Affixes Whose Origins Rooted in the Phenomena of Nunation (Tanwin) and Memation (Tamyim) in Arabic: A Historical Comparative Study

Abstract

This study aims at accounting for the affixes that Arab linguists have not tackled so far. It selects two phenomena, nunation (tanwīn) and memation (tamyīm) (i.e. to have [-m] as a suffix on a noun) which have provided Arabic lexicon with some linguistic patterns that hold certain meanings. For this purpose, the researcher was able to compile abundant data on these phenomena and conclude that memation (tamyīm) was used for an extended time in Arabic, but then it was abandoned in favor of nunation (tanwīn). What is remarkable is that Arabic considered the final [-m] on these nouns as if it were original.Due to the weakening of nunation, Arabic was forced to mark nunation twice on nouns; that is, the original [-n] was perceived as if it were superfluous. The whole study was undertaken within the framework of the historical-comparative approach.