One of the distinctive structural characteristics of all Semitic languages is the so-called construct phrase. Two words are connected serially in this structure. The first of these, which for convenience I shall call an “A”-word, can have no suffixes, nor if the language in question marks determination of nouns can it have an article attached to it. If the particular Semitic language inflects noun for case the A-word is perfectly free thus to inflect. Furthermore many nouns inflect for A-ness, or to use traditional Latin terminology, for the construct state. Thus Modern Classical Arabic has albintu (the girl, daughter), but in A position it becomes bintu-s-sulṭāni (the daughter of the sultan). In Syrian Arabic and in most modern colloquials iljamhūrīya means “the republic,” but jamhūrīyet al-irāq is the phrase for “republic of Iraq.” It will be noted that throughout the various Arabic dialects the A-word of such a structure omits the article (i.e. the initial al- or il-).