Hassan Souali’s article on complex verbs in Arabic presents further linguistic evidence from Standard Arabic in support of the Syntax-All-the-Way-Down approach to the derivation of complex verbs (e.g. change of state verbs, unergatives, ditransitives, causatives, etc.), and to word formation in general, as claimed within the framework of distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz (1993, 1994), Marantz (1997, 2001), among others). More specifically, it is argued that the syntactic derivation of these verbs involves one or more light v positions (functioning as secondary predicates with different semantic flavors), to which the lexical root (i.e. the head of the XP complement of the lowest v in the same clause structure), which bears a category label, ultimately moves via the familiar head-to-head movement operation.

In his article, Abdellatif Elmattad adopts the lexical perspective, by addressing a fundamental issue that was discussed in the light of linguistic models to which the Arabic language directly contributed by its representational methods and the development of its conceptual tools: the issue is how to design Arabic verbs in the lexicon, or how to represent entities and fuzzy elements: lexical assets, redundant elements, and vocalization. The article limits itself to dealing with this issue on the triconsonantal root. It does so in the context of one of the linguistic theories that adopted the lexical perspective, the autosegmental theory, by McCarthy (1979, 1981), Guerssel & Lowenstamm, and Lowenstamm (2003).

The article by Abdelhakeem Kaseem deals primarily with the role modern technology (both 2D and 3D environments) can play in supporting and enhancing the learning experience of foreign language learners in general and Arabic learners in particular, by creating an environment rich in opportunities, and allowing learners to develop and enhance their language skills in an interactive and authentic learning environment. One of the main challenges learners face when learning another language (L2) in an academic setting in countries where that language is not actively used – so little L2 exposure – is that it is harder to provide meaningful contexts for learning. This restriction in L2 exposure in the formal academic framework is due to the limited face-to-face learning time and, more significantly, is compounded by lack of exposure to the language’s authentic use settings. Students are often isolated from the target language’s authentic discourse communities and native speakers. This article discusses two innovative approaches, using 2D and 3D environments, designed to enable learners of Arabic at Deakin University to practice their developing skills by listening, practising, and experiencing directly how the language is used outside the classroom boundaries, as well as allow learners to develop their oral and cultural communicative competency by engaging them in simulating and evolving authentic language scenarios with native Arabic speakers of Arabic speaking countries through the Virtual World (VW).