Case and Proto-Arabic This chapter examines in detail one of the
key features which has been assumed to differentiate a putative
Old Arabic from Neo-Arabic, the presence vs. absence of a three-
valued case system, nominative, accusative genitive. The status
of case is first examined in the context of Afro-Asiatic, where
a system comparable to Arabic does not exist in sister branches
of the phylum, then in the Semitic sub-family, where it is
suggested that only Akkadian had a comparable, robust system.
Case in Classical Arabic is argued to be innovative relative to
proto-Semitic. The crucial arguments are that case is not found
in the contemporary dialects, and more importantly, no traces of
former case markers are found, inviting the conclusion that a
caseless variety is the only ancestor of the dialects.
Furthermore, in the early grammar of Sibawaih, the case suffixes
are represented as having a great deal of free variation,
indicating a system still in the making. Oxford Scholarship
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