Three types of inter-systemic restatement in Arabic (a contribution to the Study of the Arabic Collectives)

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to describe three types of what we call inter-systemic restatement each of which is, in one way or another, related to the derivational system of collective and unit nouns (CN - UN in what follows) in Arabic. Analyzing word-formational and inflectional properties of nouns alternatively classifiable as members of several linguistic systems (hence the 'intersystemic' dimension adopted for the present inquiry) will provide, it is hoped, some new angles for viewing the highly variable and elusive patterns of interaction between features tending to maintain the structural identity of linguistic systems, and those operating in an opposite sense.