How Do Non-native Speakers of Arabic Language Acquire and Learn Morphology in Arabic? Evidence from Analysis of Three Young Acquirers: An Argentinean and Two Beninois

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the earliest and latest morphological elements acquired by non-native speakers of Arabic language. Methods: Three young non-native speakers (a Spanish and two Beninois) were tape-recorded, twenty-minutes each and tested based on traditional classification of words in Arabic: nouns-class, verbs-class, and function-words class. Face-to-face observations were also noted down. Results: Results indicated that case-one had many problems regarding plurality, duality, gender, agreement between adjectives and nouns, number in general except simple numbers when used separately.  Case-two produced a large number of the content-words, but again with many atypical ones. Case-three had only a few errors in patterns like broken-plural and diminutives. Additionally, case-one demonstrated a limited use  of verbs, a very few or no function-words, case-two showed a quiet number of verbs compared to case one’s  poor use of verbs, and function-words as well, and case-three proved to have good command of nouns-class, verbs-class and function-words-class. Conclusions: Cases 1-3 are alike yet dissimilar in terms of acquired and non-acquired morphological patterns. These variances were shown clear through the produced morphological patterns by each and may be affected by the period spent in the Saudi Arabia and amount of language each one of them has been exposed to.