Existential predication and predicative possession in Arabic dialects

Bibliographic Data

ID21819973
AuthorsDenis Creissels (0000-0003-4220-7950, Université Lumière Lyon 2, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume75
Issue4
Pages583-612
Publication date2022-11-25
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage Typology and Universals (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1867-8319 • E-ISSN: 2196-7148
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/stuf-2022-1064
OpenAlexW4310549408
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited18

In the existential domain, Classical Arabic expresses the ground > figure perspectivization in locational predication by a mere change in constituent order, but Modern Arabic varieties have variously grammaticalized existential particles that tend to acquire verb-like properties. In the possessive domain, Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic have a typical oblique-possessor (or locational possessive) construction in which the possessor phrase is flagged by a preposition. In the vernacular varieties, this preposition has become a possessive predicator with some verbal properties, whose coding frame is similar (although not fully identical) to that of a transitive verb. More radical changes in the existential and possessive domains are attested in pidginized/creolized Arabic varieties

Arabic · Epistemology · Existentialism · Genitive case · Linguistics · Noun · Noun phrase · Possessive · Transitive relation · Verb · Verb phrase · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation