Developing Derivational Prefixation in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

Abstract

The Arabic language has been struggling to catch up with the rapid growth in science and technology in regards to inventing new terms (Elkhatib, 2000). With its conventional methods of word formation, such as derivation (i.e. patterns (awzān), circumlocution, Arabicisation, blending, etc.), many new words have been invented. However, ‘derivational prefixation’ is a foreign method that has been introduced into Arabic as a way of generating new terms. With few exceptions, Arabic had almost never used this method before the development of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). This dissertation attempts to build a list of the new prefixes that have been introduced in MSA and examine how common they are through their occurrences in the corpus. It also explores the various attitudes adopted by Arab intellectuals toward this phenomenon.