1. The ʾiḍāfa in the Arabic linguistic tradition

Two Arabic nouns may be linked together in a noun phrase in such a way that the second noun in the sequence determines the first by limiting, identifying, possessing, defining, or amplifying it. The two nouns in this phrase function as a closely knit syntactic unit. In Arabic grammatical terminology, this structure is referred to as ʾiḍāfa ‘annexation; addition’; the first noun in the structure is muḍāf ‘annexed’ to th…