Editing Arabic (section)

=== Koiné ===
According to [[Charles A. Ferguson]],<ref>{{citation|first=Charles|last=Ferguson|title=The Arabic Koine|journal=Language|volume=35|year=1959|pages=616–630|issue=4|doi=10.2307/410601|jstor=410601}}</ref> the following are some of the characteristic features of the [[Koiné language|koiné]] that underlies all the modern dialects outside the Arabian peninsula. Although many other features are common to most or all of these varieties, Ferguson believes that these features in particular are unlikely to have evolved independently more than once or twice and together suggest the existence of the koine:
* Loss of the [[dual (grammatical number)|dual number]] except on nouns, with consistent plural agreement (cf. feminine singular agreement in plural inanimates).
* Change of ''a'' to ''i'' in many affixes (e.g., non-past-tense prefixes ''ti- yi- ni-''; ''wi-'' 'and'; ''il-'' 'the'; feminine ''-it'' in the [[construct state]]).
* Loss of third-weak verbs ending in ''w'' (which merge with verbs ending in ''y'').
* Reformation of geminate verbs, e.g., ''{{transliteration|ar|ḥalaltu}}'' 'I untied' → ''{{transliteration|ar|ḥalēt(u)}}''.
* Conversion of separate words ''lī'' 'to me', ''laka'' 'to you', etc. into indirect-object [[clitic]] suffixes.
* Certain changes in the [[cardinal number (linguistics)|cardinal number]] system, e.g., ''{{transliteration|ar|khamsat ayyām}}'' 'five days' → ''{{transliteration|ar|kham(a)s tiyyām}}'', where certain words have a special plural with prefixed ''t''.
* Loss of the feminine [[elative (gradation)|elative]] (comparative).
* Adjective plurals of the form ''{{transliteration|ar|kibār}}'' 'big' → ''{{transliteration|ar|kubār}}''.
* Change of [[Arabic grammar#Nisba|nisba]] suffix ''{{transliteration|ar|-iyy}}'' > ''{{transliteration|ar|i}}''.
* Certain [[lexical item]]s, e.g., ''{{transliteration|ar|jāb}}'' 'bring' < ''{{transliteration|ar|jāʼa bi-}}'' 'come with'; ''{{transliteration|ar|shāf}}'' 'see'; ''{{transliteration|ar|ēsh}}'' 'what' (or similar) < ''{{transliteration|ar|ayyu shayʼ}}'' 'which thing'; ''{{transliteration|ar|illi}}'' (relative pronoun).
* Merger of {{IPA|/dˤ/}} {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|ض}}}} and {{IPA|/ðˤ/}} {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|ظ}}}} in most or all positions.