International Journal of Innovations in TESOL and Applied Linguistics

Vol. 2, No. 2; 2016

ISSN 2454-6887
Published by ASLA, Amity University, Gurgaon, India
© 2017

A Contrastive Study of English and Arabic Syntax

Nisrin, Khadija, Intisar, et al.
University of Ajdabiya, Libya

Received: May. 10, 2017 Accepted: Jul. 21, 2017 Online Published: Sep. 27, 2017

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore syntactic differences found between Standard and Libyan
Arabic. Based on the differences, the study develops a conceptual hypothesis as to three
aforementioned differences between Standard Arabic to Libyan Arabic. Participant observation and
content analysis were used as the source of data collection; whereas, narrative analysis was used as
the method of data analysis.

1. Introduction

Traditionally, the linguistic science has been classified into four branches as follows. In the present
research, the focus is on syntax. The research is purely empirical in its nature.

Phonology (?al Sautiy@t ): It discusses speech sounds.

Morphology (atta9rif): It discusses the form of the words.
Syntax (annaHu): It discusses the formation of sentence.
Semantics (alma9ani): It discusses the meaning of any linguistic units.

In the present research, the focus is on morphology. More precisely, the present
research goes into the depth of finding morphological inflections of different word
classes in Arabic syntax. The syntax choosen for the research in the form of corpus is
empirical in its nature. Therefore, it is also to mention here that the basic word order
of Arabic syntax is though VSO, i.e. verb+subject+object, but the present research
has used Arabic translation mostly on SVO pattern simply for the sake of finding
exact equivalents of English constituents in Arabic. For instance, in the following

1
pair of sentences, the English meaning is the same, i.e. My father returned from
Cairo.
/raja9a ?abiy min ?al qAhirA/
/?abiy raja9a min ?al qAhirA/
Linguistically the first sentence above is on VSO pattern which is preferably used in
day to day Arabic, whereas the second sentence which is equally correct and
stylistically less used except in case of emphasis or focus of the agent or recipient. It
is also worth mentioning that standard or classical ARABIC used in the Quran, the
holy book of Islam, has almost 25 varieties used in the Arab world comprising 25
countries as shown in the following map. Therefore, it is imperative to emphasize
here that Arabic used in the

present research can be viewed as standard Arabic. It is imperative to say here that
Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties that diverge widely from
one another — both from country to country and within a single country.Most
western scholars distinguish two common varieties: the Classical Arabic of the
Qur'an and early Islamic (7th to 9th centuries) literature, and Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA), the standard language in use today. Classical Arabic is often believed
to be the parent language of all the spoken varieties of Arabic. Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA) is the literary standard across the Middle East and North Africa, and
one of the official six languages of the United Nations. Most printed matter–
including most books, newspapers, magazines, official documents, and reading
primers for small children–is written in MSA.
The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of
the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia — the use of two distinct varieties of the same

2
language, usually in different social contexts. To be more precise, native speakers learn and
use two substantially different language forms in different aspects of their lives. In the case
of Arabic, the regionally prevalent variety is learned as a speaker's mother tongue and is
used for nearly all everyday speaking situations throughout life, including most films and
plays, and (rarely) in some literature. A second, quite different variety, Standard Arabic, is
learned in school and is used for most printed material, TV news reporting and interviews,
sermons and other formal situations. Educated Arabic-speakers are usually able to
communicate in MSA in formal situations. This diglossic situation facilitates code-
switching in which a speaker switches back and forth between the two varieties of the
language, sometimes even within the same sentence.

In instances in which highly educated Arabic-speakers of different nationalities

engage in conversation but find their dialects mutually unintelligible (e.g. a
Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), they are able to code switch into MSA for the
sake of communication. The extent to which the local vernacular tends to interplay
with the Standard variety in formal situations varies from country to country. But the
present research in terms of its usage is more oriented towards Modern Standard
Arabic.

1.2 Research Objective:

From the title of the thesis, one may easily infer at least two implications: first, the
research is going to be a contrastive analysis of English and Arabic syntax. The
logical sequence of the whole research is as follows:
Corpus
+
Contrastive Analysis

1.3. Convention of Phonetic transcription

English Examples Arabic

? /?an@ / I /‫انا‬/ ‫أ‬
A /rajul / man. /‫ رجل‬/ ‫ا‬
A /HiSAn / horse /‫حصاى‬/ ‫اا‬
@ /?an@/ I. / ‫ انا‬/ ‫آ‬
B /b@b / door / ‫تاب‬/ ‫ب‬
T /tUt/ berry / ‫تىخ‬/ ‫خ‬
Th /th@9lab / fox / ‫ثعلة‬/ ‫ث‬
J /jabal/ mountains / ‫جثال‬/ ‫ج‬
H /HadIqAh/ garden / ‫حديقح‬/ ‫ح‬

3
 X /XarITA / map. / ‫خريطح‬/ ‫خ‬
D /dAr / room. / ‫دار‬/ ‫د‬
Dh /dhahab / gold. / ‫ ذهة‬/ ‫ذ‬
R /rabI9 / spring. / ‫ رتيع‬/ ‫ر‬
Z /zahra / flower. / ‫ زهرج‬/ ‫ز‬
S /sam@? / sky. / ‫ سواء‬/ ‫س‬
sh /sham9@/ candle. / ‫ شوعح‬/ ‫ش‬
S /SadIq / friend. / ‫ صديق‬/ ‫ص‬
D /Dau? / light. / ‫ ضىء‬/ ‫ض‬
T /Taiyr/ bird. / ‫ طائر‬/ ‫ط‬
9 /9ain / eye. / ‫ عيي‬/ ‫ع‬
G /gurfA / room. / ‫ غرفح‬/ ‫غ‬
F /faqat / only. / ‫ فقط‬/ ‫ف‬
Q /qarIb/ near. / ‫ قرية‬/ ‫ق‬
K /karIm/ generous. / ‫ كرين‬/ ‫ك‬
L /lail / night. / ‫ ليل‬/ ‫ل‬
M /mu9Alim/ teacher. / ‫ هعلن‬/ ‫م‬
N /nahr / river. /‫ ًهر‬/ ‫ى‬
H /h@tif / telephone. / ‫ هاتف‬/ ‫ه‬
W /waraqa / paper. / ‫ ورقح‬/ ‫و‬
I /b@rid / cold. / ‫ تارد‬/
I /sarIr / bed. / ‫سرير‬/
U /hua / he. / ‫ هى‬/ ‫ؤ‬
U /thUm / garlic. / ‫ ثىم‬/ ‫وو‬
Y /yad / hand. / ‫ يد‬/ ‫ي‬

1.4. Convention of abbreviation

N Noun
V Verb
Sgm singular masculine
Sgf singular feminine
Dlm dual masculine
Dlf dual feminine
Plm plural masculine
Plf plural feminine
V1 first form of verb (i.e. unmarked present e.g. go)
V2 second form of verb (i.e. simple past e.g. went)
V3 third form of verb (i.e. past participle form e.g. gone)
V4 fourth form of verb (i.e. progressive form e.g. going)
V5 fifth form of verb (i.e. present marked e.g. goes)
V6 sixth form of verb (i.e. infinitive form e.g. to go)
~ This symbol means a pause in syllabification

4
This symbol is used after definite article /?al/ which assimilates to the second sound as in
/?al`sabab/, we use assimilation symbol after /l/ because /l/ sound assimilates with the first sound of
sabab and therefore we pronounce /assabab/ not /?al`sabab/. Like this all the following sounds
assimilate with
/?al/ (t - ‫ ت‬, th- ‫ ث‬, d - ‫ د‬, dh- ‫ ذ‬, r- ‫ ر‬, z- ‫ ز‬, s- ‫ س‬, sh- ‫ ش‬, S-
‫ ص‬, D -‫ ض‬, T - ‫ ط‬, z- ‫ ظ‬, n- ‫ ) ن‬and the other sounds do not
assimilate with /?al/.

4.1. Syntactic Difference

Compared to Standard Arabic, Libyan Arabic is not only different in terms of word order but also
diminutive in terms of length as exemplified below.

4.1.1: Noun Phrase

A noun phrase ( NP ) is a contruction that typically has either a noun ( N ) or a pronoun ( pro ) as its
central constituent. In other words, a noun or pronoun must be regarded as the" head" or most
important element in the phrase. For example in the tree below the word the is a determiner
(specifically an article) and the head is the word cat.

NP
/ \
Det N'
| |
the N
|
cat

To be more precise, noun phrase is a syntactic unit which can act as a subject or an object. A
sentence like : A small party of Spanish adventurers managed to capture the Aztec capital. A
traditional view of sentence structure holds that the subject and the direct object of the sentence are
the nouns party and capital, respectively. But this is not strictly correct. The true subject and object
are the phrases a small party of Spanish adventurers and the Aztec capital. These are noun phrases,
and noun phrases are the only things that can act as subjects or objects in English sentences. A noun
phrase may be identified in two different ways.
First, it must occupy one of only a few possible slots in a sentence structure. Second, it must have
one of only a few possible types of internal structure. With only a couple of exceptions, an English
noun phrase is always built up around a single noun, and that noun is the head of the noun phrase,
the item which is chiefly responsible for the nature of that NP. In example above, party and capital
are the heads of the two NPs. The first NP denotes a particular party, and the second a particular
capital, and the other words in the NP serve only to provide further identification.
The most obvious exception is a noun phrase consisting of a pronoun. In the sentence They
managed to capture it, the pronouns they and it make up complete NPs all by themselves, one
serving as the subject, the other as the object. This is what a pronoun typically does: it makes up a
noun phrase all by itself, and a pronominal NP is the most familiar kind of NP (in English) which is

5
not built around a head noun. For the present research, here we will explore the syntactic
differences of English and Arabic NPs in terms of word order and inflection as follows.

English Arabic
1. The linguist will analyze a sentence. / ?al lugawi: sawfa yuHalilu jumlatan/
2. They found a little boy in the car. /wajadu waladan sagi:ran fi: ?al sayA~rati:/
3. My coat is quite Loose in the arm. /dhi:rA9u mi9TAfi w@si9atun qAli:lan/
4. The boy took a very big bite. /tann@wala ?al waladu luqmatan kabi:ratan jiddan/

1. The linguist will analyze a sentence.

PS Rules :
S
S  NP + VP
NP  Det + N
VP  V + NP
V  a.v + m.v NP VP
NP  Det + N
Det  the=?al , a= Ø
N  linguist=lugawi: V
Det N NP
sentence=jumlatan
a.v  will=sawfa
m.v  analyze= yuHalilu a.v m.v
Det N

The linguist will analyze a sentence

1. / ?al lugawi: sawfa yuHalilu jumlatan/

S
PS Rules :

S  NP + VP
NP  Det + N NP VP
VP  V + NP
V  a.v + m.v
NP  Det + N
Det  ?al , Ø Det N V NP
N  lugawi, jumlatan
a.v  sawfa 6
m.v  yuHalilu
 a.v m.v N
Det

?al lugawi: sawfa yuHalilu Ø jumlatan

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

Based on the corpus above we find the uses of the English determiner has been substituted by "?al"
before the subject but there is no equivalent of ‗a‘ in Arabic at the place of determiner before object
nouns. This explores an interesting fact that in Arabic we do not use indefinite article in isolation
like English. In Arabic, we use indefinite article as a suffix marker which is called nunation
(tanwin). For instance, one can see the use of ‗tan‘ after ‗jumla‘ which is the root word. The
equivalents of other constituents are one-to-one.

2. They found a little boy in the car.

S

NP VP
PS Rules :
S = NP + VP V NP
NP = Det + N Det N
VP = V + NP
V = a.v + m.v NP
NP = Det + NP a.v m.v Det
NP = NP + PP
NP = adj + N NP pp
PP = P+ NP
NP = Det + N TNS
Det = Ø , a , the,?al adj N NP
N = They=u, boy=waladan, car= p
sayA~rati:
A.v = TNS=PST Det N
m.v = find=Wajad
adj = little=sagi:ran
P = In=fi:
Ø they PST find a little boy in the car

7
 2./wajadu waladan sagi:ran fi: ?al sayA~rati:/
S
PS Rules :
VP
S = VP + NP NP
VP= V + NP
V NP
V = a.v + m.v
NP=Det+ N
adj NP
NP= adj+ NP
NP = P+ NP a.v m.v
Det N
NP = Det +N
p NP
A.v = TNS → PST
m.v = wajadu TNS
Det = Ø , ?al
N = waladan , sayA~rati: Det N
Adj = sagi:ran
P = fi:
PST wajadu Ø waladan sagi:ran fi: ?al sayA~rati:

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

Based on the corpus above we find that the first PS rule in English is SNP+VP, whereas it
becomes SVP+NP in Arabic. This not only shows the word order of Arabic is VSO unlike SVO
in English but it also explores an interesting fact that the subject of the sentence is inherent in the
verb as a suffix marker. To be more precise, the suffix marker /u/ after the verb /wajad/ stands for
―they‖. Another striking difference is the change in the word-order of AdjP. English AdjP "little
boy" becomes "boy little" in Arabic, i.e. "waladan sagi:ran". One more difference in Arabic tree,
one can see is the omission of indefinite article "a" which is used as nunation (tanwin) after sagi:r
as sagi:ran.

3. My coat is quite loose in the arm. S

PS Rules :
S = NP + VP VP
NP = Det + N NP
VP =N + adjp
Adjp =adjp+pp
Adjp = int+ adj
pp = p + NP Det N V adjp
NP = Det + N
Det = my , the
N = coat , arm
V = is AdjP PP
Adj=loose
Int=quite
P = in 8
 Int Adj P

NP

Det N

my coat is quite loose in the arm

3. / dhi:rA9u mi9TAfi w@si9atun qAli:lan/ S

PS Rules : NP AdjP

S=NP+adjp
NP = N + NP
Adjp = adj + Int
N NP
NP = Det + N
N =dhi:rA9u, mi9TAfi Adj Int
adj=w@si9atun
Det = Ø
Int=qAli:lan Det N

dhi:rA9u Ø mi9TAfi w@si9atun qAli:lan

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

If we look at the corpus above we notice that in English sentence the first PS rule is S→NP+VP,
whereas Arabic sentence doesn't have VP rather it's just NP+AdjP. The adjective phrase in Arabic
shows a change in word order as (adj+int), i.e. "w@si9atun+ qAli:lan". Another difference one can
see that in English sentence it has preposition " P" in whereas in Arabic there's no "P".

4. The boy took a very big bite. S

9
 PS Rules : VP
NP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N
V NP
VP=V+NP Det N
V=a.v.+m.v.
A.V=TNS , PST NP
a.v. Det
m.v= take, tann@wala m.v .
NP=Det+NP
NP=Adj+N TNS Adj N
Adj=Int+Adj
Det=The=?al,a
N=boy=waladu,bite=Luqmatan
Int Adj
adj=big= kabi:ratan
Int=very=jiddan

The boy PAST take a very big bite

4./ tann@wala ?al waladu luqmatan kabi:ratan jiddan /

S
PS Rules :
S=VP+Adjp AdjP
VP
VP=V+NP
adjp=N+Adjp
adjp=adj+Int V NP AdjP
N
V=a.v+m.v
A.V=TNS , PST
M.V= tann@wala N
Det=?al a.v. m.v. Det Adj Int
N= waladu, lugmatan
Adj= kabi:ratan
TNS
Int=jiddan

PAST tann@wala ?al waladu luqmatan Kabi:ratan jiddan

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

If we look at the corpus above, we find that order of English and Arabic sentence is different. First
of all we see that English sentence starts with NP subject ‗The boy‘, whereas Arabic sentence starts
with VP as verb ‗tann@wala . Another difference between English and Arabic PS rule is that In
English S=NP+VP whereas in Arabic this rule becomes S=VP+NP. Another difference of English
and Arabic PS rule can be seen below.
(a) NP=Adj+N→NP=N+Adj (b) Adj=Int+Adj→Adj= Adj+Int

10
The above rule NP=Adj+N→NP=N+Adj says that Adjective in English comes before noun,
whereas in Arabic it comes after the noun. The second rule above says that English AdjP=Int+Adj
becomes Arabic AdjP as Adj+Int because the intensifier ‗jiddan‘ has been used after kabi:ratan.

4.1.2: Adjective phrase

An adjective phrase (AdjP) has an adjective constituent as its head.

Standard English Standard Arabic

1 Sally is a clever. /s@li: dhaki:yatun/
2 The little boy sat on the wall. / jalasa ?al waladu ?al sagi:ru 9al@ ?al ji:dari/
3 The story is extremely interesting. /?al qissa mussalliyatun jiddan/
4 My coat is quite loose in the arm. / dhi:rA9u mi9TAfi w@si9atun qAli:lan/
5 It's a very good idea. /innah@ fikratun rA?i9atun jiddan/

1. Sally is clever.
S

PS Rules :
NP VP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N
Det= Ø , Ø Det N V Adj
N= Sally
VP=V+Adj
V=A.V A.V
A.V=is
Adj=clever= dhaki:yatun
Ø sally is clever

1. S@li: dhaki:yatun
S
PS Rules :
NP Adj
S=NP+adjp P
NP=Det+N
Adjp=V+Adj
Det= Ø- Det N V Adjp
N= s@li:
V= Ø
Adj= dhaki:yatun dhaki:yatun
Ø s@li: Ø
Contrastive Knowledge Base:

11
It is noteworthy here that English tree diagram shows the a.v. (is) under VP, whereas there is no VP
in Arabic tree diagram. This means that Arabic does not use a.v. especially for present tense.
Another striking fact is the first Arabic PS rule which shows S→NP+AdjP unlike S→NP+VP.

2. The Little boy sat on the wall.

PS Rules : S

S=NP+VP NP VP
NP=Det+NP
VP=V+P.P
Np=Adj+N Det NP V PP
P.P=P+NP
Det=the=?al, the = ?al Adj N A.V M.V P NP
Adj=little= Sagi:ru
N=boy = waladu , wall =jidari TNS Det N
A.V=TNS , PST
M.V=sit= jalasa
The little boy PST sit on the wall
P=on = 9al@

2. / ?al waladu ?al sagi:ru jalasa 9al@ ?al jidari/

or
/jalasa ?alwaladu ?al sagi:ru 9al@ ?al jidari/
S
PS Rules :
S=NP+VP
NP VP
NP=Det+NP
Np=N+NP
NP=Det+Adj Det NP PP
V
Det=?al, ?al,?al
N= waladu , jidari
a.v m.v P NP
Adj= sagi:ru N NP
VP=V+PP
V=A.V+M.V Det N
PP=P+NP TNS
NP=Det+N Det Adj
P=9al@
a.v=TNS , PAST
m.v= jalasa ?al waladu ?al sagi:ru PAS jalasa 9al@ ?al jidari
L u
Contrastive Knowledge Base:
If we look above the syntactic trees of English and Arabic in terms of the differences of adjective
phrase, we find that Arabic adjective phrase is not only different in its word order but also in terms
of the usage of definite article (?al) which comes before noun (waladu) and adjective (sagi:ru). In

12
 english the adjective (little) comes before noun (boy) but in Arabic it comes after the noun
(waladu).

3. The story is extremely interesting.

S
PS Rules :

S= NP+VP VP
NP=Det+N NP
VP=V+Adjp
V=a.v
Det N V Adjp
Adj P= Int + Adj
Det=The = ?al
N= Story= qissa
a.v=is=Ø a.v Int Adj
AdjP=Interesting = mussalliyatun
Int= extremely = jiddan
the story is extremely interesting

3. /?al qissa mussalliyatun jiddan/

S

PS Rules : Adjp
NP
S=NP+AdjP
NP=Det+N
AdjP=Adj+int Det N Adj Int
Det=?al
N= qissa
Adj= mussalliyatun
Int= jiddan

?al qissa mussalliyatun jiddan

@
@
Contrastive Knowledge Base:
It is noteworthy in the above tree diagrams that English Adjective Phrase consists of (Int+Adj),
whereas in Arabic the order changes into (Adj+int). thus we can conclude that the natural word-
order of AdjP with intensifier is (Adj+int).

13
3. My coat is quite loose in the arm. S

PS Rules :

S = NP + VP VP
NP = Det + N NP
VP =V + adjp
Adjp =adj+pp
Adjp = int+ adj Det N V adjp
pp = p + NP
NP = Det +N
Det = my , the AdjP PP
N = coat , arm
V = is
Adj=loose
Int Adj P
Int=quite
P = in NP

Det N

my coat is quite loose in the arm

3. / dhi:rA9u mi9TAfi w@si9atun qAli:lan/ S

PS Rules : NP AdjP

S=NP+Adjp
NP = N + NP
Adjp=adjp + Int N NP
NP = Det + N
N =dhi:rA9u, mi9TAfi, Adj Int
adj=w@si9atun
Det = Ø
Det N

dhi:rA9u Ø mi9TAfi w@si9atun qAli:lan

14
 Contrastive Knowledge Base:

If we look at the corpus above we notice that in English sentence the first PS rule is S→NP+VP,
whereas Arabic sentence doesn't have VP rather it's just NP+AdjP. Unlke English, the adjective
phrase in Arabic shows two changes. (1) The adjective ‗w@si9atun‘ comes after the noun
‗mi9TAf‘ and (2) the intensifier ‗qAli:lan‘ comes after adjective ‗w@si9atun‘. Another difference
one can see that in English sentence it has preposition " P" in whereas in Arabic there's no "P".

5. It is a very good idea.

S

PS Rules : NP
VP

S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N Det N V NP
VP=V+NP
V=a.v
NP=Det+NP a.v Det NP
NP=Adjp+N
Adjp=Int+Adj Adjp N
a.v=is
Det= Ø, a
N=It=Innah@,
Idea=fikratun
Int Adj
Int=very,jiddan
Adj=good= rA?i9atun
Ø It is a very good idea
5. /innah@ fikratun rA?i9atun jiddan/
PS Rules : S

S=NP+NP NP
NP=Det+N NP
NP=N+adjp
Adjp=Adj=Int
Det N N AdjP
Det= Ø
N=h@, fikratun
Adj Int
Adj= rA?i9atun
Int=jiddan
Ø innah@ fikratun rA?i9atun jiddan

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

In English sentence above the subject pronoun "It" followed by the verb "is" is translated into
Arabic as "innah@" which consists of the article "inna" and the pronoun "h@". "h@" refers here to
a feminine noun because it refers to the word "Idea". If it refers to masculine noun i.e. door in "It is

15
a big door" then we use ‗hu‘ as in /innahu b@bun KabIr /. Another difference is the change in the
word-order of AdjP. In Arabic "good idea" becomes "idea good", i.e. "fikrAtun r@i9tun".

4.1.3 : Adverbial phrase

An adverb phrase (AdvP) typically has an adverb as its head and as its only constituent, e.g. silently
and outside, as follows:
He did it silently. He stood for a long time outside.
For the present research we are going to analyse the following sentences from the perspective of
adverbial phrase.
Standard English Standard Arabic
1 The man walked slowly. /masha ?al^ rajulu bi: buT?in/
2 She spoke carefully yesterday. /taHaddathat bi: hadharin ?amsi/
3 He left very suddenly. /gaddara faj?tan/

S
1. The man walked slowly.
PS Rules : VP
NP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N Det N V Adv
VP=V+Adv
V=a.v+m.v
Det= The = ?al a.v m.v
M.V= walk = masha
A.V=TNS=PAST
Adv=Slowly = buT?in TNS
N=man=rajulu
The man PST walk slowly

1. /masha ?al^ rajulu bi: buT?in/ S

PS Rules :
VP PP
S=VP+PP
VP=V+NP
V= masha P Adv
NP=Det+N V NP
PP=P+Adv
Det=?al^
N=rajulu Det N
p=bi:
Adv=buT?in masha ?al^ rajulu bi: buT?in
Contrastive Knowledge Base:

16
In English, sentence starts with NP+VP whereas in Arabic it starts with VP+PP. The sentence in
Arabic starts with "VP" but the English sentence starts with "NP". Therefore, the verb "masha" in
Arabic comes in the beginning of the sentence, whereas in English it comes before the "Adv" on the
second part of the tree diagram. If we look at the English "AdvP", we find that its counterpart in
Arabic has been split into two constituents, i.e. P+N as "bi:+buT?in". Here it noteworthy that
"bi:buT?in" is also used as adverb of manner in Arabic but for syntactic analysis this adverb shows
two constituents in which bi is used as preposition and as noun ‗buT?in‘.

2. She spoke carefully yesterday.

S
PS Rules :
NP VP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N
VP=V+Advp Det N V Advp
V=A.V+M.V
Advp=M.A+T.A.
Det= Ø a.v m.v
N=she=at M.A. T.A.
a.v=TNS=PST
M.V=speak=taHaddath
M.A=carefully=hadharin TNS
T.A=yesterday=?amsi
Ø She PST speak carefully yesterday

2. /taHaddathat bi: hadharin ?amsi/

PS Rules : S

S=VP+Advp
VP=V+N VP Advp
Advp=P+advp
NP=PP+NP
V=a.v+m.v V p Advp
Advp=N+adv N
a.v=TNS , PAST
a.v m.v
m.v=taHaddath N Adv
N=at, hadharin
P=bi:
Adv=?amsi

TNS

Contrastive Knowledge Base: ?amsi

PST taHaddath at bi: hadharin

17
If we look at the above tree diagrams from the perspective of adverbial phrase, we find that English
adverbial phrase consists of M.A. i.e. manner adverb followed by T.A. i.e. time adverb. On the
other hand, Arabic adverb phrase starts with a projection bar above AdvP. Arabic AdvP is further
divided into preposition+AdvP. This is further divided into N+Adv. Here it is interesting to see that
Arabic needs an extra preposition ‗bi‘ before the intensifier ‗hadharin‘.. Another important fact is
the intensifier ‗hadharin‘ in Arabic is not adverb like English. It is used as noun.

3. He left very suddenly.

S
PS Rules :

NP VP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N
VP=V+Advp
V=A.V+M.V Det N V Advp
Advp=Int+Adv
AV=TNS , PST
M.V=Leave= gaddara a.v m.v Int Adv
Int=very- Ø
Adv=suddenly=faj?tan
N=He TNS
Det= Ø
Ø He PST leave very suddenly

3./gaddara faj?tan/
S
PS Rules:
S=VP+NP
VP=V+Advp
VP NP
NP=Det+N
Advp=Int+Adv
V= gaddara
Int= Ø Advp Det N
V
Adv= faj?tan
Det= Ø
N= Ø Adv
Int

gaddara Ø faj?tan Ø Ø

18
Contrastive Knowledge Base:
The above trees show that in Arabic the Advp is captured under verb phrase and the main adverb
suddenly takes the effect of intensifier very as ‗faj?tan‘. So the place of intensifier is null.
The English sentence starts with NP+VP whereas in Arabic, the sentence starts with VP+NP. So the
Arabic sentence begins with a verb "gaddara". The verb "gaddara" refers to male subject because of
"a" but if we say "gaddarat" the last letter "t" for this word refers to female. Therefore, we do not
need to use a pronoun in isolation. While in English sentence, it is necessary to use the pronoun in
isolation.

4.1.4: Prepositional Phrase

Prepositional phrase consists of prepositions, e.g. in, to, at, over, etc, as its head
constituent and the complement or object of that preposition, typically a noun phrase.

Standard English Standard Arabic

1 John will sing at the party. / sayuganni: jon fi: ?al Haflati /
2 They found a little boy in the car. / wajadu waladan sagi:ran fi: ?al sayy~Arati /

1. John will sing at the party. S

PS Rules :
S = NP + VP NP VP
NP = Det + N
VP = V + NP
V = a.v + m.v
NP = p.p + NP Det N V PP
NP = Det + N
Det = Ø , the =?al
N = John =jon, party =,haflatI
A.V = will ,Sa a.v m.v
m.v = sing =yuganni: p NP
p = at ,fi:

Det N

Ø John will sing at the party

19
1. / sayuganni: jon fi: ?al Haflati /
S

PS Rules:
S = VP + PP
VP = V + NP
VP PP
V = A.v + m.v
NP = Det + N
PP = P + NP
NP = Det + N p NP
A.v = Tns- future=sa V NP
m.v = yuganni:
Det = Ø = ?al
N =Jon, Haflati:
p = fi: a.v m.v Det N
Det N
TNS

Future

sa yuganni: Ø Jon fi: ?al Haflati:

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

Based on the corpus above, we find that the Arabic tree diagram is different from English. In
Arabic diagram, it starts with VP whereas in English it starts with NP. If we look at the above
diagrams from the perspective of prepositional phrase, we find that there is no difference between
English and Arabic word order of prepositional phrase.

2. They found a little boy in the car. S

PS Rules : VP
NP
S = NP + VP
NP = Det + N V NP
VP = V + NP Det N
V = a.v + m.v
NP = Det + NP a.v m.v NP
NP = NP + pp Det
NP = adj + N NP pp
pp = p+ NP
NP = Det + N TNS
Det = Ø , a , the=?al N
adj NP
N = They , boy =waladan p
car = sayy~Arati
a.v = TNS,PST
m.v = Find= wajadu 20
adj = Little =sagi:ran
p = In = fi:
 Det N

Ø they PST find a little boy in the car

2. / wajadu waladan sagi:ran fi: ?al sayy~Arati /

S
PS Rules :
S = VP + Adjp VP
AdjP
V = a.v + m.v
Adjp=adjp+PP a.v m.v
Adjp=P+adj
PP=P+NP AdjP PP
NP=Det+N TNS
a.v=TNS=PST
m.v=wajadu N adj NP
N=waladan,say~Arati P
Adj=sagi:ran Det N
P=fi:
Det=?al

PST wajadu waladan sagi:ran fi: ?al sayy~Arati

Contrastive Knowledge Base:

Based on the corpus above we find that the first PS rule in English is SNP+VP, whereas it
becomes SVP+NP in Arabic. This not only shows the word order of Arabic is VSO unlike SVO
in English but it also explores an interesting fact that the subject of the sentence is inherent in the
verb as a suffix marker. To be more precise, the suffix marker /u/ after the verb /wajad/ stands for
―they‖. Another striking difference is the change in the word-order of AdjP. English AdjP "little
boy" becomes "boy little" in Arabic, i.e. "waladan sagi:ran". One more difference in Arabic tree,
one can see is the omission of indefinite article "a" which is shown as tanwin marker ‗an‘ after
‗walad‘.

4.1.5: Verb Phrase

A verb phrase typically has a verb as its head.

Standard English Standard Arabic

21
1 Sally is clever. /s@li: dhaki:yatun/
2 Mary was clever. / k@nat m@ri: dhaki:yatan/
3 I teach English. /?an@ ?u9alimu ?alingliziya /
Now, I am teaching English. /?an@ ?u9alimu ?alingliziya ?al@n/
I have been teaching English for last /?an@ ?u9alimu ?alingliziya
two years. mundhu sanatain/
4 He has taught English. / k@na qAd darrasa ?alingliziya/
He taught English. /darrasa ?alingliziya/
He had taught English. / k@na qAd darrasa ?alingliziya/
5 The linguist will analyze a / ?allugawi:u sa yuHallilu jumlatan/
sentence.
The linguist will be analyzing this / ?allugawi:u sayaDalu yuHallilu hadhihi
sentence. ?aljumlata/
The linguist will have analyzed this / ?allugawi:u sayakunu qAd anha taHli:l
sentence by next week. ?aljumlati fi: ?al?usbU9 ?al qAdim/

1. Sally is clever.
S

PS Rules :
NP VP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N
Det= Ø , Ø Det N V Adj
N= Sally
VP=V+Adj
V=A.V A.V
A.V=is
Adj=clever= dhaki:yatun/
Ø Sally is Clever

1. /S@li: dhaki:yatun/ S

PS Rules :
NP AdjP
S=NP+AdjP
NP=Det+N
AdjP=V+Adj Det N V Adj
Det= Ø-
N= S@li:
V= Ø
Ø s@li: Ø Dhaki:yatun
Adj= dhaki:yatun

22
2. Mary was clever.
S

PS Rules :
NP VP
S=NP+VP
NP=Det+N
VP=V+Adj Det N V Adj
Det= Ø = Ø
N= mary
V=a.v a.v
a.v=was
Adj=clever= dhaki:yatan
Ø mary was Clever

2. / k@nat m@ri dhaki:yatan /

S

PS Rules :
AdjP
NP
S=NP+AdjP
NP=Det+N
AdjP=V+Adj Det N V Adj
Det= Ø
N= m@ri
V= k@nat
Adj= dhaki:yatan Ø m@ri k@nat dhaki:yatan

3. I teach English. S

NP VP

Det N V NP

Det N

 I teach  English

23
3. /?an@ ?u9alimu ?alingliziya /
S

NP VP

Det N V NP

Det N

 ?an@ ?u9alimu ?al ingliziya

4. He has taught English. S

NP VP

V NP
Det N
A.V M.V Det N

TNS

 He PrP teach  English

4./K@na qAd darrasa ?alingliziya/

NP VP

Det N V NP

Det N
P m.v

 k@na qAd darrasa ?al ingliziya

24
5. The linguist will analyze a sentence

S
PS Rules :

S = NP + VP
NP = Det + N NP VP
VP = V + NP
V = a.v + m.v
NP = Det + N V
Det = the=?al,a Det N NP
N =linguist=lugawi:u
sentence=jumlatan a.v m.v
a.v = will=sa
Det N
m.v = analyze=yuHallilu

The linguist will analyze a sentence

5. / ?allugawi:u sa yuHallilu jumlatan/

S
PS Rules :

S = NP + VP
NP = Det + N NP VP
VP =V + NP
V = a.v + m.v
NP = Det + N
Det = ?al Det N V NP
N = lugawi:u,jumlatan
a.v = sa
m.v = yuHallilu
a.v m.v N
Det

?al lugawi:u sa yuHallil  jumlatan

u
25
Contrastive Knowledge Base:

If we look at verb phrase in the English sentences above, we find that auxiliary verb is used in
present, past, and future tenses, whereas there is no auxiliary in Arabic for present tense as in
sentence 1 under Verb Phrase. On the other hand, we use the auxiliary verb k@nat in sentence 2 to
denote past auxiliary marker for ―was‖. As far as English simple present, present progressive, or
present perfect continuous form is concerned, it takes V1/V5, is/am/are+V4, has/have +been + V4
respectively, whereas Arabic uses only one form of the tense for simple present, present
progressive, and present perfect continuous.

As for simple past tense in English, it inflects in V2 form either in regular way, e.g. (played, asked,
etc.) or irregular way, e.g. (went, taught, etc.) irrespective of gender and number agreement. On the
other hand, Arabic verb inflects according to gender and number of the subject for example, (taught
) becomes /darras@/ and /darrasat/; /daras@/ is used for singular and masculine subject, whereas
/daras@t/ is used for singular feminine subject. To be more precise, /@/ suffix marker is used for
singular masculine subject, whereas the suffix /@t/ is used for singular feminine subject. As far as
English present perfect form is concerned it takes has/have+V3, whereas Arabic takes {qad+past
form of the main verb}.

As far as English past perfect form is concerned it takes {had + V3}, whereas Arabic past
perfect form takes {k@na+qad+ past form of the main verb}.
Based on the corpus above we find that the verb in the simple future tense takes {shall/will+V1},
whereas Arabic verb takes {sa/sawfa + V1}. As far as English future progressive form is
concerned, it takes {will+be+V4}, whereas Arabic future progressive form takes {sa+yaDalu}
before the main verb. As far as English future perfect form is concerned, it takes
{shall/will+have+V3}, whereas Arabic future progressive form takes {sa+yakunu+qad} before the
main verb. The following are some of the major findings that arose out of contrastive knowledge
base.

 In Libyan Arabic, we don't use personal pronouns in isoloation,we use them as

suffix , prefix or both of them after the verb such as endi, endak, endaha, endah, etc.
here /i/, /ak /, /aha/, /ah/ stand respectively for I, you, she, and he as in sentences
1,2,12,13,14,18,43.
 As a part of syntactic differences, it is noteworthy that in standard Arabic we use
past tense auxiliary marker /lakad/ as in sentence number15 whereas in Libyan
Arabic we don't use such past tense auxiliary marker as in 15
 For passive structure, we usually put subject at the end of the sentence in Standard
Arabic, whereas in Libyan Arabic we use the subject in the beginning of the
sentence as in number 9.
 In Standard Arabic, the negative marker /l@/ comes before the verb, whereas in
Libyan Arabic, the negative marker is used as prefix /m@/ and suffix /ish/ in the
verb. (Make a tree diagram for this fact) as in sentences19,20,21,53
 Sometimes a sentence in SA is used as a word in LA, e.g. arju al m9dir@ can be
used as one word as /m9lish/ as in sentences 43, 47, 49.

26
  It is noteworthy that we don't use faqat or its equivalent in LA as in sentence…but
sometimes its equivalent /bas/ is used in LA before the main verb unlike SA as in
sentences 19, 20...
 Due to the omission of many syntactic components, Libyan Arabic is shorter in
length as in sentence…we do use k?ana in SA but we omit this component in LA as
in sentences 22,23,24,26.
 In SA, time adverb usually comes initially in a sentence as in 51, whereas in LA, it
comes in the beginning.
 Unlike SA, we do not use the expression /assA9A/ for o'clock in LA as in sentence
52…
 It is interesting to see that SA is more explicit in terms of using its syntactic
components, whereas LA not only differs in terms of word order but also in terms of
occurring in clusters as in sentence 46 ,49.
 In LA we don't use the equivalent of the pronoun 'it' as in sentence 54.

Conclusion

In the light of the above mentioned analysis discussed above, the research concludes that Libyan
Arabic differs at lexical, phonological and syntactic levels.

As a future research, one needs to look into the following recommendations to work further for the
linguistic differences between Standard and Libyan Arabic.

 Differentiating the morphological inflections of all the word classes

 Differentiating the case inflection in Standard and Libyan Arabic.
 Differentiating the lexical differences at length
 Differentiating the syntactic order of Standard Arabic with more dialects of Libyan Arabic.
 Differentiating the phonological differences at length.

In the light of the contrastive knowledge base discussed under chapter 2 above, the research
explores several striking facts. Here it is desirable to mention those striking facts in a nutshell
which are relevant to the present research only.

1. Indefinite article "a" in English changes into definite article "?al" in Arabic and "?al" is
used before the subject and object nouns in sentence.
2. Usually, the word order of Arabic sentence is VSO unlike SVO in English. When VSO
pattern is used the subject of the sentence is morphologically inherent in the verb as a
suffix marker. To be more precise, the suffix marker /u/ after the verb /wajd/ stands for
―they‖ as in the 2nd sentence under noun phrase above.

27
3. The word-order of AdjP shows a remarkable change in terms of word order. For example,
English AdjP "a little boy" becomes "boy little" in Arabic, i.e. "waladan sagi:ran". we
find that adjective in English comes before noun; whereas in Arabic it comes after the
noun it qualifies and inflects for gender, number, and article as in the 4th sentence under
noun phrase. At the same time, there is hardly any use of intensifier in Arabic, e.g. ‗very‘
in the 4th sentence under Noun Phrase does not have its equivalent but its sense is
captured just by the adjective ‗kabi:ratan‘ which stands for ‗big‘ giveing the meaning of
‗very big‘. The same instance can be seen in the 5th sentence under adjective phrase.
4. In English the subject pronoun "It" followed by the verb "Is" is translated into Arabic as
"Innah@" which consists of the article "Inna" and the pronoun "h@". "h@" refers here to
a feminine noun because it refers to the word "Idea" , if it refers to masculine noun i.e. "It
is a big door" / Innahu b@bun KabIr /. Another difference is the change in the word-
order of AdjP. In Arabic "good idea" becomes "idea good", i.e. "fikratun rA?i9atun".
5. Sometimes, adverb in Arabic requires preposition to express the meaning of English
adverb. For example, ―slowly‖ is split into two constituents, i.e. P+N as "bi:+buT?in".
Here it noteworthy that "bi:buT?in" is also used as adverb of manner in Arabic but for
syntactic analysis this adverb shows two constituents in which bi is used as preposition
and as noun ‗buT?in‘ as in the 1st sentence under Adverbial Phrase.
6. It is also important to mention here that in Arabic the corresponding equivalents of
English adverbs of manner are not adverbs of manner in true sense because Arabic
grammar classifies such words under /H@l/ rather than adverb of manner. One can also
find that English adverbs of manner may come initially, medially, or finally in a sentence,
whereas Arabic adverb of manner usually comes after the verb. Another striking fact we
find here that in Arabic the equivalent adverb of manner is written and pronounced
differently. In writing, for instance, we write /baTian, jayidan, muta~rd~edidan,
muri~batan, gADiban, sirran/ that is noun/adjective+/an/, but in speech, /an/ is not
pronounced when it comes at the end of the sentence.
7. There is no difference between English and Arabic word order of prepositional phrase.
We also find that many English prepositions in Arabic take the form of adverb, for
example, under in Arabic is used as adverb of place. Similarly, behind, among, and
beside are not prepositions rather adverb of place in Arabic.

28
 8. If we look at verb phrase in English sentence, we find that auxiliary verb is used in
present, past, and future tenses, whereas there is no auxiliary in Arabic for present tense
as in sentence 1 under Verb Phrase. On the other hand, we use the auxiliary verb k@nat
in sentence 2 to denote past auxiliary marker for ―was‖. As far as English simple present,
present progressive, or present perfect continuous form is concerned, it takes V1/V5,
is/am/are+V4, has/have +been + V4 respectively, whereas Arabic uses only one form of
the tense for simple present, present progressive, and present perfect continuous.
9. As for simple past tense in English, it inflects in V2 form either in regular way, e.g.
(played, asked, etc.) or irregular way, e.g. (went, taught, etc.) irrespective of gender and
number agreement. On the other hand, Arabic verb inflects according to gender and
number of the subject for example, (taught ) becomes /darras@/ and /darrasat/; /daras@/
is used for singular and masculine subject, whereas /daras@t/ is used for singular
feminine subject. To be more precise, /@/ suffix marker is used for singular masculine
subject, whereas the suffix /@t/ is used for singular feminine subject. As far as English
present perfect form is concerned it takes has/have+V3, whereas Arabic takes {qad+past
form of the main verb}.
10. As far as English past perfect form is concerned it takes {had + V3}, whereas Arabic
past perfect form takes {k@na+qad+ past form of the main verb}.
11. As for future tense in English, we find that the verb in the simple future tense takes
{shall/will+V1}, whereas Arabic verb takes {sa/sawfa + V1}. As far as English future
progressive form is concerned, it takes {will+be+V4}, whereas Arabic future progressive
form takes {sa+yaDalu} before the main verb. As far as English future perfect form is
concerned, it takes {shall/will+have+V3}, whereas Arabic future progressive form takes
{sa+yakunu+qad} before the main verb.

References

Ahmad phesh. 1982 .Al kamel . dar al Rashid .

Kamal Basher. 2002. 9ilm ?al?aSwat. Al Garabah print. Cairo. Egypt.

Michael macfarlne. 1995. English Practice Grammar. Garnet publishing LTD. Lebanon.

29
Najia, Nushaiba, and Salah. 2008. A Contrastive Morphological Analysis of Inflections in English-
Arabic Syntax. Garyounis University, Ajdabia, Libya
Ronald wardhaugh. 2003. Undrestanding English Grammar A Linguistic Approach. Second
Edition. Blackwell.

Rajat. Naser. 1967. The Structure of Arabic. Libraire Du Liban, Beirut.

Yowelly y. aziz and Muftah lataiwish. 2ooo, Principles of Translation. Benghazi, Libya.

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/topics/learn-arabic.html

http://www.arabion.net/learnarabic.html

30