Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
IJCAES SPECIAL ISSUE ON [ISSN: 2231-4946] BASIC, APPLIED & SOCIAL SCIENCES, VOLUME III, JANUARY 2013 Arabic Parts of Speech: A Brief Overview Abdul Hamid Ahmed A Research Scholar of CMJ University, Shillong, India Abstract—Arabic belongs to Semitic group of languages, which is widely spoken in the Arab word. It is the language of the Holy Qur’ân and Hadith and the theology of Islam. Arabic literature finds a great reputation in the domain of the world literature. As an official language, Arabic is used in 25 sovereign states and it is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. So, its importance has been high level in the world of business and commerce. Moreover, it is widely taught in schools, colleges, universities, Islamic institutions, and used in workplaces, government and the media as well. As such, an attempt has been made in this paper to shed light on Arabic Parts of Speech. Keywords— Qur’ân, Arabic, Grammar, Noun, Verb I. INTRODUCTION In the linguistic scenario of the world, Arabic has a scientific grammar, rhetoric and prosody. Her syntactical feature is unique in the world and parts of speech have elaborated functioning. Arabic grammarians traditionally analyze all Arabic words into three main parts of speech; they are primarily (1) Noun, (2) Verb and (3) Particles. (1) These parts of speech are further sub-categorized into more detailed parts-of-speech which collectively cover the whole of the Arabic language. The three main parts of speech are as under: II. DESCRIPTION: To acquaint with Arabic Parts of Speech, we have categorically made a short discussion for all the aspects as they have. It has been observed from the linguistic point of view that nouns were created first, so their discussion is brought to notice as follows: 1. Noun: A noun in Arabic is a name or a word that describes a person, thing, or idea. Traditionally the Noun class in Arabic is subdivided into Derivatives (that is, nouns derived from verbs, nouns derived from other nouns, and nouns derived from particles) and Primitives (nouns not so derived). These nouns could be further sub-categorized by number, gender and case. This class also includes Participles, Pronouns, Relatives, Demonstratives and Interrogatives. (2) The Arab grammarians divide the nouns into three classes, they are as follows: 1. Ism al-Jâmid (The Primitive Noun) e.g. rajul (man), faras (a horse), nisâ’ (women) etc. 2. Ism al-Maṣdar (Verbal Noun), e.g. katl (to kill), nuṣra (to help) etc. 3. Ism al-Mashtaq (Derivative Noun), e.g. Ism al-Fâ‟il (Active Participle), e.g. kâtib (a writer), nâṣir (a helper) etc. (3) In this respect, all the categories of noun and their examples are brought to notice with an explanation as under: (i) The Verbal Noun (maṣdar): Here the word kitâba (writing) is a word denotes the act of writing having no a specific time i.e. original root of the word (infinitive noun of action). (ii) The Active Participle (ism al-fâ‘il): It refers to doers of action like the word kâtib denotes to a „writer‟. (iii) The Passive Participle (ism al-maf‘ûl): It refers to an action on whose the action of verb is fallen; for example the word „maktûb‟ means „written‟ i.e. a passive action. (iv) The Adjective (sifah): It denotes to a quality, e.g. jayyid means „good‟. (v) The Primary Noun (ism al-jâmid): It denotes to names which are not derived from any verb, e.g. asad means a „lion‟; qalam means a „pen‟ etc. (vi) The Demonstrative Pronoun (ism al-ishârah): It denotes to pronouns like hadhâ means „this‟; dhalika ()ذلك means „that‟. (vii) The Interrogative Particle (harf al-istifahâm): It denotes to the pronouns like mâ, man, hal, etc. (viii) The Related Noun (ism al-mansûb): It denotes to a relation of a thing or place, e.g. asâmî means an Assamese man. 36 | P a g e Abdul Hamid Ahmed (ix) The Personal Pronouns (ḍamâ’ir): They denote to some particles for indicating persons, e.g. huwa „he‟, hiwa „she‟, hum „they‟ etc. (x) The Relative Pronoun (ism al-mausûl): It refers to a word which has a relation or connection to the sentence following it. The sentence following such a noun may be nominal or verbal. The relative pronouns (asmâ’ al-mausûla) are (4) as follows: al-jam’ alladhîna allâtî / allâ’î al-muthannâ alladhân/alladhain allatân / allatain al-mufrad alladhî allatî al-jins mudhakkar mu’annath 2. Verb: The verb classification in Arabic is similar to that in English, although the tenses and aspects are different. The Verb can be sub-categorized into Perfect, Imperfect, and Imperative. Further sub-categorization of the Verb class is possible using number, person and gender. Verb is defined by an action done in a specific time. Arabic has four kinds of verbs, and these are discussed as follows: (i) Past Tense (al-fi‘l al-mâḍî): It refers to the action of verb in the past tense, e.g. kataba al-safîr risâlah “The Ambassador wrote a letter.” (ii) Present and Future Tense (al-fi‘l al-muḍâri‘): It refers to the action of verb in the present or future tense, e.g. tatlu‘ al-shams fî al-mashriq “The Sun rises in the east.” (iii) Imperative Verb (al-fi‘l al-amar): It denotes to give an order to be done within a period of time, e.g. uktub hadhâ ‘alâ al-sabbûrah “Write this on the blackboard.” (iv) Future Tense (al-fi‘l al-muḍâri‘): It indicates to the action of verb taking place perfectly in future, while it is structured either with an addition of the letter sîn as suffix or the word saufa be preceded to the respective verb, e.g. saufa ta‘lamûna “Very soon they will come to know.” (5) 3. Particle (harf): The particle in Arabic is such a word that which is dependent on a noun or a verb in order to convey a complete or useful meaning. Its meaning will be complete when it is used along with the noun or verb in a sentence. e.g. min “from”, ilâ “to”, „alâ “on‟ etc. We find in example as khadîjah min afrikiya “Khadijah is from Africa”. Despite the al-hurūf al-jarrah other particles like hal, lam etc. are also fallen in the category of Arabic particles. This matter is also supported by the scholar Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abdul Hamid. (6) It is imperative to know that the particle class includes: Prepositions, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Interrogative Particles, Exceptions2, and Interjections. (7) III. DISCUSSION In fact, Arabic Parts of Speech are necessary for her language. The matter of Arabic Nouns is akin to other languages. Arabic Verbs are morphologically formed in two categories, i.e. mâḍî (Past Tense) and muḍâri‘ (Present and Future Tense). On the other hand, the Imperative (al-fi‘l al-amar) is structured from muḍâri‘ form of verb. Here it may be noted that Arabic Verbs have many derivative forms incomparable to other languages. The matter of particle in Arabic language is similar to other languages. IV. CONCLUSION Arabic grammar, syntax, rhetoric, prosody etc. are very much scientific in linguistic nature. Arabic Parts of Speech are essential to new learners. Here it is imperative to know that the matter of Arabic Parts of Speech is related to Arabic grammar (sarf) and syntax (naḥw) together. According to western linguists, Arabic is the youngest representative of the Semitic group of languages. It is widely spoken through out the Arab world. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] M. Obaidullah-el-Obaidi (1938), A Grammar of Arabic Language, (University of Calcutta: Calcutta), p. 47 http://en.wikipedia.org/Varities_of_Arabic dated 5th October, 2011 M. Obaidullah-el-Obaidi (1938), Op. cit, pp. 128 – 129 Michael Mumisa (2008), Introducing Arabic (Goodword Books: New Delhi), p. 93 M. Obaidullah-el-Obaidi (1938), Op. cit, pp. 48 – 57 Michael Mumisa (2008), Op. cit., pp. 24 – 25 http://www.arabicollege.com/learning-arabic-online-the-arabic-parts-of-speech.html 37 | P a g e