A prosodic approach to diminutive formation in Arabic

الملخص EN

This paper presents a unified and comprehensive analysis of the Arabic diminutive derivation within the framework of a prosodic theory.

I argue that the correct analysis of the Arabic diminutive derivation must recognize the primitives of a prosodic theory such as the mora, the syllable, and the foot.

Rules that derive diminutive templates from nondiminutive ones must be characterized in prosodic terms.

This paper provides additional support for the view of nonconcatenative morphology.