Be and Equational Sentences in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic

134 Pages·1979·6.39 MB·English

by  Mohamed Sami Anwar

BE IN EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL ARABIC
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE COMPANION SERIES (SLCS)
The SLCS series has been established as a companion series to
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, International Journal, sponsored by
the Foundation "Foundations of Language".
Series Editors:
John W. M. Verhaar Werner Abraham
University of Indonesia & University of Groningen
Jakarta, Indonesia The Netherlands
Volume 2
Mohamed Sami Anwar
Be and Equational Sentences
in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
BE AND EQUATIONAL SENTENCES
IN EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL ARABIC
MOHAMED SAMI ANWAR
Kuwait University
Kuwait
AMSTERDAM / JOHN BENJAMINS B.V.
1979

my wife AFAF
and my children
TAREK, HANAN, EMAN & NAHLA
© Copyright 1979 - John Benjamins B.V.
ISSN 0165 7763
ISBN 90 272 3001 3
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint,
microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE FUNCTION OF EQUATIONAL SENTENCES IN ECA ... 7
III. VERB "BE" IN ECA 12
IV. THE SUBJECT OF THE EQUATIONAL SENTENCE 4 5
V. THE PREDICATE AND THE REMOTE STRUCTURE OF
EQUATIONAL SENTENCES 65
VI. CONCLUSION 99
NOTES 101
APPENDIX I 103
APPENDIX II 106
APPENDIX III 10 8
APPENDIX IV lll
APPENDIX V 118
REFERENCES ON ECA 123
BIBLIOGRAPHY 127

CHAPTER I
I n t r o d u c t i on
1.0
This study attempts to deal with equational sentences in
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) and their remote struc­
ture.
The main aim is to show that equational sentences in
ECA are derived from underlying sentences that have tran­
sitive or intransitive verbs and that the verb be in its
overt form is only a tense marker.
1.1
In analyzing equational sentences in ECA, we notice
the following structural phenomena:
1.1.1
When a question is asked about an equational sentence,
a verb is used in that question. For example, to ask a
wh-question referring to the NP position of mudarris
'teacher1 in the sentence:
2
(1) huwwa mudarris.
'he (is) a teacher.'
it is ungrammatical to use ?ēh 'what':
(2) * huwwa ?ēh?
* 'he (is) what?'
The full verb biyištagal 'works' has to be used in the
question:
2 THE VERB "BE" IN EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL ARABIC
(3) huwwa biyista al ? eh ?
he works what?
'what does he do?
Also to ask a question about
(4) huwwa xārig.
he leaving
'he is going to leave.'
the full verb yiʕmil 'do (or make)' must be used:
(5) huwwa hayiʕmil ?ēh?
he will do what?
'what is he going to do?'
1.1.2
The predicate of some equational sentences may be an
active participle showing action or motion toward a place:
(6) huwwa rayih lișaḥbu.
'he (is) going to his friend.'
(7) hiyya mašya figginēna.
'she (is) walking in the garden.'
(8) ?ihna xargīn dilwa?ti.
'we (will be) going out now.'
(9) ?ana misāfir bukra.
'I (am) travelling tomorrow.'
1.1.3
In some equational sentences an adverb of manner mod­
ifying action such as bisurʕa 'quickly', bibut? 'slowly',
ʕ1 mahl 'at ease' may be used:
(10) ?inta māši bišurʕa.
'you (are) walking quickly.'
(11) humma xargin Gala mahluhum.
'they (are) going out at ease (=slowly).'
(12) hiyya rayha bibut?.
'she (iṡ) going slowly.'
INTRODUCTION 3
1.1.4
In some equational sentences there is agreement in
number and gender between subject and predicate. In the
sentence
(13) ?axūya duktūr.
'my brother (is) a doctor.'
both the subject and the predicate are masculine singular.
If the number and gender of the subject are changed, the
number and gender of the predicate have to be changed too
as in the sentence:
(14) ?uxti duktūra.
'my sister (is) a doctor (f.s.).'
where both the subject and the predicate are feminine sin­
gular. If ?ixwāti (m. p1.) 'my brothers' is used as a
subject, the predicate has to be masculine plural:
(15) ?ixwati dakatra.
'my brothers (are) doctors.'
1.1.5
In some other equational sentences, there is no agree­
ment in number or gender between the subject and the pred­
icate. In the sentence:
(16) ?ikkursi xašab.
'the chair (is) wood.'
the subject, ?ikkursi 'the chair', is masculine singular,
but other subjects with different numbers and genders can
be used with xasab 'wood' as a predicate. For example, the
plural form of ?ikkursi can be used as in:
(17) ?ikkarāsi xašab.
'the chairs (are) wood.'
?iṭṭarabēza (f.s.) 'the table' can be also used with the
same predicate:
4 THE VERB "BE" IN EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL ARABIC
(18) ? iṭṭarabēza xašab.
'the table (is) wood.'
?iṭṭarabizāt (f.p1.) 'the tables' can be also used with
this predicate:
(19) ?iṭṭarabizāt xašab.
'the tables (are) wood.'
The dual form ?iṭṭarabiztēn (f.d.) 'the two tables' can
be also used:
(20) ?iṭṭarabiztēn xašab.
'the two tables (are) wood.'
1.1.6
Some equational sentences have corresponding past and
future forms with the overt verb be. For example, the
sentence
(21) xāli hina.
'my uncle (is) here.'
can be changed into the past and the future:
(22) a. xāli kān hina.
'my uncle was here.'
b. xali haykun hina.
'my uncle will be here.'
But kān 'was' and haykūn 'will be' cannot be used with
some equational sentences. If someone is speaking about
his name, he can say:
(23) ?ana kamāl.
'I (am) Kamal. '
This sentence can be changed into the past or the future
only in a limited situation, if a name-change has taken
place or will take place.
1.2
It is the purpose of this monograph to explain the
above grammatical phenomena by dealing with the remote