Morphological Patterns of Soqotri Infinitives: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives

Abstract This article provides a comprehensive account of infinitives in Soqotri, understood here as a subset of verbal nouns formed on the basis of productive patterns. It explores the infinitive formation across different verbal stems and root classes, drawing on both published sources and fieldwork materials. C1iC2iC3 is identified as the default infinitive pattern of the basic stem, which can be traced back to Proto-msa *C1aC2īC3. In the derived stems, infinitives are most often formed with the feminine suffix -oʰ or -eʰ. The article also briefly considers the use of the suffix -Vn in the patterns of infinitives in Soqotri and in the continental msa languages. Synchronic analysis is complemented by a comparative investigation, highlighting both parallels and divergences with cognate patterns in Mehri and Jibbāli / Ŝḥɛrɛ̄ t, and thereby contributing to the reconstruction of the Proto-msa system of deverbal derivation.