Dual and Pseudo-Dual in the Arabic Dialects

Almost all known varieties of vernacular Arabic are characterized by a functional and formal split of the old dual morpheme -ayn. It serves as a dual marker when appended to some nouns, as a plural marker with others; the two functions entail morphophonemic, sometimes also phonetic and syntactic, differences. Some of the features studied can be traced back to the ninth century; others are later developments.