A Semantic Analysis of Normal Derivatives of Body Part Terms in Jordanian Arabic

Abstract

This study deals with nouns derived from body part terminology in Jordanian Arabic. It aims at identifying those nouns and examining their semantic association with body part terms. It indicates that a large number of the nouns are semantically related to their corresponding body parts; thus, their meaning could be predicted from the meaning of body part terms. Further, the physical characteristics of position, shape and function of body parts are the basis of the semantic association. However, very few of the derived nouns are not semantically related to body part terms. In addition, all the derived nouns designate objects in a variety of lexical semantic domains external to the body part domain. Finally, it is concluded that Jordanian Arabic has the capability of expanding its lexicon on the basis of body part terminology.