The Typology of Case System of Nouns in Arabic

Abstract

The issue of noun’s I’rāb has been discussed as case in linguistic theories, and its different patterns and markers have been investigated in the languages of the world. The present study aimed at investigating the systematic patterns of case-marking and their grammatical behavior in Classical and Standard Arabic based on linguistic theories within a typological perspective. Relying on structural and formal criteria (considering the final form of the words), two general patterns in Arabic case-marking are distinguished: a) nouns lacking a number suffix (i.e. single nouns and broken-plurals) make a three-way distinction of case (nominative vs. accusative vs. genitive); and b) nouns having a number suffix (i.e. duals, masculine sound-plurals, and feminine plurals) make a two-way distinction (nominative vs. oblique). The present study seeks to show dominant as well as exceptional patterns in a theory-oriented approach, and at some points, criticizes the Arabic traditional grammars for their analyses, presenting some questions for further analysis in future.

Keywords

• arabic
• case
• i’rāb
• noun
• typology