Plural Nouns in Algerian Arabic as Spoken in Tiaret: A Morphological Analysis

Abstract

The primary aim of this research is to provide insights into the morphological structure of plural nouns in Algerian Arabic as Spoken in Tiaret. The present study seeks to determine the inflectional morphemes and the morphological patterns used in this Tiarteian dialect to form Algerian Arabic plural nouns, and Algerian Arabized plural nouns. The study also attempts to examine how these plural noun inflectional morphemes and morphological patternsare used in this dialect. To conduct this research, the most commonly inflectional morphemes and the morphological patterns utilized in Tiaretian dialect were determined, then three lists were designed, a list of Algerian Arabic singular nouns and their regular plural forms, a list of Algerian Arabic nouns and their irregular forms, and a list of singular Algerian Arabized nouns and their plural forms.. The three lists were provided to fifty native speakers of Tiaretian dialect who were asked to : check and correct the plural forms, provide alternative plural forms if they exist, and to read the plural forms. The results of this study revealed that TAA uses the sound inflectional morpheme {i:n} to create the dual form of some Algerian Arabic nouns. It also utilizes the sound inflectional morphemes {i:n} and {a:t} to form the plural of Algerian Arabic nouns. The first inflectional morpheme generates the plural form of masculine nominative, accusative, genitive, human singular nouns, while the second one creates the plural form of both masculine and feminine nominative, accusative, genitive, human and non-human singular nouns. Moreover, the results demonstrated that TAA uses also a set of morphological patterns to create the plural of some Algerian Arabic nouns. These morphemes change the sound structure of these nouns. The findings also showed that, to form the plural of Algerian Arabized nouns, TAA uses only the sound inflectional morphemes {a:t} which is attached to both masculine and feminine nominative, accusative, genitive, human and non-human singular nouns, and some morphological patterns that modify the sound structure of these nouns.