ABSTRACT
The issue of compounding as a word formational process has given rise to much controversy among Arab writers and language reformers. Viewpoints have been widely different with regard to the significance of the role played by this process in the configuration of native vocabulary and whether or not it should be promoted as one of the viable means of generating scientific vocabulary in presentday Arabic. This chapter investigates the problem and the various factors underlying the linguistic, as well as extra-linguistic, attitudes involved.
