Tense and Text in Classical Arabic: A Discourse-Oriented Study of the Classical Arabic Tense System

273 Pages·2016·2.04 MB·English

by  Michal Marmorstein

TenseandTextinClassicalArabic
Studies in
Semitic Languages
and Linguistics
EditorialBoard
A.D.RubinandC.M.H.Versteegh
volume85
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/ssl
Tense and Text
in Classical Arabic
ADiscourse-orientedStudyof
theClassicalArabicTenseSystem
By
MichalMarmorstein
leiden | boston
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Copyright2016byMichalMarmorstein.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 TheProblem 1
1.2 AutonomousorContextualMeaning(s)oftheVerb 4
1.3 TheMethod 8
1.3.1 MethodologicalPrinciples 8
1.3.2 AnOutlineoftheAnalyticalProcedure 11
1.4 LanguageandCorpusDefinition 13
1.4.1 ClassicalArabic 13
1.4.2 ClassicalArabicProse 14
1.5 TheStructureandScopeoftheStudy 18
1.6 TechnicalRemarks 19
2 TheVerbinArabicGrammaticalTradition 20
2.1 TwoFramesofDiscussion 20
2.2 TheSemantologicalFrame 20
2.3 TheGrammaticalFrame 24
2.3.1 ʾiʿrābandbināʾ 24
2.3.2 TheTermal-muḍāriʿ 27
2.4 Summary 32
3 TheVerbinArabisticLiterature 34
3.1 TheVerbalSysteminArabicandSemitic 34
3.2 TheQuestionofTenseorAspect 36
3.3 Summary 39
4 TheStructureofContext 41
4.1 TheConceptualizationofContext 41
4.2 DeicticReference 44
4.3 TextTypes 47
4.4 Interdependency 52
4.5 ClauseTypes 56
4.6 LexicalClasses 58
4.7 Summary 60
vi contents
5 TheVerbalInventory 61
5.1 InventoryofForms 61
5.2 IndicativeVerbalForms 62
5.2.1 SimpleForms 62
5.2.2 ModifiedForms 64
5.2.2.1 TheModifierqad 65
5.2.2.2 TheModifierla- 67
5.2.2.3 TheModifiersawfa/sa- 68
5.2.3 CompoundForms 68
5.3 ModalVerbalForms 71
5.4 NegatedVerbalForms 73
5.5 Summary 75
6 TheSyntagmaticStructureoftheClause 76
6.1 TheInter-clausalSyntagm 76
6.1.2 DependencyStatus 76
6.1.3 LinkingDevices 78
6.2 TheIntra-clausalSyntagm 82
6.2.1 WordOrderandAgreement 82
6.2.2 ClausalOperators 83
6.2.2.1 OperatorsofEmbeddedClauses 84
6.2.2.2 OperatorsofNon-embeddedClauses 86
6.3 Summary 88
7 TheVerbalParadigminEmbeddedClauses 89
7.1 Preliminaries 89
7.2 Substantival(Content)ʾanna-clauses 90
7.3 Adjectival/RelativeClauses 96
7.3.1 llaḏī-clauses 96
7.3.2 AsyndeticAdjectivalClauses 100
7.3.3 mā-clauses 105
7.3.4 man-clauses 111
7.4 Adverbialḥīna-clauses 115
7.5 Summary 117
8 ThePredicativeParadigm 119
8.1 Preliminaries 119
8.2 Verbalcomplexes 121
8.2.1 kāna-compounds 123
8.2.2 ModifyingVerbs 131
contents vii
8.2.3 MotionandStateVerbs 134
8.2.4 PerceptionandPermissionVerbs 140
8.2.5 SpeechVerbs 145
8.3 CircumstantialClauses 145
8.4 MutuallyDependentClauses 151
8.4.1 SettingClauses 152
8.4.2 PresentativeClauses 154
8.5 Summary 155
9 TheVerbalParadigmintheDialogue 158
9.1 Preliminaries 158
9.2 DeclarativeClauses 161
9.2.1 PlainDeclaratives 163
9.2.2 Argumentativeʾinna-clauses 173
9.2.3 Asseverativeʾinnala-clauses 175
9.2.4 NegativeClauses 177
9.3 PerformativeClauses 182
9.4 OptativeClauses 185
9.5 InterrogativeClauses 188
9.6 Summary 192
10 TheVerbalParadigmintheNarrative 194
10.1 Preliminaries 194
10.2 TheMain-line: faʿala-initiatedChains 198
10.2.1 Thefaʿalaconn-faʿalaPattern 198
10.2.2 Thefaʿalayafʿalu/fāʿilanPattern 200
10.2.3 Thefaʿalafa-yafʿaluPattern 202
10.3 TheBackground 208
10.3.1 FreeandDependentClauses 209
10.3.2 EventiveandDescriptiveBackground 211
10.4 Setting-presentativeConstructions 214
10.4.1 SettingandPreposedTemporalClauses 215
10.4.2 PresentativeClauses 217
10.5 GenericNarratives 218
10.6 Summary 220
11 TheVerbalParadigmintheGenericUtterance 221
11.1 Preliminaries 221
11.2 TheStructureofGenericClauses 224
11.3 IndicativeVerbalFormsinGenericClauses 224
viii contents
11.4 ModalVerbalFormsinGenericClauses 232
11.5 Summary 232
12 Conclusions 234
References 241
Index 253
Acknowledgements
ThisstudyisanadaptationofmyPh.D.dissertation.Iwouldliketothankthe
manyindividualswhohavehelpedmeduringvariousstagesofthiswork.
I am grateful to my late mentor, Gideon Goldenberg. I had the rare good
fortune of being a student of this great person and scholar. His humanistic
approach to language, and life in general, will always be a model for me to
pursue.Thisworkisdedicatedtohismemory.
NostandardthankscouldexpressmygratitudetoEranCohen,myteacher
andmentorfromdayoneattheHebrewUniversity.Iamgratefulforhiscon-
stantsupportandguidance,forteachingmethehigheststandardsofscholarly
work and instilling in me the confidence to pursue my own path of think-
ing.
SpecialthanksareduetomyteachersandfriendsfromtheDepartmentof
LinguisticsattheHebrewUniversity.Ithank,inparticular,EitanGrossman,for
manyinstructiveconversationsonlinguisticissuesandwiseadviceingeneral,
andforassistingmeonsomanyoccasions;ArielShisha-Halevy,forteachingme
criticallinguisticthinkingandforalwaystakingthetimetodiscusswithmethe
mostchallengingquestions;andMosheTaube,forhismostgeneroussupport
in the final stages of preparing this work for publication. I am also grateful
to my friend Guy Ron-Gilboa, from the Department of Arabic Language and
LiteratureattheHebrewUniversity,forcarefullyreadingthisworkandoffering
hisinvaluablecomments.
MysincerethanksalsogototheDepartmentofLinguisticsatGeorgetown
University,whereIwasaVisitingResearcherduringtheacademicyear2012–
2013.Ithank,inparticular,myfriendRuthKramer,whowelcomedmeintothe
department,andHeidiHamilton,whohastaughtmetheessenceofdiscourse-
orientedwork.
Acknowledgements are also due to my colleagues and friends from the
DepartmentofSemiticandEgyptianLanguagesandLiteraturesattheCatholic
University of America, where I was a Research Fellow during the 2013–2014
academicyear.Iwishtothank,inparticular,EdwardCook,Fr.SidneyGriffith,
MonicaBlancherd,andRyannCraig.
Igivethanks,too,toRoniHenkin,fromtheHebrewLanguageDepartment
atBen-GurionUniverstiy,forsuggestingimportantimprovementstothiswork,
andforherencouragementandsupport.
I wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers of this work for their com-
mentsandsuggestions.ThanksarealsoduetoBrill’seditors,MarjoleinSchaake
andMaartenFrieswijk,forbeingexceptionallyresponsiveandhelpful.