Moroccan Arabic - A Preliminary Grammar

Tim O'Gorman

February 12, 2010

Phonetic Inventory

1.1 Vowels
here re (ve lerly phonemi vowelsD GG GEG GiGD GuGD nd perhps GoG @sometimes GOGAF here is lso numer of entrl vowels @whose phonemi sttus is di0ult to determineAD found s GIGD G@GD G5G nd sometimes s GGD GGD GGD GG @the shortened versions re so rief s to perhps e nturlly emergent u I @ 5 from ertin rtiultionsAF ell of these phonemes exept GoG seem to our wordEinitillyD nd GoG my indeed e n llophone of GuGD though s hve not found preditive rules for tht yetF

1.2 Consonants
he onsonnt inventory seems to e ilil stops 'rites fritives pproximnt lterl nsl f G vB lioE dentl lveolr pltoE lveolr velr uvulr glottl phryngel

tGd sGzD s j n tSG SG Z r l

k G gB xGG

G Q

w m

xotes
B mens tht sound is reltively rreD nd my e only found in lon words x is used to mrk emphti x E so fr only on(rmed in GsG ut hs een herd in t lest GtGD nd my e involved in fstEspeeh versions of GQG GrG is thusEfr the only sound de(nitively found s geminteD though some instnes of GmGD GnG nd GsG might lso e geminteF does indeed seem to e its own phonemeD though it does not pper wordEinitilly nd seems to e ts @fritive releseA wordEmedillyF GlG does engge in ertin type of lterl plosionD t lest fter GtGF his will e mrked s GlG F when possileD ut ourred even efore vowels @in GtlE GD threeAF F

Phonology and Phonotactics

here re vowel lterntions in our stemsF hese seem to e pervsiveD nd re somewht phonologilly onditioned E generlly lternting etween some sort of shortD often entrl vowel nd the lk thereofF por exmpleD look t the stem lterntions of the following forms of the imperfetiveX imperfetive Pnd sg Ist sg Qrd plurl to wlk to uy

EI kEtxlf
kEtSuri

EI kEnxlf
kEnSuri

E kEExlf Eu
kEjSuriEu

to et kEtEk l kEnEk l u u kEjEklEo here seem to e two mjor options for nlysis of this systemD thereforeF he (rst would e to ssume tht these short vowels re underlyingly presentD nd re sometimes deleted y phonologil rulesF he seond option would e to ssume tht these re not underlyingD ut rther epenthetiF yne strong rgument ginst tht deletion hypothesis omes in the lterntion etween 9mouth9D GtqomGD nd 9my mouth9D GdoqmiGF por GoG to e in the underlying representtionD n explntion for it9s movement would hve to e proposed E nd no other evidene exists in this lnguge for metthesis sn ontrstD were one to use the 9epenthesis9 hypothesisD then this mkes more sense E n epentheti GoG simply emerges wherever it provides the est sylli strutureD whih results in GtqomG rther thnG toqmGD nd GdoqmiG rther thn GtqomiGF his sort of phenomenD where there seems to e struggle etween phonotti onstrints nd fithfulness to underlying formsD seems to eg for onstrintEsed nlysisF s hve not yetD howeverD rrived t one with su0ient power to desrie the phenomen t hndF snstedD one my roughly model wht is going on y using phonologil rulesX IF I G gplosiveglterl `#`#`#` nIl m0d@rsD IlmEk

@ PF gClterl gClterlD Csylli G 5gg `#`#`#` one (nds G l r G ut G lq G

QF I G Esonornt ContinuntEsonornt Continunt `#`#`#` GkEnx lfG vs GkEx lf uG lterE EI E

ntion
RF entrl vowel G gEsonorntg5 `#`#`#`dqm dqomD kEt Ekl kEt Ekl u SF entrl vowel G 5ggg `#`#`#` dqm doqmi TF EontinuntD Cvoied Eb Evoied G 5gEvoied `#`#`#` dqom tqom UF entrl vowel G Esonornt Csonornt Elterl `#`#` lwys Gd@rG or GS@rGD never GdrG

or GSrGF
xturlly these do not over ll phonologil hngeD nor is the entrl vowel term eptleF purther study will e required to predit whih vowel will epenthesize whenD s this seems to e result of push nd pull etween the relevnt onsonntsD with the rough tendenies eingX Cdorsl tends towrds more Ck vowels Coronl tends towrds more CfrontChigh vowels Clil tends towrds more EfrontD Ehigh vowels

2.1 Feminine Gender Marking, and the /a/-/t/ alternation

es one will see elowD GG seems to e su0x invrily onneted to 9feminine gender9 items in moronF edjetives gree with feminine using GGF wost of the feminine nouns end in GEGF iven eventive noun prtilesD whih seem to 9gree9 with their gents rther thn hving set nominl genderD

seem to tke the GEG su0x when mrking feminineF o it is urious tht we hve set of nounsD prtiiples mongst themD whih seem to reple GG with GtG when they re followed y other su0xes E in this seD GEiG nd GElEGF ere suh n lterntion phonologilly vileD it would e onsidered 9phonologil9 in ntureD ut there seems no justi(tion for rguing hnge from GG to GtGD or from GtG to GGF es suhD s must urrently simply postulte two underlying forms for the feminine su0xD wordE(nl form GG nd nonE(nl form GtGF his is not stisftoryD ut no etter proposl hs een rrived tF su0x dded msuline feminine friend friends Ei @myA Ei @myA s@i si @

I sti
sEti

giver Elu @to himA Qtlu Qtt@lou edmittedlyD there is gret del of noise in these formsD ut the rest of the noise is likely due to trnsription error nd the di0ulty of determining noun plurls

Noun Morphology

3.1 Noun Pluralization

st is proposed tht two mjor lsses of nouns exist @for the purposes of grmmtil seAD nd tht mny more exist for the purpose of plurl formtionF st is proposed tht eh of the two 9genders9 hs its own plurl formtion rulesD nd tht swth of irregulrities expnds out from those formsF he (rst of these is shown in msuline nouns E lss here de(ned s those terms whih tke msuline 9greement9 in terms of possessionD djetivl greementD etF sn the following hrtD underlying forms hve een proposed sed upon the phonologil rules proposed E whih shows @to very limited extentA tht the (rst three terms hve ler regulrityY E G g5F he word for ook howeverD shows n entirely di'erent formD going from ggg ggugF inglish singulr singulr underlying oy oy mn wIlt wld plurl EulEdD EwlEdD EwlEt plurl underlying wl`Ebd

Qz@ri

Qzri

he feminine forms show similr ptternD in whih the mjority 9follow9 regulr pttern ut in whih gret del of vrition still existsF he mount of orrowingD nd the omplex plurl system existent in modern stndrd riD provides reinforement for the ide tht suh n irregulr plurl system my existF he tle elow shows thtD fter epting some noise from phonologyD three of the (ve feminine nouns plurlize through the ddition of the GEE G su0xD nd fourth seems to plurlize with the similr GEEtG or GEts G su0xF inglish singulr singulr underlying girl jili trees @myA femle friend Int nt plurl InE plurl underlying ntCE

@myA mle friend ooks

s@Ei kt

rl F

rl F s kt

QzEr@ " rIEl @ sEi ktu

Qz`Ebr
r`Ebl

s`b ktu

ZIlE5 SIZ5r I stEi

Zle5 SZr5
s5

ZIlEE
@dIASiZ@rE sEtEi

ZlE5CE SZr5CE
sCEt

yne my see tht like the msuline nounsD there exist some wild irregulrities here E in this seD ggg5 Eb gggF u Q

pen )ower

stilo wrd5

stilo wrd5

stiluEt @q dlEAwrd u

stiluCEt wrd u

3.2 The Denite Article/Clitic /l/

smmeditely efore noun my ome the de(nite rtile GlG E whih often seems to e pre(xedD like litiD to the word itselfF hile the ext distriution of the de(nite rtile will eome pprent over timeD here is vgue sense of how it seems to ompre with other lngugesF vnguge revious referene mss nouns unti(ed inglish yes no no qeneri ense no

woron
wodern tndrd eri

yes
yes

yes
yes

sometimes
yes

no
yes

prenh yes no yes yes xturlly these re ll omplited use ptternsY these my e djusted over timeF hile moron does not seem to hve inry de(niteGinde(nite distintionD prototypilly inde(nite usges @referent introdution phrses suh s there is or s hveA do seem to get w ed E the sme s the numer 9one9F es we hve yet to (nd nything ouring etween nouns nd qunti(ersD there is no wy of distinguishing for ertin when w ed is qunti(er nd when it is n inde(nite rtileF

3.3 Compounding Clitic /d/

he generl pttern for omining multiple elements into noun phrseD is leftEheded stringing of nounsD with eh noun fter the (rst given the GdEG su0x mrking tht it is governed element of tht noun phrseF hus we (ndX @IA mmom dxms dIZir motherEy dE(ve dEdogs 4the mother of the (ve dogs4 nd @PA fEid dEmiledi djelEi forEfestivl dEirth possEposs 4for my irthdy4 his GdG mrker lso seems to e prt of the noun it modi(esF

ossession
gertin nouns my tke possessive su0x mrking ownershipF xot ll possession is mrked with this @see periphrsti possession elowAD ut most inlienle terms @suh s ody prtsA nd ertin terms of indeterminte lienility @my friendsD my nmeA re given this termF singulr msF Ist Pnd Ei E@k femF plurl E@n Ekom

Qrd Eo E Eom por those things whih my e onsidered 9owned9 in more onrete wyD suh s my dog or my houseD our speker ompounds the possessed noun with the possessive term GdjelEGD whih is then mrked with the pproprite possessive su0x @resulting in djeliD djeloD djelkomD etFAF es this seems to e n instne of ompoundingD it is indeterminnt s yet whether this term is underlyingly GdjelG or just GjelG with the ompounding liti GdGF R

he urious ftor involving this possessive lterntion is tht the deision hngesD not simply euse of the semntis of the term itselfD ut euse of the person possessing itF my eye is GPjniGD ut her eyes re GPjnin djel GF my mouth is GdoqmiGD ut her mouth is Gt1qom djelGF

The Noun Phrase

x hemonstrtive quntity hed x x modi(ers

yne my think of the noun phrse s working like thisX

noun @dCnounA djetives

more nouns @dCnounAFFF xturlly omplitions will ourD ut this is wht we9ve seen so frF

4.1 Demonstratives.
e found the following set of demonstrtivesX ms spei(erD nonEdeiti proximl @roughly within rehA distl hEd hEd hEdEk hEdik fem

extreme distl dik he di'erene etween GhEdG nd GhEdG is onjeturlD more work will hve to e doneF st doesD howeverD seem tht in the more deiti tD or pointing t something in room @s opposed to using it s form of nphor or spei(tionAD GhEdG will e usedD nd ll more strt uses of proximl demonstrtive tke GhEdGF e (nd interesting lterntions in omprtive onstrutions suh sX @QA hEd iro k@ir w hEd s5Gir prox dog ig nd prox smll 4this dog is igD nd this one smll4

4.2 Nominal modication within Noun phrases

he modifying nouns with other nouns mkes use of the GdEG ompounding liti mentioned oveF ih modifying term follows the 9hed9 verD nd does not seem to gree in either numer or personF

4.3 Adjectival modication within Noun Phrases

edjetives seem to gree with gender @sometimesA numer of the nouns they modifyF yne (ndsD for exmpleX S

@RA @SA

s hve eutiful )ower @)ower a feminineAX Qndi whedlwrd mziun s hve eutiful ook @ook a msulineAX Qndi whdlkt mziuen

his seems to e showing the sme form of gender nd plurl greement s we (nd in edjetivl rediE tion onstrutionsF snorporting tht dt s wellD the pttern of djetivl greement looksD t (rstD more lerX msuline djetives tke nothing @AD feminine djetives tke ED nd plurl djetives tke Ein @ssuming here tht the GjG is phonologilly motivtedAF @TA @UA @VA @WA your wth is lenX megen5 djelIk nqij your ook is lenX kt djelIk nqi these )owers re lenX hed lwrdets nqijin this oy is igX Edlwilt k@ir F

@IHA your wth is igX megn djlk k@ir5 u @IIA these two oys re igX hEd ZuZ l0wlEd kIrin nfortuntelyD this does not seem to e universlY oserve the lterntions for redX @IPA s hve three red )owersX Qnden tltet dlwr@dets omr @IQA his )ower is redX hed lwrdets lon djelom Imr hus we my e deling with more thn one wy of mrking gender nd numer greement for djetivesF

4.4 Relative Clause Constructions

e hve one instne of reltive luse useD n ojetEheded luseD shown elowF his limited dt indites tht the reltive luse follows the noun it modi(esY tht there my e GliEG liti funtioning s reltivizerD nd tht the referent is simply left s gp in the reltive luseF @IRA lEwr@dEts lEQt@EItiEni mziunEin theE)owers reltivizerEgveEPndsgEIstFsgFoj eutifulEplurl the )owers tht you gve me re eutiful

Equational Clauses

es seen in the ove setion on djetivl modi(tionD djetives gree in numer nd gender with the noun they modifyD lthough the pprent greement rules @E for feminineD Ein for plurlD no mrking for msulineA re likely sujet to exeptionsF he tul struture of djetivl predition is simpleX the noun omes (rstD followed y the djetiveD without ny opulF imilrlyD lotive predition my e done in the sme wyF e foundD howeverD tht there does seem to e opul for use when one wnts to express pst tense meningD suh sX @ISA hEd skunEt fI soq this morning pstFopEIsgFsing in mrket s ws in the mrket this morning

5.1 Nominal and Possessive predication

xominl predition seems to e done through the simple presenttion of two nouns in rowF e suset of this is one form of possessive preditionD similr to english s hve F his is done through the noun GQndG long with the possessive su0x orresponding to the ownerF es it tkes nominl possessive mrkingD this is presumly nounD nd presumly simply nominl equtionl luseF

5.2 Topics in Equational Clauses

ispeilly in equtionl luses involving possession or modi(tionD where 9importnt9 prt of the senteneD in some wy or notherD is nonEhed element of one of the nounsD there is tendeny to topilize it t the eginning of the luse nd then refer to it nphorillyF hus we (ndX @ITA huw PIsmEu On

QrdFpronoun nmeEQrdFms tohn

his nme is john @litF himD his nme is tohnA @IUA hEdElEwd ZuZ IEhom kIrEIn F demEhipEoysFpl two EQrdFpl igFpl he two oys re ig @litF these oysD two of them re igA @IVA hed lEwrdEets lon djelEom Imr dem defE)owerEpl olor yEQrdFpl red these two )owers re red @litF these )owersD their olor is redA

5.3 Temporary Agentive Noun/participle Constructions

e set of onstrutions whih would eD in englishD verl preditionsD seem to e expressed through nounsF hile ny trnsltions given seem to e very eventive in ntureD these do not seem to use the verl system outlined elowD ut rther to tke nominl greement msulineD feminineD nd plurl @ ED ED nd EinD respetivelyAF htever they gree with funtions s the gent of the event E nd s suhD one sees the use of pronounsD in n otherwise proEdrop lngugeD utilized in order to mke tht greement lerF feyond thtD the resons for their useD nd the di'erenes etween these nd imperfetive onstrutionsD re unlerF @IWA huw@ geIz fEtjr foqEtetwn de he )yFprtiiple inEple oveEtetwn now he is )ying over tetwn right now @PHA kunEt meS nIElEm0d@rs u SufEt SIZr wsEIFpst wlk toElEshool nd swEIFpst tree 4i ws wlking to shool nd s sw tree4

@PIA ntin PteElE stilo you giveEenefEhim pen you give me the pen @PPA fQin meSic where going 4where re you goingc4 @to mnA

Verbs

6.1 TAM marking on Verbs

sn terms of morphologil formtionD there seem to e two sets of spetsD with the future nd imperfetive spets following one set of formtion rules nd the perfetive following nother tenseGspet person EnE @Ist personA EtE @Pnd personA EdE@Pnd person plurlA EtE @Qrd person femA Ej or Ei @Qrd pl or ms singFA st is to e noted tht the GGEG spet is more thn simply 9future tense9D ut rther something long the lines of sujuntive or irrelisD s it my e used in onditionl pst tense situtions s elowX @PQA id@ kunEt mSiEt nEsoq lEerkunEt GEnESiri @lExoz if pstEIFsg wlkEIFsg dirEmrket defEyesterdy pstEIFsg irrEIsgEuy defEred if s hd wlked to the store yesterdy s would hve ought red he perfetiveD in ontrstD is expressed entirely through su0xesX singulr plurl ms Ist Pnd Qrd Ei Eiti E @QEonsonnt rootsA G E5 @P ons rootsA hese two spets @in ddition to the prtile use mentioned oveA onstitute reltively omplex system of spetF sn ddition to thisD there seems to e n uxiliryD GkunGD whih is purely tense mrkerD pling it9s luse into the pst tenseF EE fem Ein Eitu Eu CstemC numer C @singulrA Cu @plurlA

GE E @irrelis G sujuntiveA
kE E@imperfetiveA

PE

@ineptiveA1

6.2 Voice
ss extremely poorly represented in our dtsetY we urrently hve only one instne of pssive voieD nd it9s use leves gret del of questions unnsweredX
1 was
only seen in one instance, and may simply not exist

@PRA the fox te the hikenX tP5lE kIl5 EZ @PSA the hiken ws eten y the foxX EZ kIlE tP5lE his requires more studyD espeilly sine the lterntion etween GG nd GeG seems only possile in the third person singulrF woreoverD there seems to e no gentive mrking upon the pssive gentF he esiest proposl for how the pssive system works @sed upon this one lterntionAD would e tht the verl su0x EE mrks the pssive voie @repling the G5G through simply phonologil ruleAF

6.3 Verbal Suxes

feneftiveGwleftive verl su0x
here re three instnes of verl su0x whih seems to hve spei( funtion of mrking the eneftiveGmleftive role in preditionF st onsists of GlGD following y pronominl mrking similr to the possessiveX singulr msF Ist Pnd Eli El@k femF plurl E@n Elkom

Qrd Elo El Elom G Elum he (rst two re verlD nd the third my e the verl prtiipleD ut ll seem to onvey the generl ide of person gining or losing euse of this eventX @PTA Iro Qt@ElEi idEi dog iteFprf EfixipEme hndEmy the dog it my hnd @PUA kEEts EftiS ElEum QElEmkil impfEQfemEserhEfixipEthem food she serhed for food for them

htive verl su0x

es sid oveD to give my lso ode the reipient through GnG su0xD using similr enoding of person E though only one instneD the (rst person 9ni9D hs een seen so frX @PVA keEtEQteIEni stilo impfEPndEgiveEdtiveFIst pen give me pen xote thtD like in inglish with 9to9D this seems to overlp with the preposition mrking diretion @see 9prepositions9 elowA

Simple Clause

7.1 Order
he generl pttern is opiemporl edveril ujet er yjet temporl dverils nd prepositionl phrses W

7.2 Existential There /hEdi/

here seems to e onstrution funtioning s n existentil there is onstrutionD using hEdiF his looks very similr to the demonstrtive setD so it likely emerged out of themF hEdi whedI m@QIzE exist indef gotEfem there ws got

7.3 Prepositional Phrases

ell of these seem to tke n epentheti GIG efore the de(nite GlG whih they often preedeD yet instnes lking tht GlG re lso lking the GIG @see GfQidFFG under GfGD etAD nd thus it is not onsidered to e prt of the underlying formF

hiretionl GnG
et unseen for nything ut to goF @PWA GnemSI Gd nilm0drs i will wlk to shool tomorrowX @QHA uknE E kE ImS d@PimEn nIlG

she lwys went to the forestX

snstrumentl GG
omething long the lines of thing used while doing the verY one ets using forkD speks using lngugeF she te ousous with forkX ketkul ksuksu Ilmek we spek erer hin k@nhUdro ISIlh

girumstntil GfG
here seems to e preposition for in the frme of event F his my e relted in some wy to the lotive predition preposition G(G seen efore @see nominl preditionsA @QIA fidmIled djeli P Qtni stilo for my irthdy dd gve me pen

@ @QPA kleets mhli fIlQiS

s te hlw for dinner

essoitive or emporl GmQG

@QQA hin k@EnEh0d@rEu mQ QdE@n k0l@n5hr @or k0lnhrcA we impfEIstEspekEpl sso reipEIstpl everydy we spek with eh other everydy @QRA keEtExlif mQEIro djelEik whedIElEmrr fIElEnhr impfEPndEwlk ssoEdog possEPFsg oneEdefEinstne irumEdefEdy you wlk your dog one dy IH

Complex Clauses

8.1 Subordinate Clauses

gonditionl nd temporl suordinte luses seem to work though luseEinitil suordinte onjunE tionD simply followed y the rest of the min luseF st seems tht in pst tense emedded luseD howeverD the pst tense uxiliry kunGken ours efore the sujetF

emporlX
@QSA mili ken tilifun djeli keEiEsoni nsIr gez foqEersi when pst phone possEIst impfEIsgEring vulture )yFQrdprf oveEhed when my phone ws ringing vulture )oew over my hed

gonditionlX
his shows quite niely the perfetive spet in future tense
@QTA id mSu nEsoq lEGd GEjES0riEu @lExoz if wlkFprfEpl hsEmrket hipEtomorrow sujuntEQrdEuyEpl defEred if they wlk to the store tomorrow they will uy red

gounterftul onditionlX
his shows quite niely the 9futureGsujuntive9 spet in pst tense
@QUA id@ kunEt mSiEt nEsoq lerkunEt GEnESiri @lExoz if wsEperfFIsg goEperfFIsg hsEmrket yesterdy wsEIsgFperf sujuntEIstEuy defEred if s hd gone do the store s would hve ought red

II