Is Arabic punctuation rule-governed?

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which Arabic punctuation is rule-governed, with the aim of improving text comprehension, disambiguation, and machine translation. The study highlights the lack of systematic punctuation in Arabic written discourse, which may be attributed to difficulties in sentence boundary identification or inadequate differentiation between various conjunctions. The punctuation behavior of Arabic speakers is examined in relation to sentence boundary identification and the level of agreement among Arabic specialists is assessed. A quantitative analysis of paragraph and sentence lengths across genres, categories of writers, and in comparison to English is conducted using five corpora specifically compiled for this study. Additionally, a punctuation survey is carried out to evaluate specialists’ agreement on sentence boundary identification. The results indicate that writers of Arabic interpret punctuation rules differently and that Arabic punctuation practice is irregular. The study suggests that standardization of Arabic punctuation rules is necessary to facilitate comprehension and automatic text processing.

Keywords:

• Arabic punctuation
• sentence boundary identification
• text disambiguation
• machine translation
• punctuation standardization

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Jeroen van de Weijer, College of International Studies, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

SUBJECTS:

• Language & Linguistics; Introductory Linguistics; Applied Linguistics

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the University of Sharjah for their generous grant 2003020119 that made the Punctuation Project possible. We would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Prof. MHM Asfour for his inspiration and invaluable guidance since 2003.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sane Yagi

Sane Yagi received his education in Jordan, USA, and New Zealand. He is currently a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sharjah and the University of Jordan. The primary themes are corpus development, computational lexicography and lexicology, computational morphology, syntactic parsing, automatic punctuation, and machine learning. His research interests include computational linguistics, CMC, CALL, and TEFL.

Shehdeh Fareh

Shehdeh Fareh is a Professor of Linguistics from the University of Kansas in 1988. His research interests include contrastive linguistics, discourse analysis, translation and TEFL. Authored a series of books for teaching English as a foreign language, a textbook for teaching English to students of medicine and health sciences, published more than 40 articles in prestigious journals and translated more than 20 books from English into Arabic and vice versa.

Ashraf Elnagar

Ashraf Elnagar is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Computer Science, University of Sharjah, UAE. During his service at the University of Sharjah, he served as the founding chair of the Dept. of Computer Science, Chair of the MIS Department, and Dean of the Community College. He won a number of teaching, research and community and professional service awards. He is the recipient of the 1999 Shoman’s Best Young Researcher Award in the Arab World in the fields of Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics. His research interests include artificial intelligence, natural language processing, robotics, pattern analysis and recognition, and IT education.

Mariam Balajeed

Mariam Balajeed is the Head of the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Sharjah. She is specialized in Arabic syntax and published a number of articles and books in her field. She obtained a number of academic awards from different institutions.

Abdalla El-mneizel

Abdalla El-mneizel is a professor at the Department of Education and Psychology. His research interests include Intelligence, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Attribution. Tests Developments, Elderly, Mental Health and Adaptation, Applied Statistics, Early Childhood Education. Published articles in the areas of learning and motivation, child development, special education, university life, classroom climate, curriculum and instruction.

Mohammad Al-Badawi

Mohammad Al-Badawi is a dedicated researcher in linguistics at Zarqa University in Jordan, whose research expertise covers linguistics sub disciplines, with special focus on Stylistics, Discourse Analysis Pragmatics and Sociolinguistics. He has been widening his research sphere to include Arabic structure, translation studies, and foreign language teaching. Dr. Al-Badawi has a wealth of experience in both academic instruction and administrative leadership. His career spans over a decade, during which he has made several publications in the field of linguistics. He is known for his expertise in syllabus development, innovative teaching methods, and effective communication. His commitment to academic excellence is reflected in the roles he assumed during his career path at the English Department.