Structure and Function of the Arabic Verb

by Bahloul; Maher

• ISBN13: 9780415772150
• ISBN10: 041577215X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Structure and Function of the Arabic Verb is a corpus-based study that unveils the morpho-syntax and the semantics of the Arabic verb. Approaches to verbal grammatical categories - the constituents of verbal systems - often rely on either semantic-pragmatic or syntactic analyses. This research bridges the gap between these two distinct approaches through a detailed analysis of Taxis, Aspect, Tense and Modality in Standard Arabic. This is accomplished by showing, firstly, some basic theoretical concerns shared by both schools of thought, and, secondly, the extent to which semantic structures and invariant meanings mirror syntactic representations. Maher Bahloul?s findings also indicate that the basic constituents of the verbal system in Arabic, namely the Perfect and the Imperfect, are systematically differentiated through their invariant semantic features in a markedness relation. Finally, this study suggests that the syntactic derivation of verbal and nominal clauses aresensitive to whether or not verbal categories are specified for their feature values, providing therefore a principled explanation to a long-standing debate. This reader friendly book will appeal to both specialists and students of Arabic linguistics, language and syntax.

Author Biography

Maher Bahloul is Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics at the American University of Sharjah.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Verbal Categories, Clause Structure, and Modality

Verbal Morphology, Structure, and Function

The Perfect, Use, and Invariant Meaning

The Compound Perfect, and the Modal QAD

The Imperfect, Use, and Invariant Meaning

ATM Categories, Derivation, and the Verbal Clause

ATM Categories, Derivation, and the Nominal Clause

Conclusion

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