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Abstract
This thesis explores aspects of the morphology of Arabic nouns within the theoretical framework of Distributed Morphology (as developed by Halle and Marantz, 1993; 1994, and many others). The theory distributes the morphosyntactic, phonological and semantic properties of words among several components of grammar. This study examines the roots and the grammatical features of gender, number, case and definiteness that constitute the structure of Arabic nouns. It shows how these constituents are represented across different types of nouns. This study supports the view that roots are category-less, and merge with the category-assigning feature [n], forming nominal stems. It also shows that compositional semantic features, e.g., ‘humanness’, are not a property of the roots, but are rather inherent to [n]. This study supports the hypothesis that roots are individuated by indices and the proposal that these indices are conceptual in nature. It is shown that indices may activate special language-specific rules by which certain types of Arabic nouns are formed. Furthermore, this study argues that the masculine feature [-F] is prohibited from remaining part of the structure of Arabic nonhuman plurals. Thus, crucially a feature-changing operation that changes it into [+F] is introduced and defended. In the light of several modifications that the structure of Arabic nouns is claimed to undergo, this study argues that the component where these modifications take place is divided into phases and each phase is restricted to a certain type of modification. The study also reviews and counters some previous accounts for the morphology of Arabic nouns. For example, it shows that the number feature [Pl] of certain plural nouns, descriptively known as broken plurals, is not pre-syntactically configured. It also shows that the behaviour of certain structures, known as diptotes, is phonologically rather than morphosyntactically motivated. Finally, contrary to studies that do not regard the suffix -n, known as nunation, as an indefinite marker, this study provides evidence which shows that nunation is indeed an indefinite marker in nouns, but a marker of specificity in proper names.