Definiteness, genitives and two kinds of syntax in Standard Arabic

This article deals with Standard Arabic – i.e. the variety of Arabic including Classical and Modern Standard Arabic, regarded as a single synchronic entity (ignoring historical developments, which are, for current purposes, irrelevant). It considers the relationship between the -n of nunation (tanwīn) and the definite article al- (plus allomorphic variants). Henceforth, I shall for brevity refer to the -n of nunation (tanwīn) as -n and the definite article al- as al-. I consider first the relationship between al- and -n in relation to (i) standard triptote nouns, (ii) diptote nouns, (iii) non-declinable nouns, and (iv) dual and sound plural nouns, concluding that -n is neither simply an indefinite marker, as sometimes claimed (e.g. HOLES 1995: 41; BADAWI, CARTER and GULLY 2004: 96), nor an absolute state marker, as also claimed (e.g. LYONS 1999; RETSÖ 1984–1986; 2010), but has something of both functions. I go on to consider al- and -n in relation to (i) pronoun suffixes, and (ii) genitive annexes. I use the following terminology: annexion-head meaning roughly the same as muḍāf (cf. BADAWI, CARTER and GULLY 2004: 131) in traditional Arabic terminology (also termable annexed term, e.g. WATSON 1993: 173, or genitive head in English), and annex (WATSON 1993: 173) meaning roughly the same as muḍāfilay-hi (cf. BADAWI, CARTER and GULLY 2004: 131) (also termable genitive modifier in English). I argue that -n, al-, pronoun suffixes and genitive annexes commute with one another (incorporating also recursive elements), to give one form of syntax. In the linguistic model underpinning this paper – extended axiomatic functionalism (DICKINS 1998; 2009) – this can be termed lexotactic. I also show, however, that these structures can be subject to a second, different, form of syntactic analysis, in extended axiomatic-functionalism termed delotactic.