Exceptional Arabic Diminutive Forms of Nouns with [ aa ]: An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis

Most diminutive forms in Arabic adhere in their derivation to certain simple phonological and morphological processes without any complications. However, there are exceptions to be found, including diminutive forms of nouns with [aa] in which the segment [w] surfaces. Using Optimality Theory (OT) as a framework and using syllable weight as a base of analysis, this study aims to provide an accurate explanation of such phenomena. This work will show that the root of words with [w] is not simply biconsonantal with an emphatic segment (i.e., [w]) inserted to fill the empty onset. Instead, the root is triconsonantal in which [w] is an essential segment. It also reveals that syllable-weight constraint is inviolable in Arabic dialects.

Most Arab grammarians (e.g., Al-Ghalayīni, 2002;Sībawayhi, 1999, and others) view the process of forming the different diminutive forms as a derivation based on the following three basic conjugations: fuʕayl for a triconsonantal noun, fuʕayʕil for a quadriconsonantal noun with a short-vowelled second syllable, and fuʕayʕiil for a quinquecinsonantal noun with a short-vowelled second syllable. These conjugations are shown with examples in Table 2. However, Traditional Analysis of Arabic diminutive forms has some exceptional cases, which are presented in Table 3. These diminutive forms have their own conjugations, whereas forms in 3a, 3b and 3c are trisyllabic, such as those that have the conjugation fuʕajʕil, but they have [w], which does not have a correspondent in the related non-diminutive forms. The non-diminutive forms of the diminutive forms in 3d and 3e are triconsonantal. They have the diminutive conjugation fuʕajl that preserves the last vowel of the bases. bu.wajb d. ħudʒ.ra [room] ħu.dʒaj.ra e. sib.ɣa [paint] su.baj.ɣa To overcome this drawback of Traditional Analysis, some Arab linguists (e.g., Ismail, 2012;Rashid, 2010) have analyzed the linguistic phenomenon of diminution within the framework of OT. However, the process in Arabic has not received ample attention in the literature of the theory as yet (Azieb & Mahadin, 2015). The case of nouns with [aa] in their base and [w] in their diminutive forms, specifically, is still debated. Considering [w] as an epenthetic segment that is controlled by the constraint DEP -PL(ACE), as Ismail (2012) argued, would not be able to eliminate the presence of [w] in some Arabic dialects, such as Qassimi Arabic, which is similar to Standard Arabic. Hence, this paper considers the effects of the syllable and its weight to resolve the issue. Syllable has its role in phonology and its analytic frameworks as a referential domain in phonotactic constraints (Fudge, 1969;Selkirk, 1982) and one with applications for phonological processes (Blevins, 1995;Selkirk, 1982). Syllable effects can be seen and represented by the weight that has been accounted for within moraic theory (McCarthy & Prince, 1986) to distinguish between light, heavy, and super heavy syllables, depending upon the number of moras each syllable has.

An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis
Diminutive forms are formed in Arabic through an output-based process where they are "derived from bases that exist as independent words (typically nouns) in the language" (Ismail, 2012, p. 189), especially with having parts of the base preserved in the diminutive forms. The formation of the diminutive in SA also involves taking the entire base (the consonantal root) as input: dˤam, the first consonant of the base (i.e., an apostrophe-like shape written above the consonant which precedes it in pronunciation to represent the short vowel; /u/), fatћ the second consonant (a diagonal stroke written above the consonant, which precedes it in pronunciation to represent the short vowel /a/); and, inserting /j/ after it. For example, to derive the diminutive form nuhajr [little river] from nahr [river], the following steps should be followed:

Qassimi Dialect and Its Diminutive Forms
As a native speaker of both QA and SA, I argue that analyzing diminutive forms in QA according to Traditional Analysis has the same exceptional cases, as presented in Table 4. . More examples are given in Table 5. Like SA, the QA syllable template requires an obligatory onset, but adding DEP -PL(ACE) to the undominated constraints in the set gives a wrong sinning candidate, as shown in Table 6. a. ʔam.ʔaijl *! *** * **** b. ʔam.waijl *** * **** Tableau 6 shows that by adding this constraint, it is possible to predict the appropriate epenthetic segment, but the winner candidate is still not the optimal one because it has a medial [a] after the epenthetic [w]. The way traditional Arabic linguists (e.g., Sibawayh) classify consonantal roots solves the problem. These scholars state that the consonantal root of maal is /mwl/. I argue that there is no noun in SA with a biconsonantal root. When the noun maal is derived from its consonantal root, the [w] is deleted. I propose that to derive a noun using the conjugation faʔal from a consonantal root with a medial glide (i.e., [w] or [y]), the glide is deleted to obey the syllable-weight constraint.
Below, on Table 7, is a set of examples showing deletion of [w] when /aa/ is inserted to derive nouns, and retention of [w] when deriving accusative past tense verbs using the conjugation faʔʔal. It is important to note that the same nouns and verbs are used in both SA and QA, as there is no dialectal variation with these nouns. In Optimality Theory, this means that MAX-C is dominated in Arabic in some environments. This is a rejection of several Abu Mansour (1995) assumptions, including that this constraint is undominated because of the unique role of consonants in Arabic. These nouns are derived from their consonantal roots through mapping /aa/ into these consonants where the first /a/ is inserted after the second consonant and the second /a/ is inserted after the third consonant. In this analysis, I assume that this formation process is an input-base process. To obtain the optimal candidate, /aa/ must be mapped onto the consonantal root.
Therefore, MAX-IO dominates DEP-BO to preserve segment correspondence. Another correspondence constraint (IDENT-IO) is obeyed to prevent any change in features, and ANCHOR-BO is obeyed to ensure that ijel.ccsenet.org International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 10, No. 5; 2020 the input segments do not appear on the edges. ONSET is also obligatory in Arabic. This ranking is shown in (b), below, and tested in Tableau  Candidate 8a is the optimal candidate because it satisfies all highly ranked constraints. Candidates 8b, 8c, and 8d are ruled out because they violate IDENT-IO, ANCHOR-BO, and MAX-IO, respectively.
In the case of deriving maal from /mwl/, the winning candidate with this ranking would be */maw.al/. However, such a word violates the syllabic well-formedness constraint ONSET. Assuming the consonantal root is /mwl/, the more accurate way to justify the deletion of the segment [w] is with syllable-weight. The majority of constraint-based research on Arabic dialects (e.g., Bamakhramah, 2010;Watson, 2007), has found that the syllable-weight constraint that requires all syllables be bimoraic is inviolable in Arabic dialects.
The constraint *3μ, which requires syllables to be maximally bimoraic and prohibits trimoraic syllables is undominated.
(c) *[3μ]: No trimoraic syllables (Kager, 1999, p. 268) To satisfy this constraint, the long vowel in the initial syllable is shortened. Therefore, this constraint dominates MAX-V-IO, while MAX-C-IO should remain undominated. As Al Motairi (2015) noted, CVC syllables are treated as heavy syllables when they are not the final syllable because of the constraint WEIGHT-BY-POSITION (WBP).
(d) WBP: Coda consonants are moraic Therefore, the WBP constraint must be active in the grammar of Qassimi Arabic. When CVC, CVVC occur finally, they are also bimoraic. This is because the final C is mora-less where it counts as a peripheral extra prosodic element, satisfying the undominated constraint *F INAL-C-μ.
Because QA does not permit non-final CVVC syllables, NSμ is ranked high. The overall constraint hierarchy developed so far is given below (g) and tested in Tableau 9. In the above ranking, constraints whose job and ranking have already been established are underlined as a means of clarification and are not included in Tableau 9. As seen in Tableau 9, the optimal candidate 9d satisfies the undominated constraints *FNAL-C-μ, *[3μ], and NSμ. The table also shows that candidates 9a, 9b, and 9c, are ruled out immediately by the undominated constraint *FNAL-C-μ, *[3μ], and NSμ, respectively. Therefore, analyzing nouns with [aa] in the basic forms and [w] in their diminutive forms is accounted for in terms of syllable weight. It clarifies that [w] is part of the consonantal root, not an epenthetic segment.

Conclusion
The case of exceptional Arabic diminutive forms with [w] that has been debatable has been clarified in this analysis by using syllable weight within the framework of Optimality Theory. This analysis establishes that the root of words with [w] is not simply biconsonantal with an emphatic segment (i.e., [w]) inserted to fill the empty onset. Instead, the root is triconsonantal, where [w] is an essential segment. It also reveals that syllable-weight constraint is inviolable in Arabic dialects, rejecting Abu Mansour's (1995) argument.