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The Copula in Arabic: Description and Analysis

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The Copula in Arabic: Description and Analysis The Copula in Arabic: Description and Analysis Ahmad S. Alotaibi A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in Linguistics Department of Language and Linguistics University of Essex April 2017 i Dedication To the memory of my father, Samir Alotaibi (1939-1991) (may Allah have mercy on his soul) ii Acknowledgement First and foremost, I have to praise Allah for giving me the opportunity to study here at Essex University and for giving me the strength to accomplish this thesis. My thanks go to my supervisors: Prof Bob Borsley and Dr Doug Arnold for their help and guidance in both academic and non-academic matters. In fact, without them this thesis would not have been completed as it looks now. I would also like to thank my Supervisory Board chairs: Dr Philip Hofmeister, Dr Vineeta Chand and Dr Wyn Johnson for their kindness and advice. Thanks also go to the examiners of my thesis, Prof Louisa Sadler and Prof Ronnie Cann. I am essentially thankful for Prof Turki Alotaibi, Prof Solaiman Aloyuni, Dr Ibrahim Allahim and Dr Solaiman Alzumea for checking part of this thesis’ data. I will never forget to acknowledge the encouragement and support that my family and friends offered to me. I may forget to thank some people who contributed directly or indirectly in this thesis, so I deeply thank everyone who has helped me by any means. iii Abstract This thesis provides a description and analysis of the copula in Arabic. More precisely, it concerns the copula in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). First, the thesis describes the copula syntactically. This includes defining the copula in Arabic, stating strategies used to form copular sentences, indicating possible complements of the copula and clarifying contexts in which the copula is absent. Second, the thesis classifies copular sentences in MSA into four types: equational sentences, predicational sentences, specificational sentences and identificational sentences. However, it concludes that equationals and predicationals are the basic copular sentence types in MSA. Third, the present study analyses the overt copula in MSA syntactically within the Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) framework. With regard to the semantic contribution of the copula, the thesis shows that MSA has two copulas: a copula of identity and a copula of predication. The former licenses equational sentences, while the latter licenses predicational sentences. Fourth, within HPSG this study analyses verbless sentences in MSA. It argues that there is a null copula in verbless sentences. It also argues that there are two types of the null copula: an equative null copula and a predicative null copula. Fifth, as there is a verbal element in verbless sentences and sentences with an overt copula, the thesis provides a unified account for the copula in MSA by postulating a system of types and constraints. Essentially, the last four points represent the thesis’ original contribution to knowledge. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... x Transliteration Symbols ......................................................................................................................... xi List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Scope and Purpose .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Data ......................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1. Data Sources ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.2. Glossing Policies .................................................................................................................... 3 1.3. The organisation of the thesis ................................................................................................ 4 1.4. Arabic Language: Background ................................................................................................. 5 1.4.1. Overview ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.4.2. Verbs in Arabic ................................................................................................................ 7 1.4.3. Nouns in Arabic ............................................................................................................. 13 1.4.4. Subject-Verb Agreement ............................................................................................... 17 1.4.5. Sentence Types ............................................................................................................. 19 1.5. Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar: Background ......................................................... 20 1.5.1. Overview ....................................................................................................................... 20 1.5.2. Types and Features ....................................................................................................... 21 v 1.5.3. HPSG and Arabic ........................................................................................................... 25 1.6. Basic Semantic Assumptions ................................................................................................. 33 1.6.1. Semantics vs. Pragmatics .............................................................................................. 33 1.6.2. Predicates and Arguments ............................................................................................ 34 1.6.3. Types and Functions...................................................................................................... 36 1.7. Summary ............................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 38 A Description of the Copula in Arabic ................................................................................................... 38 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 38 2.2. What is a copula? .................................................................................................................. 39 2.2.1. Definition of the copula ................................................................................................ 39 2.2.2. The copula in Arabic ...................................................................................................... 42 2.3. Copular sentence strategies ................................................................................................. 44 2.3.1. Strategy 1: verbal copulas ............................................................................................. 44 2.3.2. Strategy 2: The zero copula .............................................................................................. 49 2.3.3. Strategy 3: The pronominal copula ............................................................................... 52 2.4. The copula complement phrasal categories ......................................................................... 58 2.4.1. Possible complements of the copula ............................................................................ 58 2.4.2. Is there a VP complement? ........................................................................................... 64 2.4.3. Existential sentences ..................................................................................................... 68 2.4.4. Summary ........................................................................................................................... 75 2.5. Basic facts about copula absence in MSA ............................................................................. 75 vi 2.6. Properties of copula constructions ....................................................................................... 81 2.6.1. Copular sentences are finite clauses ............................................................................. 81 2.6.2. The expression of the head ........................................................................................... 82 2.6.3. The complement case marking ..................................................................................... 83 2.7. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter 3 ..............................................................................................................................................
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