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Be and Equational Sentences in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic PDF

134 Pages·1979·6.39 MB·English
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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

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The volume attempts to deal with equational sentences in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic and their remote structure. In this unique monograph Mohamed Sami Anwar oes to show that equational sentences in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic are derived from underlying sentences that have transitive or intransitive v
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