Weiter zum Inhalt

Asyndetic clause combining in Gulf Arabic dialects Auxiliary, adverbial and discourse functions


Seiten 5 - 39

DOI https://doi.org/10.13173/zeitarabling.57.0005




This article provides a survey and analysis of cases of asyndetic clause combining in Gulf Arabic dialects. Arabic dialects contain a variety of chains of asyndetically joined verbs. Whether all or some of these should be regarded as instances of verb serialization is disputable (WOIDICH 2002; VERSTEEGH 2009). One reason for this terminological uncertainty is that the field still awaits a unified definition of ‘serial verbs’ and ‘verb serialization’. The analysis of data presented in this article provides a valuable addition to the discussion and the pursuit of a more discrete use of the term ‘verb serialization’ in Arabic dialectology.

Irrespective of labels and terminology, it is obvious that the propensity for juxtaposing finite verbs with no marker of coordination or subordination, in Arabic dialects, has promoted the development of an array of modal and aspectual modifiers through gradual grammaticalization of the first verb of two or more in a series. This article presents a thorough survey of such modal and aspectual modifiers in Gulf Arabic based on a large database of authentic speech.

In addition to modal and aspectual modifiers, asyndetically juxtaposed verbs function as circumstantial and/or adverbial modifiers. In one of their functions, they serve in the Arabic lexicon as a verb phrase variety of the well-known use of parallelism that is found with nouns: the so called lexical couplets. The degree of grammaticalization of these modifiers in the present Gulf Arabic corpus appears to be less than we would find in descriptions of, for example, Egyptian and Levantine dialects.

Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, P.O. Box 201, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.

1 ABBOUD, PETER (1986): The ḥāl construction and the main verb in the sentence. In: The Fergusonian impact: in honor of Charles A. Ferguson on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Vol. 1, From phonology to society, edited by J.A. FISHMAN, A. TABOURET-KELLER, M. CLYNE, BH. KRISHNAMURTI, and M. ABDULAZIZ. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 191–196.

2 AIKHENVALD, ALEXANDRA Y. (2006): Serial verb constructions in typological perspective. In Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-Linguistic Typology, edited by A.Y. AIKHENVALD, and R.M.W. DIXON. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–68.

3 AIKHENVALD, ALEXANDRA. Y., and ROBERT M.W. DIXON (2006): Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-Linguistic Typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4 BADAWI, ELSAID, MICHAEL G. CARTER, and ADRIAN GULLY (2004): Modern written Arabic: a comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge.

5 BISANG, WALTER (1995): Verb serialization and converbs – differences and similarities. In: Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective: structure and meaning of adverbial verb forms – adverbial participles, gerunds, edited by M. HASPELMATH, and E. KÖNIG. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 137–188.

6 BLAU, JOSUA (1960): Syntax des palästinensischen Bauerndialekts von Bīr-Zēt. Beiträge zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte des Orients, 13. Walldorf-Hessen: Verlag für Orientkunde.

7 BLOCH, ARIEL (1965): Die Hypotaxe im Damaszenisch-Arabischen: mit Vergleichen zur Hypotaxe im KLassisch-Arabischen. Wiesbaden: Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Kommissionsverlag F. Steiner.

8 BRUSTAD, KRISTEN ELIZABETH (2000): The syntax of spoken Arabic: a comparative study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti dialects. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

9 BYBEE, JOAN L., and ÖSTEN DAHL (1989): The creation of tense and aspect systems in the languages of the world. Studies in Language, 13 1:51–103.

10 BYBEE, JOAN L., REVERE D. PERKINS, and WILLIAM PAGLIUCA (1994): The evolution of grammar: tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

11 CUVALAY, MARTINE (1991): The expression of durativity in Arabic. In: Proceedings of the Colloquium on Arabic Grammar: Budapest, 1–7 September 1991. The Arabist (Budapest), 3–4, edited by K. DÉVÉNYI and T. IVÁNYI. Budapest: Eötvös Loránd University Chair for Arabic Studies, 143–158.

12 CUVALAY, MARTINE (1994): Auxiliary verbs in Arabic. In: Function and expression in functional grammar, edited by E. ENGBERG-PEDERSEN, L. FALSTER JAKOBSEN and L. SCHACK RASMUSSEN. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 265–283.

13 DIXON, ROBERT M.W. (2006): Serial verb constructions: Conspectus and coda. In: Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-Linguistic Typology, edited by A.Y. AIKHENVALD and R.M.W. DIXON. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 338–350.

14 DROP, HANKE, and MANFRED WOIDICH (2007): ilBaḥariyya – Grammatik und Texte. Semitica viva, 39:1 Ägyptische Dialekte, T. 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

15 EADES, DOMENYK, and MARIA PERSSON (forthcoming): Aktionsart, word form and context: On the use of active participle in Gulf Arabic dialects. Journal of Semitic Studies.

16 EDWARDS, MALCOLM (2010): Word order in Egyptian Arabic: Form and function. In: Information structure in spoken Arabic, edited by J. OWENS and A. ELGIBALI. London: Routledge, 93–106.

17 EISELE, JOHN C. (1999): Arabic verbs in time: tense and aspect in Cairene Arabic. Semitica viva 20. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

18 EKSELL, KERSTIN (1995): Some punctual and durative auxiliaries in Syro-Palestinian dialects. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of L'Association Internationale pour la Dialectologie Arabe, held at Trinity Hall in the University of Cambridge, 10–14 September 1995, edited by J. CREMONA, C. HOLES, G. KHAN. Cambridge: University Publications Centre, 41–49.

19 ESKHULT, MATS (1998): The verb sbb as a marker of inception in Biblical Hebrew. In: Orientalia Suecana, 47, edited by G GREN-EKLUND, L. JOHANSSON, T KRONHOLM, B UTAS, 21–26.

20 FIRANESCU, DANIELA RODICA (2003): Le modalisateur aspectuel-temporel qām dans le parler syrien. In: Proceeding of the 5th Conference of AIDA, held in Cádiz September 2002, edited by I. FERRANDO and J. J. SÁNCHEZ SANDOVAL. Cádiz: Service Servicio de Publicationes, Universidad de Cádiz, 481–492.

21 FIRANESCU, DANIELA RODICA (2008): The moving sands of the modals raaH and ija in Syrian Arabic. In: Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Studies on contemporary Arabic dialects. Proceedings of the 7th AIDA Conference, held in Vienna from 5–9 September 2006, edited by V. RITT-BENMIMOUN and S. PROCHÁZKA. Wien: LIT Verlags, 185–194.

22 FISCHER, WOLFDIETRICH (2002): Unterordnende und nebenordnende Verbalkomposita in den neuarabischen Dialekten und im Schrift-arabischen. In: “Sprich doch mit deinen Knechten aramäisch, wir verstehen es!”: 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik: Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtstag, edited by W. ARNOLD and H. BOBZIN. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 147–163.

23 FISCHER, WOLFDIETRICH, and OTTO JASTROW (eds.) (1980): Handbuch der arabischen Dialekte. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

24 FLEISCHMAN, SUZANNE (1990): Tense and narrativity: from medieval performance to modern fiction, Croom Helm romance linguistics series. London: Routledge.

25 HASPELMATH, MARTIN (1995): The converb as a cross-linguistically valid category. In: Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective: structure and meaning of adverbial verb forms – adverbial participles, gerunds, edited by M. HASPELMATH, and E. KÖNIG. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1–55.

26 HOLES, CLIVE (2004): Modern Arabic: structures, functions, and varieties, Georgetown classics in Arabic language and linguistics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

27 HOLES, CLIVE (2010): Word order and textual function in Gulf Arabic. In: Information structure in spoken Arabic, edited by J. OWENS and A. ELGIBALI. London: Routledge, 61–74.

28 HUSSEIN, LUTFI (1990): Serial verbs in Colloquial Arabic. In: When verbs collide: papers from the 1990 Ohio State Mini-Conference on Serial Verbs, edited by B. D. JOSEPH and A. M. ZWICKY. Columbus: Ohio State University, Dept. of Linguistics, 340–354.

29 INGHAM, BRUCE (2010): Information structure in the Najdi dialects. In: Information structure in spoken Arabic, edited by J. OWENS and A. ELGIBALI. London: Routledge, 75–92.

30 ISAKSSON, BO (2008): Circumstantial qualifiers in the Arabic dialect of Kinderib (East Turkey). In: Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Studies on contemporary Arabic dialects. Proceedings of the 7th AIDA Conference, held in Vienna from 5–9 September 2006, edited by V. RITT-BENMIMOUN and S. PROCHÁZKA. Wien: LIT Verlags, 251–258.

31 ISAKSSON, BO, HELÉNE KAMMENSJÖ, and MARIA PERSSON (2009): Circumstantial qualifiers in Semitic: the case of Arabic and Hebrew. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 70. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

32 JOHNSTONE, BARBARA (1987): Parataxis in Arabic: Modification as a Model for Persuasion. Studies in Language 11/1: 85–98.

33 JOHNSTONE, BARBARA (1991): Repetition in Arabic discourse: paradigms, syntagms, and the ecology of language, Pragmatics & beyond. N.S., 18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

34 JOHNSTONE, THOMAS M. (1967): Eastern Arabian dialect studies. London oriental series 17. London: Oxford University Press.

35 KAMMENSJÖ, HELÉNE (2009): Circumstantial Qualifiers in Contemporary Arabic Prose: with a view to understanding variation. In: ISAKSSON, KAMMENSJÖ, and PERSSON. 2009, 151–205.

36 KASSAB, JEAN (1970): Manuel du parler arabe moderne au Moyen-Orient, tome premier. Paris: Publications du Centre Universitaire des Langues Orientales vivantes, 6-ème série, Tome VIII. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.

37 KOCH, BARBARA JOHNSTONE (1983): Arabic lexical couplets and the evolution of synonymy. General linguistics 23, 51–61.

38 LI, CHARLES N., and SANDRA A. THOMPSON (1976): Subject and topic: a new typology of language. In: Subject and topic:, edited by C.N. LI. New York: Academic Press, 457–489.

39 LORD, CAROL (1993): Historical change in serial verb constructions. Typological studies in language 26. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.

40 MATTHIESSEN, CHRISTIAN, and SANDRA A. THOMPSON (1988): The structure of discourse and ‘subordination’. In: Clause combining in grammar and discourse. Typological studies in language 18, edited by J. HAIMAN and S. A. THOMPSON. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins, 275–329.

41 PAYNE, THOMAS EDWARD (1997): Describing morphosyntax: a guide for field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

42 PERSSON, MARIA (2005): The Active Participle in Gulf Arabic. Paper presented at Nordic-Arab Research Conference on Arabic Literature and Linguistics, 13–15/4 2005. Alexandria, Egypt.

43 PERSSON, MARIA (2006a): The use of the active participle in Gulf Arabic. Guest Lecture at The Divisions of Culture and Heritage and of Language and Communication, United Arab Emirates University, 18/2 2006. Al-Ain, UAE.

44 PERSSON, MARIA (2006b): ‘Jag ville jag vore’ i Arabia (‘I wish I were’ in Arabia). Paper presented at Nordiska semitistsymposiet, 2–4/8 2006. Kivik, Sweden.

45 PERSSON, MARIA (2008a): Det gulfarabiska b-prefixet – en irrealismarkör snarare än markör för futurum/intention. (The Gulf Arabic b-prefix – a marker of irrealis rather than future/intention). Paper presented at Grammatik i Fokus, 7–8/2 2008. Lund University, Sweden.

46 PERSSON, MARIA (2008b): Progressiv och habituell aspekt i gulfarabiska. (Progressive and habitual aspect in Gulf Arabic). Paper presented at Nordiska semitistsymposiet, 13–16/8 2008. Kivik, Sweden.

47 PERSSON, MARIA (2008c): An interesting typological compromise. Report from a corpus based study of modal and aspectual markers in Gulf Arabic dialects. Paper presented at AIDA 8, 28–31/8 2008. Essex University, Colchester, UK.

48 PERSSON, MARIA (2008d): The Role of the b-prefix in Gulf Arabic dialects as a marker of future, intent and/or irrealis. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 8/4: 26–52.

49 PERSSON, MARIA (2009a): Circumstantial qualifiers in Gulf Arabic dialects. In: ISAKSSON, KAMMENSJÖ, and PERSSON. 2009, 206–289.

50 PERSSON, MARIA (2009b): Omständighetsbestämningar: Adverbiella uttryck och bakgrundsmarkörer på olika språkliga nivåer i Gulfarabiska dialekter (Circumstantial qualifiers: Adverbial expressions and background markers at various language levels in Gulf Arabic Dialects). Paper presented at Grammatik i Fokus, 5–6/2 2009. Lund University, Sweden.

51 PERSSON, MARIA (2010): Asyndetisk satsfogning i gränslandet mellan omständighetssatser, hjälpverb och parallellism. (Asyndetic clause combining at the borders between circumstantial clauses, auxiliaries, and parallellism). Paper presented at Semitiska Seminariet, Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 7/12 2010.

52 PERSSON, MARIA (2012): Circumstantial Clause Combining and Gram Switch in Syrian Arabic. Paper presented at International Symposium on Clause Linking in Semitic Languages 5–7 August 2012, Kivik, Sweden.

53 PIKE, KENNETH L. (1967): Grammar as Wave. In: Report of the Eighteenth Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Studies, edited by E. L. BLANSITT JR. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1–14.

54 PREMPER, WALDFRIED (2002): Die„Zustandssätze‟ des Arabischen in typologischer Perspektive, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

55 ROSEN, CAROL (1997): Auxiliation and serialization: on discerning the difference. In: Complex predicates. Lecture notes / CSLI, 64, edited by A. ALSINA, J. BRESNAN, J. and P. SELLS and, California: CSLI Publications, 175–202.

56 ROSENHOUSE, JUDITH (1978): Circumstancial Clauses in some Arabic Dialects. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft: 128. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 226–237.

57 RUBIN, AARON D. (2005): Studies in Semitic grammaticalization. Harvard Semitic studies 57. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns.

58 SEBBA, MARK (1987): The syntax of serial verbs: an investigation into serialisation in Sranan and other languages. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.

59 SEBBA, MARK (1999): Serial verbs. In: Concise encyclopedia of grammatical categories, edited by K. BROWN, and J. MILLER. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 344–347.

60 SEUREN, PIETER A.M. (1990): Serial verb constructions. In: When verbs collide: papers from the 1990 Ohio State Mini-Conference on Serial Verbs, edited by B.D. JOSEPH and A.M. ZWICKY. Columbus: Ohio State University, Dept. of Linguistics, 14–33.

61 SEUREN, PIETER (1991): The definition of serial verbs. In: Development and structures of Creole languages: essays in honor of Derek Bickerton, edited by F. BYRNE and T. HUEBNER. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins, 193–205.

62 SHIBATANI, MASAYOSHI (2009): On the form of complex predicates: toward demystifying serial verbs. In: Form and Function in Language Research: Papers in Honour of Christian Lehmann., edited by J. HELMBRECHT, Y. NISHINA, Y-M. SHIN, S. SKOPETEAS and E. VERHOEVEN. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 255–282.

63 VERSTEEGH, KEES (2003–2005): Some remarks on verbal serialization in Arabic dialects. Cahiers de Linguistique d'INALCO 2003–2005/5: 49–69.

64 VERSTEEGH, KEES (2009): Serial Verbs. In: Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics, Vol IV, edited by K. VERSTEEGH. Leiden: Brill, 195–199.

65 WOIDICH, MANFRED (1995): Some cases of grammaticalization in Egyptian Arabic. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of L'Association Internationale pour la Dialectologie Arabe, held at Trinity Hall in the University of Cambridge, 10–14 September 1995, edited by J. CREMONA, C. HOLES, G. KHAN. Cambridge: University Publications Centre, 259–268.

66 WOIDICH, MANFRED (2002): Verbalphrasen mit asyndetischem Perfekt im Ägyptisch-Arabischen. Estudios de Dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí (6): 121–192.

67 ZWICKY, ARNOLD M. (1990): What are we talking about when we talk about serial verbs? In: When verbs collide: papers from the 1990 Ohio State Mini-Conference on Serial Verbs, edited by B.D. JOSEPH and A.M. ZWICKY. Columbus: Ohio State University, Dept. of Linguistics, 1–13.

Empfehlen


Export Citation