Broken plural

In linguistics, broken plurals (aka internal plural) are a grammatical phenomenon typical in many Semitic languages of the Middle East and East Africa in which a singular noun is "broken" to form a plural by having its root consonants embedded in a different "frame", rather than by merely adding a prefix or suffix to the original singular noun.

In other words, it means that even though a language may possess a regular form of making a plural (like the suffix -s in English), some words will form irregular plurals expressed by vocalization patterns of the triliteral rather than by suffixation.

While the phenomenon is known from several Semitic languages, nowhere has it become as productive as in Arabic.

Indo-European ablaut is a similar but much simpler vowel alternation pattern occurring in ancient inflection patterns among Indo-European languages, for example in the Germanic strong verb system.

Broken plurals in Arabic

In Arabic, the regular way of making a plural for a masculine noun is adding the suffix -ūn (for the nominative) or "-in" (for the accusative and genitive) at the end. For feminine nouns, the regular way is to add the suffix -āt. However, not all plurals used in everyday speech or in written texts (modern and classical, even the Qur'an) adhere to these simple rules. Instead, both spoken and written Arabic produce plurals using a system of groups based on the vocalization of the word. This system is not fully regular, and it is used mainly for masculine non-human nouns. Human nouns are usually pluralized regularly or irregularly.

Broken plurals are known as Ǧamʻ Taksīr (جمع تكسير) in Arabic grammar. These plurals constitute one of the most unusual aspects of the language, given the very strong and highly detailed grammar and derivation rules that govern the written language.

Full knowledge of these plurals can come only with extended exposure to the language, though a few rules can be noted.

Example

Semitic languages typically form triconsonantal roots, forming a "grid" into which vowels may be inserted without affecting the basic root.

Here are a few examples; note that the commonality is in the consonants, not the vowels.

• KiTāB كتاب "book" → KuTuB كتب "books"
• KāTiB كاتب "writer, scribe" → KuTTāB كتاب "writers, scribes"
• maKTūB مكتوب "letter" → maKāTīB مكاتيب "letters"

note: these three words all have a common word root, K-T-B ك – ت – ب "to write"

• WaLaD ولد "boy" → ʼaWLāD أولاد "boys"

WaRaQ ورق "paper" → ʼaWRāQ أوراق "papers"

ŠaǦaR شجر "tree" → ʼaŠǦāR أشجار "trees"

but: ǦaMaL جمل "camel" → ǦiMāL جمال "camels"

• maKTaB مكتب "desk, office" → maKāTiB مكاتب "offices"

maLBaS ملبس "dress, garb" → maLāBiS ملابس "clothes"

• ǦaDD جدّ "grandfather" → ǦuDūD جدود "grandfathers"

FaNN فنّ "art" → FuNūN فنون "arts"

but: RaBB ربّ "master, owner" → ʼaRBāB أرباب "masters"

See also

• Triconsonantal root
• Nonconcatenative morphology
• Apophony#Apophony vs. transfixation (root-and-pattern)

External links

• The Arabic Noun System Generation
• A detailed account of plurality in Arabic
• On the way to an algorithm for forming broken plurals in Arabic