Temporality in the Arabic Lexicon: Morphological Encoding of Experiential States in the faʕla:n Adjectival Template

Temporality in the Arabic Lexicon: Morphological Encoding of Experiential States in the faʕla:n Adjectival Template | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Temporality in the Arabic Lexicon: Morphological Encoding of Experiential States in the faʕla:n Adjectival Template Marwan Jarrah, Shahd Dibas, Basem Al-Raba’a This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8366675/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper investigates how Arabic morphologically encodes temporality in the adjectival domain by examining the contrast between adjectives of the faʕla:n template (e.g., salma:n ‘being sound’) and adjectives of the faʕi:l/fa:ʕil template (e.g., sali:m/sa:lim ‘sound’) in Modern Standard Arabic and Jordanian Arabic (henceforth MSA and JA, respectively). Drawing on a range of diagnostics (relational PP selection, perceptual accessibility, pluralization, and metaphorical extension), the study demonstrates that the faʕla:n template lexicalizes inherently experiential, temporally anchored states, whereas faʕi:l/fa:ʕil adjectives denote property-level statives whose temporal profile is contextually determined. The data support a two-tiered ontology of stativity and contribute to debates on the lexical vs. compositional sources of stage-level interpretations. We argue that faʕla:n adjectives contain an internal temporal projection headed by T° with an interpretable [Prog]/[NOW] feature, making temporality a syntactically encoded component of their lexical structure. Typological parallels from Semitic and other languages show that Arabic offers a uniquely transparent system for observing how morphology can grammaticalize experiential states. Arabic morphology adjectival semantics temporality faʕla:n template stage-level predication Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8366675","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":570866675,"identity":"b76bfc6f-a260-4dc8-ba6f-dc3a65830b90","order_by":0,"name":"Marwan Jarrah","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Jordan","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marwan","middleName":"","lastName":"Jarrah","suffix":""},{"id":570866678,"identity":"dca01add-cf96-41de-9a00-d002dcc6051f","order_by":1,"name":"Shahd Dibas","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shahd","middleName":"","lastName":"Dibas","suffix":""},{"id":570866681,"identity":"9aa03aab-9b01-46ff-bcd5-14c1394198cf","order_by":2,"name":"Basem Al-Raba’a","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5UlEQVRIie3RLwvCQBjH8d842MqB1aK+hZMFEcTXsjEwqQgrgsE1i9gFwbeg3fDAgkWwLp5lacEXIOjjEDSd2gTvW27H8bk/DLDZfjAFOMRjAAjiCZyknJgJHsQNviby/l0Scy0ITc6uO6zMDudYolPbEE7aRNqJqwh5FFcPg40v0fOZRMp4MYJKLyTChEqShkx6VTPxzgSahutjoZlcPyGSDyLePOuDCb0n7USOmOzjZpar5kpF/jJ985YWvK0GTYb1Y5SrYtytLfbzUJsIGs9lV5W/ScjAKF4TD+3Rx8Rms9n+ohv1w099iPdtmQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Jordan","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Basem","middleName":"","lastName":"Al-Raba’a","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-15 13:23:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8366675/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8366675/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":99912107,"identity":"69203ad4-03b5-4584-991a-80b525e43e7c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 18:32:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":621109,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TemporalityintheArabicLexiconThefalanAdjectivalTemplate.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8366675/v1/c98c8c54c78d1542aaad6cd9.pdf"},{"id":99912106,"identity":"fe420364-933c-4c77-af14-087c40b03398","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 18:32:20","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4654,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ce998701dca94673bc291a323eb25a66.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8366675/v1/782c83d32fa0e0c427b59870.json"},{"id":104954764,"identity":"d7c87a52-2906-489b-a616-c58559d40c08","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-19 07:42:55","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":439421,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TemporalityintheArabicLexiconThefalanAdjectivalTemplate.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8366675/v1_covered_caf369cc-a3e6-4b71-be57-4091d6dfec4e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Temporality in the Arabic Lexicon: Morphological Encoding of Experiential States in the faʕla:n Adjectival Template","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Arabic morphology, adjectival semantics, temporality, faʕla:n template, stage-level predication","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8366675/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8366675/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This paper investigates how Arabic morphologically encodes temporality in the adjectival domain by examining the contrast between adjectives of the faʕla:n template (e.g., salma:n ‘being sound’) and adjectives of the faʕi:l/fa:ʕil template (e.g., sali:m/sa:lim ‘sound’) in Modern Standard Arabic and Jordanian Arabic (henceforth MSA and JA, respectively). Drawing on a range of diagnostics (relational PP selection, perceptual accessibility, pluralization, and metaphorical extension), the study demonstrates that the faʕla:n template lexicalizes inherently experiential, temporally anchored states, whereas faʕi:l/fa:ʕil adjectives denote property-level statives whose temporal profile is contextually determined. The data support a two-tiered ontology of stativity and contribute to debates on the lexical vs. compositional sources of stage-level interpretations. We argue that faʕla:n adjectives contain an internal temporal projection headed by T° with an interpretable [Prog]/[NOW] feature, making temporality a syntactically encoded component of their lexical structure. Typological parallels from Semitic and other languages show that Arabic offers a uniquely transparent system for observing how morphology can grammaticalize experiential states.","manuscriptTitle":"Temporality in the Arabic Lexicon: Morphological Encoding of Experiential States in the faʕla:n Adjectival Template","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-09 18:32:15","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8366675/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b15952bd-a641-48f7-893f-39ce53a3e7b6","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 9th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-19T07:41:39+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-09 18:32:15","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8366675","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8366675","identity":"rs-8366675","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}