1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Written Language & Literacy
  4. Volume 27, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 27, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1387-6732
  • E-ISSN: 1570-6001
EPUB
PDF

Abstract

Abstract

Case and mood inflection (CMI) is traditionally regarded as a central feature of Standard Arabic, even though it is typically not graphemically represented. In reading, these inflectional suffixes are often omitted. This is the first study to empirically explore this omission in reading for comprehension. 18 native skilled readers read texts aloud while being audio recorded, instructed to focus on the content of the text. The recordings were analyzed for production of CMI. Participants produced on average 6.4% of all CMI expected according to standard grammatical descriptions, far below the prescriptive ideal of complete use of CMI. Furthermore, around one fifth of all inflected forms produced were incorrect. These results indicate that reading without CMI may be a more appropriate benchmark for reading proficiency than is reading with CMI, despite the latter traditionally being regarded as more correct. Implications of these findings for reading research and reading instruction are discussed.

© 2024 John Benjamins Publishing Company
Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/wll.00086.hal
2026-01-20
2026-02-17

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/wll.00086.hal
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/wll.00086.hal.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/wll.00086.hal&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Abu-Hamour, Bashir, Al-Hmouz, Hanan & Kenana, Mohammed
    2013 The effect of short vowelization on curriculum-based measurement of reading fluency and comprehension in Arabic. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties18(2): 181–97. 10.1080/19404158.2013.852980
     https://doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2013.852980 [Google Scholar]
  2. Abu-Leil, Aula Khatteb, Ibrahim, Raphiq & Eviatar, Zohar
    2021 Reading in multiple Arabics: Effects of diglossia and orthography. Reading and Writing34(9): 2291–2316. 10.1007/s11145‑021‑10143‑8
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10143-8 [Google Scholar]
  3. Abu-Rabia, Salim
    2012 The role of morphology and short vowelization in reading morphological complex words in Arabic: Evidence for the domination of the morpheme/root-based theory in reading Arabic. Creative Education03(4): 486–94. 10.4236/ce.2012.34074
     https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.34074 [Google Scholar]
  4. Abu-Rabia, Salim & Taha, Haitham
    2006 Reading in Arabic orthography: Characteristics, research findings, and assessment. InHandbook of orthography and literacy, R. Malatesha Joshi & P. G. Aaron (eds), 321–38. London; New York: L. Erlbaum Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Al Midhwah, Ali
    2018 The role of diacritics in word recognition and their impact on Arabic L2 learners’ reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension at different stages of Arabic L2 acquisition. Doctoral thesis.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Alhawary, Mohammad T.
    2011 Modern standard Arabic grammar: A learner’s guide. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Althawab, Abdulrahman
    2023 The role of case marking in the word order of Standard Arabic and Najdi Arabic: Comparison and analysis. Journal of Arabic and Human Sciences1(4): 1–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Asadi, Ibrahim A.
    2017 Reading Arabic with the diacritics for short vowels: Vowelised but not necessarily easy to read. Writing Systems Research9(2): 137–47. 10.1080/17586801.2017.1400493
     https://doi.org/10.1080/17586801.2017.1400493 [Google Scholar]
  9. Badawi, El-Said M., Carter, M. G. & Gully, Adrian
    2016 Modern written Arabic: A comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Buckwalter, Tim & Parkinson, Dilworth B.
    2011 A Frequency Dictionary of Arabic: Core Vocabulary for Learners. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Curzan, Anne
    2014 Fixing English: Prescriptivism and language history. New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139107327
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139107327 [Google Scholar]
  12. Daniels, Peter T.
    1990 Fundamentals of grammatology. Journal of the American Oriental Society110(4): 727–31. 10.2307/602899
     https://doi.org/10.2307/602899 [Google Scholar]
  13. 2013 The Arabic writing system. InThe Oxford handbook of Arabic linguistics, Jonathan Owens (ed), 412–32. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199764136.013.0018
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199764136.013.0018 [Google Scholar]
  14. Gnanadesikan, Amalia E.
    2017 Towards a typology of phonemic scripts. Writing Systems Research9(1): 14–35. 10.1080/17586801.2017.1308239
     https://doi.org/10.1080/17586801.2017.1308239 [Google Scholar]
  15. Haeri, Niloofar
    2003 Sacred language, ordinary people: Dilemmas of culture and politics in Egypt. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9780230107373
     https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230107373 [Google Scholar]
  16. Hallberg, Andreas
    2016 Case endings in Spoken Standard Arabic: Statistics, norms, and diversity in unscripted formal speech. Doctoral dissertation, Lund: Lund University, https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8524489
  17. 2021 Case and mood inflection in Formal Spoken Arabic: A quantitative investigation. Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik741: 61–86. 10.13173/zeitarabling.74.0061
     https://doi.org/10.13173/zeitarabling.74.0061 [Google Scholar]
  18. 2022a Principles of variation in the use of diacritics (taškı̄l) in Arabic books. Language Sciences931: 1–15. 10.1016/j.langsci.2022.101482
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2022.101482 [Google Scholar]
  19. 2022b Variation in the use of diacritics in modern typeset Standard Arabic: A theoretical and descriptive framework. Arabica69(3): 279–317. 10.1163/15700585‑12341640
     https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341640 [Google Scholar]
  20. 2023 Standard language ideology and prescriptivism in the Arabic-speaking world. InRoutledge handbook of linguistic prescriptivism, Joan C. Beal, Morana Lukač & Robin Straaijer (eds), 287–303. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge. 10.4324/9781003095125‑20
     https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003095125-20 [Google Scholar]
  21. Hallberg, Andreas & Niehorster, Diederick C.
    2021 Parsing written language with non-standard grammar: An eye-tracking study of case marking in Arabic. Reading and Writing34(1): 27–48. 10.1007/s11145‑020‑10040‑6
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-020-10040-6 [Google Scholar]
  22. Harrell, Richard S.
    1964 A linguistic analysis of Egyptian radio Arabic. InContributions to Arabic LInguistics, Charles A. Ferguson (ed), 1–77. Cambridge, Mass.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Haywood, John Alfred & Nahmad, Hayim Musa
    1993 A new Arabic grammar of the written language. London: Lund Humphries.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Holes, Clive
    1993 The uses of variation: A study of the political speeches of Gamal Abd al-Nasir. InPerspectives on Arabic linguistics V, Mushira Eid & Clive Holes (eds), 13–45. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/cilt.101.04hol
     https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.101.04hol [Google Scholar]
  25. 2004 Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. 10.1093/oso/9780198701378.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198701378.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  26. Ibrahim, Muhammad H.
    1983 Linguistic distance and literacy in Arabic. Journal of Pragmatics7(5): 507–15. 10.1016/0378‑2166(83)90078‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(83)90078-4 [Google Scholar]
  27. Ibrahim, Raphiq, Eviatar, Zohar & Aharon-Peretz, Judith
    2007 Metalinguistic awareness and reading performance: A cross language comparison36(4): 297–317. 10.1007/s10936‑006‑9046‑3
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-006-9046-3 [Google Scholar]
  28. Jawal, Abdulrahman Saeed & Bin Makhashen, Khaled Awadh
    2023 A syntactic study of case marking dropping among Arab TV newsreaders. SHU Journal of Humanities and Applied Sciences11: 149–67.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Maamouri, Mohamed
    1998 Language education and human development: Arabic diglossia and its impact on the quality of education in the Arab region. Philadelphia: International Literacy Institute, (5 June 2012).
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Mazraani, Nathalie
    1997 Aspects of language variation in Arabic political speech-making. Richmond: Curzon Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Meiseles, Gustav
    1977 Restitution of “word-endings” in Modern Literary Arabic. Israel Oriental Studies71: 173–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Mejdell, Gunvor
    2006 Mixed styles in spoken Arabic in Egypt: Somewhere between order and chaos. Boston, MA: Brill. 10.1163/9789047408987
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047408987 [Google Scholar]
  33. 2021 What is Formal Spoken Arabic?InThe Cambridge handbook of Arabic linguistics, Karin Ryding & David Wilmsen (eds), 199–213. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108277327.010
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108277327.010 [Google Scholar]
  34. Meletis, Dimitrios
    2020 The nature of writing: A theory of grapholinguistics. Brest: Fluxus éditions. 10.36824/2020‑meletis
     https://doi.org/10.36824/2020-meletis [Google Scholar]
  35. Mitchell, Terence Frederick
    1990 Pronouncing Arabic. Oxford: Clarendon. 10.1093/oso/9780198151517.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198151517.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  36. Morey, Richard D. & Rouder, Jeffrey N.
    2024 BayesFactor: Computation of Bayes factors for common designs.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Mullis, I. V. S., Davier, M. von, Foy, P., Fishbein, B., Reynolds, K. A. & Wry, E.
    2023 PIRLS 2021 international results in reading. Boston College, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. 10.6017/lse.tpisc.tr2103.kb5342
     https://doi.org/10.6017/lse.tpisc.tr2103.kb5342 [Google Scholar]
  38. Myhill, John
    2004 A parameterized view of the concept of “correctness”. Multilingua23(4): 389–416. 10.1515/mult.2004.23.4.389
     https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2004.23.4.389 [Google Scholar]
  39. Parkinson, Dilworth B.
    1991 Searching for modern fuṣḥā: Real-life formal Arabic. Al-ʿArabiyya241: 31–64.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. 1993 Knowing Standard Arabic: Testing Egyptians’ MSA abilities. Edited byMushira Eid and Clive Holes. Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics (5): 47–73. 10.1075/cilt.101.05par
     https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.101.05par [Google Scholar]
  41. 1994a Speaking fuṣḥā in Cairo. InArabic sociolinguistics: Issues and perspectives, Yasir Suleiman (ed), 179–211. London; New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. 1994b Testing native speakers: Implications for teaching Arabic to non-native speakers. InInvestigating Arabic: Linguistic, pedagogic and literary studies in honor of Ernest N. McCarus, Ernest N. McCarus, Raji M. Rammuny & Dilworth B. Parkinson (eds), 191–203. Columbus, Ohio: Greyden Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. PISA 2022 results
    PISA 2022 results 2023 OECD. 10.1787/53f23881‑en
     https://doi.org/10.1787/53f23881-en [Google Scholar]
  44. R Core Team
    R Core Team 2023 R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing, www.r-project.org
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Rogers, Henry
    2005 Writing systems: A linguistic approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Ryding, Karin C.
    2005 A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511486975
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975 [Google Scholar]
  47. 2021 Case in Arabic. InThe Cambridge handbook of Arabic linguistics, Karin Ryding & David Wilmsen (eds), 353–70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108277327.016
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108277327.016 [Google Scholar]
  48. Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor
    2017 Learning to read Arabic. InLearning to read across languages and writing systems, Ludo Verhoeven & Charles Perfetti (eds), 127–54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781316155752.006
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316155752.006 [Google Scholar]
  49. 2018 MAWRID: A model of Arabic word reading in development. Journal of Learning Disabilities51(5): 454–62. 10.1177/0022219417720460
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219417720460 [Google Scholar]
  50. Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor & Spolsky, Bernard
    2014 Acquiring literacy in a diglossic context: Problems and prospects. InHandbook of Arabic literacy: Insights and perspectives, Elinor Saiegh-Haddad & R. Malatesha Joshi (eds), 225–40. New York: Springer. 10.1007/978‑94‑017‑8545‑7_10
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8545-7_10 [Google Scholar]
  51. Salib, Maurice Boulos
    1980 Spoken literary Arabic: Oral approximation of Literary Arabic in Egyptian formal discourse. Berkeley: Unpublished PhD thesis.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Schulz, David Eugene
    1981 Diglossia and variation in formal spoken Arabic in Egypt. Ann Arbor: Unpublished Ph.D. thesis.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Schulz, Eckehard, Krahl, Günther & Reuschel, Wolfgang
    2000 Standard Arabic: An elementary/intermediate course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Share, David L. & Bar-On, Amalia
    2018 Learning to read a Semitic abjad: The triplex model of Hebrew reading development. Journal of Learning Disabilities51(5): 444–53. 10.1177/0022219417718198
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219417718198 [Google Scholar]
  55. Skogseth, Geir Juell
    2000 Egyptian Radio Arabic: A phonological analysis of the language in EBA news broadcasts. Master thesis, Oslo: University of Oslo.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Suleiman, Yasir
    2003 The Arabic language and national identity: A study in ideology. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Uhlmann, Allon J.
    2012 Arabs and Arabic grammar instruction in Israeli universities: Alterity, alienation and dislocation. Middle East Critique21(1): 101–16. 10.1080/19436149.2012.658499
     https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2012.658499 [Google Scholar]
  58. Versteegh, Kees
    2014 The Arabic language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 10.1515/9780748645299
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748645299 [Google Scholar]
  59. Wagner, Daniel A. & Lotfi, Abdelhamid
    1983 Learning to read by “rote”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language1983(42): 111–21. 10.1515/ijsl.1983.42.111
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1983.42.111 [Google Scholar]
  60. Wickham, Hadley
    2016 ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer-Verlag New York. 10.1007/978‑3‑319‑24277‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24277-4 [Google Scholar]
  61. Younes, Munther
    2007 On ‘i“rāb”, power, and language reform in the Arab world. Al-ʿArabiyya40/411: 221–41.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/wll.00086.hal
Loading
Morphological optionality in Arabic informal reading aloud
Written Language & Literacy 27, 127 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00086.hal
/content/journals/10.1075/wll.00086.hal
/content/journals/10.1075/wll.00086.hal
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Arabic; case; mood; morphology; reading aloud; reading development; register

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error