The formation of nominal derivatives in the Arabic language with a view to computational linguistics

This study investigates the formation of nominal derivatives in Arabic by providing a multi-level analysis in the light of state-of-the-art theories and approaches in modern linguistics. Six types of nominal derivative are described and analyzed: the active participle, the passive participle, the form of exaggeration, the instrumental noun, the qualificative adjective, and the locative noun. The study considers the Form I verb stem as input for forming the six types of nominal derivative (the output). A multi-level approach is employed, involving semantics, syntax, morphology and prosodic phonology. The study establishes an Arabic verb classification in which 980 Form I verbs are divided into 44 classes from which nominal derivatives are derived. Verbs are allocated to classes according to their semantic features and syntactic behaviour. Semantically, the verbs in each class share related meanings and semantic functions. In addition, semantic relations such as synonyms, antonyms, polysemy and hyponym are taken into consideration. Syntactically, the verbs in each class share syntactic behaviour in terms of their transitivity and syntactic frames (in which all the verbs of a class can be used alternatively)