Grammaticalization of Arabic Prepositions and Subordinators

A Corpus-Based Study
Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-90-04-18587-6
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 59, 392 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 816 g

Reihe: Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics

Previous scholarship on Arabic prepositions typically has presented these as a static closed class of words. Inevitably, such a treatment does not take into account the diachronic development of prepositions into new functions in syntax, semantics and discourse. The present study applies grammaticalization theory to the analysis of prepositions and subordinators across varieties of Arabic. It goes beyond the traditional single-word focus and treats prepositions as parts of multiword complexes. Drawing upon a sizeable base of authentic historical and present-day Arabic data, it presents a rigorously descriptive and quantitative analysis of evolutionary processes involving prepositional forms and subordinators.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Esseesy, Mohssen

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

CONTENTS
Figures. xi
Table. xiii
Preface. xvii
Acknowledgements. xix
Symbols and Abbreviations. xxi
Transcriptions. xxiii
Chapter One Background on Language Change in Arabic. 1
1.1 Grammatical Categories within Arabic Varieties. 1
1.2 Prevailing Attitudes and New Assumptions. 3
1.3 The Case for Grammaticalization. 9
1.4 Grammaticalization and Prepositions. 13
1.5 Early Scholarly Treatments of Arabic Prepositions. 17
1.6 Recent Studies of Arabic Prepositions. 25
1.7 Overview. 30
Chapter Two Grammaticalization. 31
2.1 Scope, Aim, Data Sources, and Limitations of the
Present Study. 31
2.2 Theoretical Background. 36
2.2.1 Basic Lexical Sources. 38
2.2.2 Classes of Lexical Sources. 40
2.2.3 Grammaticalized Constructions. 48
2.3 Motivating Strategies for Semantic Extensions
through Grammaticalization. 52
2.3.1 Metaphor and Meaning Extensions. 53
2.3.2 Metonymy. 60

Über Autor(innen)

Mohssen Esseesy, Ph.D. (2000) in Arabic, Georgetown University, is Assistant Professor of Arabic at The George Washington University. He has published a number of articles on Arabic linguistics, including 'Apposition', 'Grammaticalization', 'Reanalysis', 'Semantic bleaching', and 'Semantic extension' in the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics (Brill, 2006-2009).