Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVIII: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Gainesville, Florida, 2014

262 Pages·2016·17.243 MB·English

by  Youssef A. Haddad, Eric Potsdam

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John Benjamins Publishing Company
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVIII
Studies in Arabic Linguistics
issn 2212-8042
This book series aims to publish original research in all fields of Arabic linguistics,
including – but not limited to – theoretical linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics,
pragmatics, typology, and language acquisition. Submissions from all current theoretical
frameworks are welcome. Studies may deal with one or more varieties of Arabic, or Arabic
in relation to or compared with other languages. Both monographs and thematic collections
of research papers will be considered.
The series includes monographs and thematically coherent collective volumes, in English.
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see
http://benjamins.com/catalog/sal
Editors
Elabbas Benmamoun Enam Al-Wer
University of Illinois University of Essex
Editorial Board
Mahasen Hasan Abu-Mansour Mustafa A. Mughazy
Umm Al-Qura University Western Michigan University
Sami Boudelaa Jamal Ouhala
United Arab Emirates University University College Dublin
Stuart Davis Jonathan Owens
Indiana University University of Bayreuth
Mushira Eid Janet C.E. Watson
University of Utah University of Leeds
Clive Holes Manfred Woidich
The Oriental Institute, Oxford University of Amsterdam
Jean Lowenstamm
CNRS-Université Paris 7
Volume 4
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVIII. Papers from the Annual Symposium
on Arabic Linguistics, Gainesville, Florida, 2014
Edited by Youssef A. Haddad and Eric Potsdam
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics
XXVIII
Papers from the Annual Symposium
on Arabic Linguistics, Gainesville, Florida, 2014
Edited by
Youssef A. Haddad
Eric Potsdam
University of Florida, Gainesville
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/sal.4
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2014023415
isbn 978 90 272 0032 7 (Hb)
isbn 978 90 272 6689 7 (e-book)
© 2016 – John Benjamins B.V.
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.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
Table of contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction ix
Youssef A. Haddad and Eric Potsdam
Part I. Phonetics and phonology
Phonation and glottal states in Modern South Arabian and San’ani Arabic 3
Janet C. E. Watson and Barry Heselwood
Examining feature economy in Arabic dialects 37
Cheng-Wei Lin
L1-English tense-lax vowel system influence on L2-Arabic
short and long vowel learning 63
Zafer Lababidi and Hanyong Park
On the status of derived affricates in Arabic dialects 89
Dua’a Abu Elhija and Stuart Davis
Part II. Syntax
On NPIs and QPs in Sason Arabic 107
Faruk Akkuş
Temporal NPIs and NCIs as adverb phrases: The case of Jordanian Arabic 129
Ahmad Alqassas
Clause structure in contact contexts: The case of Sason Arabic 153
Faruk Akkuş and Elabbas Benmamoun
The syntax of motion light verbs in Jordanian and Moroccan Arabic 173
Hamid Ouali and Juman Al Bukhari
Cyclic spell-out derived agreement in Arabic raising constructions 193
Susi Wurmbrand and Youssef A. Haddad
vi Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVIII
Part III. Sociolinguistics
(q)as a sociolinguistic variable in the Arabic of Gaza City 229
William M. Cotter
Index 247
Acknowledgements
The 28th Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics was held at the University of
Florida in Gainesville. We thank all those whose support made the symposium
possible. At the University of Florida, we thank the Center for the Humanities
and the Public Sphere, the Office of Research, the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, the International Center, George A. Smathers Libraries, the Department
of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, the Department of Linguistics, the
Department of Anthropology, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
We also thank the Arabic Linguistics Society for the opportunity to host the con-
ference and for its support. Finally, the ten papers in this volume have been peer-
reviewed. We are grateful to all the reviewers for being generous with their time
and for all their helpful feedback.
Youssef A. Haddad and Eric Potsdam
University of Florida, Gainesville
June 2015

Introduction
Youssef A. Haddad and Eric Potsdam
The chapters in this volume represent a selection of the rich linguistic work being
done on the dialects of Arabic. Such work emphasizes the fact that the Arabic
dialects do not comprise a uniform group. Research on individual dialects draws
attention to the micro-variation that exists among them and may help us better
understand the implications of cross-dialectal variation for linguistic theory.
The volume contains ten chapters that represent a diverse range of linguistic
subtopics: first and second language acquisition, historical linguistics, phonetics,
aspects of negation, light verb constructions, raising verbs, and sociolinguistic
variation. They are distributed over three parts; these are phonetics and phonol-
ogy, syntax, and sociolinguistics.
1. Phonetics and phonology
This part contains four chapters by Watson and Heselwood, Lin, Lababidi and
Park, and Abu Elhija and Davis. Watson and Heselwood’s chapter is based
on the keynote address that Janet C. E. Watson delivered at the 28th Annual
Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. In this chapter, the authors are interested in
the early Arab grammarian’s phonological categories hams and jahr. These are
frequently interpreted today as [−voice] and [+voice] respectively. Watson and
Heselwood examine these categories by working with data from Modern South
Arabian Languages, mainly Mehri, and from San’ani Arabic. They conclude that
the typical interpretation of hams and jahr as [−voice] and [+voice] is inaccurate.
While voice is linked to vocal fold vibration, the categorization of hams and jahr,
the authors conclude, is based on open vs. closed vocal folds. This explains why
voiceless emphatic consonants and voiced consonants are both classified within
the majhuur class. The authors also argue that phonological classes and distinc-
tive features are not innate; rather, they are the outcome of the phonological
behavior of the language.
doi 10.1075/sal.4.001int
© 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company