WORD ORDER TYPOLOGY IN MODERN SOUTH ARABIAN LANGUAGES: A STUDY BASED ON ...

167 Pages·2010·0.44 MB·English

WORD ORDER TYPOLOGY IN
MODERN SOUTH ARABIAN LANGUAGES:
A STUDY BASED ON A CORPUS OF ANALYZED TEXTS
by
David A. Cross, Jr.
Bachelor of Arts, Northwestern College, 1994
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of the
University of North Dakota
in partial fulfllment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts
Grand Forks, North Dakota
August
2010
Copyright 2010 David A. Cross, Jr.
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This thesis, submitted by David A. Cross, Jr. in partial fulfllment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts from the University of North Dakota, has
been read by the Faculty Advisory Committee under whom the work has been done and
is hereby approved.
___________________________________________________________
Chairperson
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
This thesis meets the standards for appearance, conforms to the style and format
requirements of the Graduate School of the University of North Dakota, and is hereby
approved.
_____________________________________________
Dean of the Graduate School
_____________________________________________
Date
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PERMISSION
Title Word Order Typology in Modern South Arabian Languages: A Study
Based on a Corpus of Analyzed Texts
Department Linguistics
Degree Master of Arts
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfllment of the requirements for a graduate
degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University
shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive
copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my
thesis work or, in his absence, by the chairperson of the department or the dean of the
Graduate School. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this
thesis or part thereof for fnancial gain shall not be allowed without my written
permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the
University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in
my thesis.
Signature __________________________________________________

Date __________________________________________________
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................viii
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................xi
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1
2. PREPARING THE TEXT CORPUS.........................................................19
3. CHALLENGES TO GREENBERG’S SIX-WAY TYPOLOGY.............35
4. DRYER’S FOUR-WAY TYPOLOGY.....................................................45
5. THE FOUR-WAY TYPOLOGY APPLIED.............................................50
6. REFORMULATING GREENBERG’S UNIVERSALS...........................59
7. SUMMARY ASSESSMENT OF THE FOUR-WAY TYPOLOGY........84
APPENDICES...................................................................................................................87
REFERENCES................................................................................................................151
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Language Map of Oman..........................................................................................2
2. Language Map of Yemen........................................................................................3
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LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Language Names......................................................................................................5
2. Mehreyyet / IPA Transcription..............................................................................24
3. Geblet / IPA Transcription....................................................................................25
4. Saqatari / IPA Transcription..................................................................................26
5. Greenberg’s Six-way Typology.............................................................................36
6. Greenberg’s Six-way Typology.............................................................................45
7. Correspondences between Dryer’s and Greenberg’s Classifcations....................46
8. Mehreyyet Clauses with Nominal Subject and/or Object.....................................53
9. Geblet Clauses with Nominal Subject and/or Object............................................55
10. Saqatari Clauses with Nominal Subject and/or Object.........................................57
11. Correspondences between Dryer’s and Greenberg’s Classifcations....................60
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank my chairman, Dr. John Clifton, for his oversight and assistance
on this project, particularly in the fnal month. You have helped me to see the bigger
picture much more clearly and your persistent leadership drove the work forward to a
fnished product. Thank you for your thorough editing and guidance. Of course, I alone
bear responsibility for any errors.
I also wish to thank Dr. Stephen Levinsohn for his patient, almost pastoral, work
with me as my thesis chairman for several years. It has been a joy to glean from your
wealth of experience in discourse analysis and typology. Unfortunately, scheduling did
not allow us to complete the work together, but this thesis certainly bears the imprint of
your challenging direction and helpful guidance.
I would also like to thank Dr. Jim Roberts for his willingness to step in for a
time as my thesis chairman. I appreciate your availability and expertise.
I also wish to thank Dr. Keith Slater who heavily infuenced the direction of the
project with his numerous readings and thoughtful comments. I wish to thank Dr. Mark
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Karan as well who contributed both informally through his friendship and formally
through his professorial role to the fnished product. I am indebted to both of you.
Thank you especially to my wife, Cheryl, whose patience and sacrifces during
my graduate studies have made this work possible. Your love and afection are
evidenced in every turn of these pages.
Thanks, as well, to Dr. Antje Hofstede and the excellent dissertation she
produced on the syntax of Jibbali.
I am very grateful for the generous help of Dr. Harry Stroomer of the University
of Leiden who provided me with a copy of Dr. Hofstede’s dissertation at his own
expense with the simple request that I send him a copy of my thesis in return. This is
evidence of Dr. Stroomer’s love for languages and the Modern South Arabian languages
in particular.
Finally, I would like to thank Vladimir Agafonov who very willingly helped me
determine the International Phonetic Alphabet equivalent symbols for the sounds
represented in his Saqatari text. His generous contribution of the transcribed Saqatari
text from his independent feld work was contribution enough to the linguistic
community, but his willingness to correspond on specifc questions has been even more
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helpful. Specifcally, I appreciate the examples of sounds in colloquial Arabic in order
to compare similar sounds cited in his Saqatari text.
Mr. Agafonov further helped with specifc questions about glosses of particular
Saqatari words and gave general input to the accuracy of the completed transcription
into the International Phonetic Alphabet. His comments on the problems with
representing the Modern South Arabian Languages throughout history proved
invaluable.
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