Subject, Theme and Agent in Modern Standard Arabic

by Abdul-Raof,Hussein

• ISBN13: 9780700706723
• ISBN10: 0700706720
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-02-06
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

Investigates the universal categories 'subject', 'theme', and 'agent' with special reference to their functional status in Modern Standard Arabic and how these three distinct functions may or may not coincide in Arabic sentences.

Table of Contents

Abstract	xi
Acknowledgement	xii
Introduction	1	(14)
Objective of Our Study	1	(6)
The Data	7	(4)
Abbreviations and Symbols	11	(2)
Phonemic Transcription	13	(2)
Subject in Arabic	15	(28)
Introduction	15	(1)
Modern Western Tradition	15	(2)
Traditional Arab Account	17	(1)
Grammatical Framework	18	(7)
The Noun Phrase	19	(3)
Simple Sentence	22	(3)
Subject	25	(10)
Subject, mubtada' and fa:9i1	35	(5)
mubtada'	36	(2)
fa:9i1	38	(2)
Conclusion	40	(3)
Theme-Rheme in Arabic	43	(72)
Introduction	43	(21)
Constituent Ordering	64	(20)
Introduction	64	(1)
Fronted Constituents	65	(4)
Initial Adjuncts, Disjuncts and Conjuncts	69	(5)
Extraposed Constituents	74	(8)
Differences Between D.O.(1) and D.O.(2) Structures	82	(2)
Functions of Ordering	84	(27)
Introduction	84	(1)
FC's Functions	85	(8)
EC's Functions	93	(18)
Conclusion	111	(4)
Agent in Arabic	115	(70)
Introduction	115	(6)
The Concept of Agent in Modern Linguistics	115	(1)
Prototypical Features of Agent	116	(1)
Noun-Based and Verb-Based Accounts	117	(1)
Agent in Relation to Other Case Roles	118	(1)
Agent in Arabic Grammar and Linguistics	119	(1)
Classical Grammarians	120	(1)
Recent Accounts	121	(1)
Present Analysis	121	(60)
Introduction	121	(6)
Prototypical Features of Agent	127	(26)
The Verb	153	(1)
Introduction	153	(1)
Semantic Types of Verb	154	(11)
Verb Forms in Arabic	165	(1)
Shapes of Arabic Verb Forms	166	(5)
Coreferential Case Roles	171	(3)
Syntactic, Semantic and Pragmatic Principles	174	(7)
Conclusion	181	(4)
Interaction of Subject, Theme and Agent	185	(54)
Introduction	185	(2)
Subject and Theme	187	(21)
Structural Characteristics	187	(1)
Pragmatic Functions	188	(3)
Other Scholars' Views	191	(2)
Present Analysis	193	(15)
Subject and Agent	208	(10)
Semantic Conditions	208	(1)
Other Scholars' Views	209	(1)
Present Analysis	210	(8)
Subject, Theme and Agent	218	(17)
Other Scholars' Views	218	(1)
Present Analysis	218	(17)
Conclusion	235	(4)
References	239