"Alef" and "Noon" Suffix: A Morpho-Semantic Study

Abstract

This study aims to explore the formulas ending with the “Alef” and "Noon" (-ان) Suffix to explain its morphological and semantic functions. Most of its morphological functions are for structuring dual forms (Muthanna ), “a structure refers to two”, and irregular plural to indicate abundance, gerunds and infinitives, and forming al-sifa al-mushabbaha (a noun derived from intransitive triliteral verbs) such as “Fa’lan – Fa’la” (فَعْلان - فَعْلى). This formula is mainly used to denote exaggeration and multiplicity. Therefore, this paper sought to explore their unknown denotations. The research concluded with the following important outcomes. Alef-and-noon suffix has increased morpho-Semantic functions, such as, indicating number, gender, attribution, exaggeration, specifying, differentiation between two things; or only morphological functions, such as the function of intensifying meaning, the absence of peer, forming a noun that differs from the verb pattern, forming a singular that differs from the plural case, and transformation of the adjectival form to the nominal case.