Syntactic Optimality vs. Communicative Optimality: The Syntax of Present-Tense Constructions in Classical Arabic

This study investigates present-tense verbal constructions in Classical Arabic with special focus on the discrepancy between syntactic optimality and communicative optimality. Specifically, this study challenges the traditional view that Arabic is completely rule-governed, drawing on the observation that many documented linguistic usages deviate from prescriptive syntactic constraints. Ibn Hisham al-Anṣari's Mughni al-Labibformed the primary corpus for this study. The focus was on Qur' anic recitations and Prophetic ḥadith; poetic data was excluded to avoid rhythmic and metrical justifications. Adopting Optimality Theory (OT), four types of syntactic deviations were highlighted: substitution of final long inflectional vowels with short vowels in non-jussive contexts, retention of long inflectional vowels in jussive constructions, deletion of indicative/subjunctive inflectional suffixes, and non-canonical subjunctive marking in jussive contexts. Although early Arab syntacticians consider such deviations anomalous, dialectal, or metrical-poetic exceptions, and often reinterpret them to fit established rules, this study argues that these deviant forms, despite violating rigid syntactic rules, still achieve communicative optimality and reflect dialectal or historical variations. Such non-prescriptive usages represent authentic linguistic remainders that can enrich the Arabic syntactic system. It was concluded that Arabic syntactic rules are not inviolable and Arabic syntax is flexible enough to accommodate such usages.