However, (1) allows, through permutations of its
constituents, the following sentences to be formed:
(2) Qara?-a al-kutub-a al-tulaab-u
read-past the books-acc the students-nom ( The students read the books.)
Noticing that (2) has a VOS word order.
Firstly, With the exception of the question phrase, all question phrases in the MSA are
indeclinable (that is, they do not explicitly display a Case ending). The strong [+Q] feature of
the complementizer C must also be checked against all question phrases, which is done by
moving all question phrases overtly to [Spec, CP]. This checking operation is done through
the Spec-head relation in the checking domain of [Spec, CP].
Man 'who'
The question phrase man 'who' is only used to inquire about rational entities
(i.e. human beings) It can take on different syntactic forms, and depending on whether it is in the
nominative or accusative form, each one is handled differently, as will be discussed below.
. As a predicate of a "nominal" sentence:
a. man anta t man ?
who-nom. you-2m.sg.nom.
'Who are you?'
b. man zayd – un t man ?
who-nom. Zaid-nom.
'Who is Zaid?'
. As a subject of a verbal sentence
a. man wasala t man mutaaxir – an ?
who-nom. arrive-pst.m.sg. late-acc.
'Who arrived late?'
b. man xaraža t man min al – maktabat – i ?
who-nom. get out-pst.m.sg. from def-library-loc.
'Who got out of the library?
.As an object NP in a verbal sentence
a. šahad – tu zayd – an
see-pst-I.1m.sg.nom. Zaid-acc.
'I saw Zaid?'
b. man zur – ta t man ?
whom-acc. visit-pst-2m.sg.nom.
Whom did you visit?'
Secondly, Modern Standard Arabic's Yes/No Question Syntax:
The yes/no structure in Modern Standard Arabic is created using three interrogative particles.
The first two, hal and ʔa, are necessary for the interrogative structure's main clause and must
come first in the clause. The interrogative particle is used in embedded clauses. This particle
must also appear in the embedded clause's opening position. According to Chomsky (1995, p.
289), interrogative clauses contain the strong feature [+Q/Wh] in the head of the CP, which can
be interpreted as a Q-feature with semantic content. This strong feature has a well-formed
interrogative structure, but it needs a lexical item to check it (+Q/+Wh). (1995), Chomsky
(9) a. Sarah ate the apples.
b. Did Sarah eat the apples?
c. I wonder if/whether Sarah ate the apples?
.Interrogatives hal & ʔa-
Almojam Alwaf defines the interrogative particles hal and ʔa as question particles that demand
agreement (yes) or disagreement (no). While ʔa is a bound morpheme in this instance serving as
a prefix, interrogative hal is a free morpheme. Both prepositional particles must appear at the
start of a main clause. One distinction between these two interrogatives is that the interrogative
prefix ʔa may appear in any sentence, regardless of whether it contains a complementizer or a
negative phrase (NegP), while the interrogative prefix hal must not appear in such a sentence.
Why? Hal and a- also differ in that hal requires a verb-element to be followed by full agreement
on the verb (i.e., hal + VSO with full agreement), whereas ʔa does not. For example:
a. hal akl-t Sarah altufah
Q ate-3SF Sarah the-apples
“Did Sarah eat the apples”
b. hal akl-n albannat altufah
Q ate-3PlF the-girls the-apples
“Did Sarah eat the apples”
c. *hal laa akl-t Sarah altufah
Q Neg ate-3SF Sarah the-apples
d. *hal ʔin akl-t Sarah altufah
Q if ate-3SF Sarah the-apples
Thirdly, there are five key differences between the three different Arabic nominal opposition
types. Addressing these differences in terms of the two units' respective nominal categories.
The nominal category of each element in Arabic nominal appositions separates the three types
repeated below using different examples. These new examples are intended to show that these
types are productive in MSA.
(11)a. dʒa:ʔa n-nabiyy-u Muħammad-un
come.PERF.3.M the-prophet-NOM Muhammad-NOM ‘The prophet, Muhammad,
came.’ (Type I)
b. dʒa:ʔa ʔabi, ʕali-un
come.PERF.3.M father.my.NOM Ali-NOM ‘My father, Ali, came.’
(12)a. qarrar-ati d-duwal-u l-ʔaʕdˤa:ʔ-u l-muɣa:darat-a
decide.PERF-3.F the-states-NOM the-members-NOM the-departure-ACC
‘The states, the members, decided to leave.’ (Type II)
b. qarrar-ati ʃ-ʃarikat-u l-ʔumm-u l-insiħa:b-a
decide.PERF-3.F the-company-NOM the-mother-NOM the-withdrawal-ACC
‘The company, the mother, decided to withdraw.’
(13)a. naħnu l-ʕarab-a naqu:lu ða:lika
We.NOM the-arab.PL-ACC say.IMPERF.1.PL that
‘We, the Arabs, say that.’ (Type III)
b. ʔana l-muʕallim-a ʔaʕtarif-u ʔanna
.I.NOM the-teacher-ACC acknowledged.IMPERF.1.M that
‘I, the teacher, acknowledge that...’
As shown from the examples above, the Type I appositions in (11) consists of a common noun
followed by a proper name whereas the Type II appositions in (12) involve two adjacent
common nouns. As far as the Type III appositions in (13), they contain a pronoun followed by a
common noun. In other words, we can conclude that the two units in each type are different in
terms of their nominal categories.
To conclude, the MSA syntax has distinctive characteristics regarding question phrases,
Yes/No questions, and nominal apposition.
References:
❖ https://www.ahlan-world.org/blog/modern-standard-arabic-colloquial-
arabic/#:~:text=Modern%20Standard%20Arabic%2C%20also%20known,media%2C%2
0and%20other%20formal%20contexts
❖ International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 10, No. 5; 2020 ISSN 1923-869X E-
ISSN 1923-8703 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education. The Syntax of
Yes/No Questions in Modern Standard Arabic
https://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijel/article/view/0/43248
❖ https://kaleela.com/en/arabic-
syntax#:~:text=In%20Arabic%20syntax%2C%20there%20is,language%20are%20catego
rized%20as%20well
❖ The Syntax of Nominal Appositions in Modern Standard Arabic
https://tpls.academypublication.com/index.php/tpls/article/view/3805/3168
❖ The Syntax of Questions in Modern Standard Arabic: A Minimalist Perspective
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303960245_The_Syntax_of_Questions_in_Mo
dern_Standard_Arabic_A_Minimalist_Perspective
❖ Word Order in Modern Standard Arabic: A GB Approach
https://chss.ksu.edu.sa/sites/arts.ksu.edu.sa/files/imce_images/v40m316r1094.pdf
