Headedness in Arabic Compounds within the Synthetic Genitive Construction

Abstract

This study aims to pinpoint the position of head in Arabic compounds within the Synthetic Genitive Construction (SGC). It also examines the headedness of these compounds morphologically, syntactically, and semantically. The analysis confirms that compounding in Arabic is predominantly left-headed. The semantic, syntactic, and morphological heads always coincide in Arabic compounds within the SGC. With regard to Adj + N compounds in Arabic, I argue that a silent noun is responsible for determining the syntactic category of the whole construct, resulting in a noun rather than an adjective. The study concludes with recommendations for further research.