A Comparative Study of Morpheme “al” in Arabic and Persian

 

Introduction

Persian, one of the world's most ancient languages and a member of the Indo-European language family, has undergone significant changes and transformations due to various political and social factors. Despite having no linguistic relationship with Persian, Arabic language has exerted the most influence on it, contributing numerous words, phrases, and idioms. Persian language is fundamentally distinct from Arabic language in terms of word origin and structure; they share no familial or kinship ties. The most notable manifestation of Arabic influence on Persian is found in vocabulary, though minor traces can be observed in other areas, such as syntax, where there is gender agreement in adjectives. Another clear example of these influences is the adoption and use of the Arabic morpheme "al". Persian contains borrowed compounds from Arabic, some of which include the morpheme "al". In Arabic, the indicative morpheme "al" functions to introduce nouns and their adjectival dependents. This research compares the morphological, grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic functions of the morpheme "al" as used in Arabic and as adopted into Persian.
 

Methodology

Studies on the use of the Arabic "al" morpheme in the Persian language, compiled in textbooks and articles by specialists, have aimed to analyze and investigate the data using both analogical and inductive methods from descriptive and methodological perspectives. This research involves a thorough review of the literature to discuss the linguistic behavior of "al" in Arabic and its function in Persian, followed by an assessment of its productivity in Persian. The data were extracted from the Sokhan, Moin, Amid, and Farhange-Farsi-ye-Emrouz dictionaries. These sources contain approximately 3,886 entries of Arabic compounds with "al." The research has quantitatively analyzed these data, and the results are reported at the conclusion of the study.
 

Discussion

The prefix "al-" in Arabic linguistics serves as the definite article, but it is not solely used for definiteness; it also has other types and applications. Generally, three main types and functions of "al-" are recognized: definition, redundant, and relative.

a) Definition "al-": This is used before nouns to make them definite. This morpheme has two main roles, referred to as generic "al-" and specific "al-".
b) Redundant "al-": Sometimes, "al-" appears in words without adding definiteness and does not make the word definite. This type of "al-" is termed redundant and is divided into two categories: transitive and intransitive. For instance, in words that are inherently definite, the addition of "al-" does not serve as a marker of definiteness but is considered redundant, as seen in the Quranic words: "al-Lat", "al-Uzza", "al-An", and "al-Yasa". Similarly, the "al-" in relative pronouns is also redundant, such as "alladhi", "alladhani," "alladhina," "allati", and "allati".
c) Relative "al-": This "al-" functions as a relative pronoun and is used with active and passive participles, provided it does not imply generic or specific definiteness, as in "wal- ‘adiyat dhabhan", "fal-muriyate qadhan", "fal-mughirate subhan", and "inna al-mussaddiqina wal-mussaddiqat wa-aqradu allaha qardan hasanan".

In the process of linguistic exchange and borrowing from Arabic, the Arabic "al-" has found its way into Persian and is used in the language. The Sokhan, Moin, Amid, and Farhang-e Farsi-ye Emrooz dictionaries contain over 3,886 entries of Arabic compounds with   "al-". Not only are there many Arabic-derived compounds in Persian that include this prefix, but there are also numerous new compounds formed with Persian words using "al-". However, most Persian grammar books and works regard these compounds as entirely Arabic and dismiss their use as incorrect and against Persian grammatical rules.
This raises the question of whether Persian speakers perceive "al" as an inflectional bound morpheme with an independent role or meaning, or merely as a phonetic component of a word. While the "al" morpheme in Arabic has specific roles and even types, this is not the case in Persian. The primary function of "al-" in Arabic is to indicate definiteness, which it does not achieve in Persian. Adding "al-" to a Persian word does not convey this meaning to speakers and it is never seen that a noun or adjective in Persian is first presented without "al-" and then with it.
Morphologically, the mechanisms of definiteness and indefiniteness in Persian are entirely different from those in Arabic. In Persian, definiteness has no marker and no special sign for definite nouns. Therefore, "al-" cannot be considered a marker of definiteness in Persian, nor can it be regarded as a morphological morpheme, distinguishing it from "al-" in Arabic. Since Persian speakers do not recognize "al-" alone as a morpheme, three hypothetical reasons for its presence in Persian can be suggested:
By analogy with Arabic compounds borrowed into Persian, specialists in various fields have adopted these compounds, further creating and expanding new compounds with "al-" using Persian lexemes.
The widespread use of such compounds has led to the phenomenon where "al-" appears in compounds where one or both components are Persian, creating new combinations with "al-" as an intermediary morpheme.
In compounds such as "mamnu'ol," where "al-" follows "mamnu," it carries no specific meaning and serves as a redundant linking element between words.
 
4.Conclusion
The grammatical morpheme "al-" is one of the borrowings that Persian language adopted from Arabic. Initially accompanying loanwords when it entered Persian, this morpheme was used over time in conjunction with both borrowed and native Persian words to create hybrid terms. Although limited, this morpheme has achieved some productivity in forming compounds with Persian words.
Phonetically, there is no significant difference between "al-" in Persian and Arabic. Phonologically, however, "al-" in Arabic exhibits different phonetic manifestations depending on the phonetic context of the initial phoneme of the word it precedes. It is noteworthy that in Arabic, the vowel of the final word attached to "al-" reflects the syntactic states of the noun in the sentence structure, a feature known as "i‘rāb." In contrast, Persian lacks such markers. Therefore, in Persian compounds featuring "al-," the sound of the final part of the first segment is pronounced consistently as "-ol ʔ-."
Structurally, "/ʔæl/" in Persian can be considered a "semi-fertile and semi-active mediation" in terms of its morphological role and structure. Syntactically, one of the roles attributed to "al-" in Arabic is to indicate definiteness, a role it does not fulfill in Persian. In Arabic, the morpheme "al-" has specific roles and meanings, including different types of definiteness. However, in Persian, "al-" does not function to convey definiteness. Adding "al-" to a word in Persian does not make it definite in the mind of a Persian speaker.
In Persian, the role of "al-" is primarily to form compound constructions. For example, in compound words like ''ʔaxærolzæman'' and ''hæqolsokut'', where two nouns are joined to create a compound, the morpheme "/ʔæl/" functions similarly to a prepositional genitive construction. Thus, in Persian, "/ʔæl/" serves to connect two linguistic elements to form compound words.