---
title: "The cut-off term in Arabic grammar — kahila 2021"
description: "This is a classical Arabic grammar study, not a computational one."
authors: ["Fatr kahila"]
year: 2021
venue: "دراسات في اللغة العربيّة وآدابها 11"
source: "https://lasem.semnan.ac.ir/article_5699_a4be3f803ee92f4d4796fe851fc8cdd7.pdf"
doi: "10.22075/lasem.0621.5699"
licence: "CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; دراسات في اللغة العربيّة وآدابها)"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/kahila-2021-cut-off-term-arabic-grammar/"
---
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# The cut-off term in Arabic grammar

**Authors:** Fatr kahila · **Year:** 2021 · **Venue:** دراسات في اللغة العربيّة وآدابها 11 · **Licence:** [CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; دراسات في اللغة العربيّة وآدابها)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.22075/lasem.0621.5699) · [PDF](https://lasem.semnan.ac.ir/article_5699_a4be3f803ee92f4d4796fe851fc8cdd7.pdf) · [DOI 10.22075/lasem.0621.5699](https://doi.org/10.22075/lasem.0621.5699) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W3212441694)

**Citations:** 0 citations (openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14)

## Summary
This is a classical Arabic grammar study, not a computational one. It examines *qaṭʿ* ("cut-off"), a term that appears across Arabic grammar and prosody, and asks what it means in syntax. The author starts from the dictionary sense of separating one thing from another (Lisan al-Arab). The prosodic sense is the shortening of a metrical foot. The paper also notes that the Kufan grammatical term roughly matches what Basrans call *ḥāl*. It then sorts syntactic cut-off into four areas:

* the disjoint exception (*istithnāʾ munqaṭiʿ*);
* words detached from annexation (*iḍāfa*);
* switching to the nominative in the predicate of copula-like "nawāsikh" verbs;
* breaking case agreement in followers (*tawābiʿ*).

The method is descriptive. Grammarians' opinions (Sibawayh, Ibn Hisham, Ibn al-Sarraj, Abbas Hassan and others) are compared and tested against Quranic verses and poetry. The main finding is that each cut-off changes the structure and so adds a shade of meaning, often drawing the listener's attention. The paper presents this as a feature of eloquent Arabic and links syntax to meaning.

## Key points
- Four syntactic types are covered: exception, annexation, the nominative in nawāsikh predicates, and followers. Followers include adjective, apposition (*badal*) and conjunction.
- A disjoint exception is one where the excepted item is not part of the set it is excepted from. The test is whether *illā* can be replaced by *lākin* ("but"). Examples come from al-Nābigha and Ṭāhā 1–3.
- Words like *qabl*, *baʿd* and *dūn* behave in four ways, depending on what happens to the noun they govern:
  - it is stated outright;
  - it is dropped to make the word indefinite;
  - it is dropped but its wording is still intended;
  - it is dropped but its meaning is intended, in which case the word becomes indeclinable with *-u*.
- *Kull* and *baʿḍ* may lose their annexed noun only when they are not functioning as emphasis or as an adjective. *Ayy* may drop it in its interrogative, conditional and relative uses.
- Among followers, cut-off is most common with adjectives and rarer with apposition and conjunction. Sibawayh allows the accusative where the nominative "cut" reading also occurs.

## Interesting ideas
- The paper identifies the disjoint exception with a substitution test: if *except* can be swapped for *but*, the excepted item lies outside the set. — For Mova (frames): an "except→but" paraphrase check could decide whether "except X" removes a member from a set or introduces a contrasting clause, which changes the frame.
- It separates an omitted complement that is intended in meaning from one dropped to make the word indefinite, and each choice gives a different reading. — For Mova (world): bare "before"/"after"/"all" could be flagged as carrying an implicit, recoverable argument, which is then resolved to an event or set already in the text world.
- A sudden break in agreement is treated as a deliberate signal: the speaker starts a new, elliptical clause instead of continuing the modifier chain. — For Mova (tree): a detached modifier that breaks the expected pattern could be parsed as a reduced clause with an elided head rather than forced into an amod or appos edge.
- Each structural cut-off is explained by the meaning it adds, such as emphasis or arousing attention, not only by its form. — For Mova (frames): detached or contrastive constructions could carry an emphasis/attention feature into the pragmatics layer, so the change is explained rather than dropped.
- Licensing conditions are stated as explicit constraints, for example that *kull* may drop its noun only when it is not emphasis or an adjective. — For Mova (learn): such narrow conditions on when an omission is allowed could become self-induced repair rules with negative controls, using cases where the omission is not allowed.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

Fields: [Linguistics & languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/linguistics/)

## Cite

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{kahila2021cut,
  title = {{The cut-off term in Arabic grammar}},
  author = {kahila, Fatr},
  booktitle = {دراسات في اللغة العربيّة وآدابها 11},
  year = {2021},
  doi = {10.22075/lasem.0621.5699},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.22075/lasem.0621.5699}
}
```

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