Typology of Plurality in Turkish, Classical Arabic and Cukurova Arabic and the Effect of Plurality in Turkish on Cukurova Arabic

Abstract

Noun pluralisation has been of paramount importance in typological studies, considering a wide range of varieties in different languages. This study examines the relationships between Classical Arabic, Turkish, and Cukurova Arabic – an Arabic dialect spoken in the Eastern Mediterranean region (Antakya, Adana, and Mersin) in Turkey – in the context of noun plurality inflection. In fact, considering Cukurova Arabic-Turkish relations, the latter affects the former more extensively – as a consequence of political and social situations. In other words, Cukurova Arabic codecopies Turkish elements in almost all linguistic levels (e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics). What is more, time passes against Cukurova Arabic because code-copying tends to disconnect itself from Syria-Lebanon Coastal Dialect Groups of which Cukurova Arabic is a part, and even brings it to the point of extinction. The devastating effect of Turkish on Cukurova Arabic needs to be elaborated on. However, code-copying at all linguistic levels was hardly delved into but morphological code-copying features were, in general, analyzed. A qualitative method was used while collecting the data collected through participatory observation, field note, and natural recording. By specifying morphological code-copying, the study remained limited to the disconnection of quantification in grammaticalization in Cukurova Arabic from Classical Arabic, and the effects of plurality typology in Turkish on Cukurova Arabic. In line with this explanation, regular plurality inflections in Cukurova Arabic (cäm>ü’l-sǟlim, particularly regular feminine inflections operated with +ǟt / +ât suffixes) are increasing, and irregular cases (cäm>ü’l-mükässär) are replaced by regular of which. The complex quantity category in Classical Arabic is represented as a simpler aspect inCukurova. This change is experienced through the effect of the plural suffix +lAr in Turkish and quite simply of plurality typology. The study yields evidence of a transition from complex quantification to a simpler system of pluralisation in Cukurova Arabic.