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Semantic Innovation and Change in Kuwaiti Arabic: a Study of the Polysemy of Verbs

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Semantic Innovation and Change in Kuwaiti Arabic: a Study of the Polysemy of Verbs ` Semantic Innovation and Change in Kuwaiti Arabic: A Study of the Polysemy of Verbs Yousuf B. AlBader Thesis submitted to the University of Sheffield in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics April 2015 ABSTRACT This thesis is a socio-historical study of semantic innovation and change of a contemporary dialect spoken in north-eastern Arabia known as Kuwaiti Arabic. I analyse the structure of polysemy of verbs and their uses by native speakers in Kuwait City. I particularly report on qualitative and ethnographic analyses of four motion verbs: dašš ‘enter’, xalla ‘leave’, miša ‘walk’, and i a ‘run’, with the aim of establishing whether and to what extent linguistic and social factors condition and constrain the emergence and development of new senses. The overarching research question is: How do we account for the patterns of polysemy of verbs in Kuwaiti Arabic? Local social gatherings generate more evidence of semantic innovation and change with respect to the key verbs than other kinds of contexts. The results of the semantic analysis indicate that meaning is both contextually and collocationally bound and that a verb’s meaning is activated in different contexts. In order to uncover the more local social meanings of this change, I also report that the use of innovative or well-attested senses relates to the community of practice of the speakers. The qualitative and ethnographic analyses demonstrate a number of differences between friendship communities of practice and familial communities of practice. The groups of people in these communities of practice can be distinguished in terms of their habits of speech, which are conditioned by the situation of use. The data for this research project are based primarily on field notes and more than twenty hours of audio recordings made between 2012 and 2013 and taken from the speech of thirty- one Kuwaitis representing two sets of social groups based on a particular set of tribal and sectarian allegiances. The overall findings of this research project lead to the conclusion that the factors responsible for semantic innovation and change are reflected in the social structure of a speech community. In summary, this thesis (i) contributes to the theoretical and empirical treatment of the relationship between polysemy and semantic change; (ii) examines the historical semantic treatment of the key verbs within Kuwait; and (iii) proposes that both the semantics and sociolinguistics disciplines can greatly benefit from using each other’s methodologies. iii DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is based on fieldwork carried out during my time reading for a doctorate at the University of Sheffield and was mainly accomplished in Sheffield and partially in Kuwait City during the course of my visits to the country in 2012-14 under a grant from the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. This assistance is hereby gratefully acknowledged. I must also express my thanks to the Kuwait Cultural Office (Embassy of the State of Kuwait) in London for the help they offered during my stay in Britain. I am particularly thankful and grateful to the Head of the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at the University of Sheffield, Professor Susan M. Fitzmaurice, for her invaluable supervision and constant help. Her guidance and constructive criticism have been a constant source of help in writing this thesis throughout my study at Sheffield. The insights I gained into sociolinguistics have been invaluable assets. I thank her wholeheartedly for her academic spirit and generosity. I am also grateful to Dr. Chris Montgomery who has read the manuscript and made valuable suggestions. My greatest thanks are due to all the people who have contributed to this research as informants and interviewees. Thank you for your willingness to cooperate with the fieldwork tasks; without your help the work embodied in this thesis would have been impossible. Needless to say, any shortcomings still remaining in this study are of course my own. My deepest gratitude and appreciation go to my family, whose support and belief in me were my main incentive always, especially my loving parents, ʿasa aḷḷāh yiṭawwil b-ʿumur-kum. My greatest thanks are also due to my devoted wife for her steadfast support. She was patient and understanding, and gave me the energy I needed to continue. Thanks also to my friends and relatives, too numerous to name, who encouraged and supported me during the long process of this thesis. Finally, I should like to acknowledge here an intellectual debt to Professor Clive D. Holes of the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. His scholarship, deep insight into the languages and dialects of the Arabian Peninsula, and his many valuable publications will remain a constant source of inspiration to me and to all those working in this particular field. v CONTENTS Abstract ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii Declaration ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv Acknowledgements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v List of Tables ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- xi List of Figures ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- xii Abbreviations and Conventions -------------------------------------------------------------------- xiii Transcription and Symbols ------------------------------------------------------------------------- xv PART ONE: THE STATE OF THE ART Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Purpose ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1.2 The State of Literature on Kuwaiti Arabic -------------------------------------------------- 4 1.3 The Organisation of the Thesis ---------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Chapter 2: Polysemy and Semantic Change in Arabic 2. Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 2.1 Historical Background -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 2.2 Stetkevych’s View on Semantic Development ---------------------------------------------- 25 2.3 Polysemy and Semantic Change in Kuwaiti Arabic ---------------------------------------- 29 2.4 Other Sources of Arabic Polysemy ----------------------------------------------------------- 31 2.4.1 al-ʾAḍdād ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 32 2.4.2 Qurʾānic Exegesis -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 2.4.3 Wordplay ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 35 2.5 Concluding Remarks --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Chapter 3: Lexical Variation and Change in Modern Arabic Dialects 3. Background -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 3.1 Iraqi Arabic -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 3.2 Bahraini Arabic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 3.3 Sudanese Arabic --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 vi 3.4 Moroccan Arabic -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 46 3.5 Lexical Variation in the Spoken Arabic of Kuwait ----------------------------------------- 47 3.5.1 Lexical Diglossia in Kuwait --------------------------------------------------------------- 52 3.6 Concluding Remarks ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61 Chapter 4: A Morphosemantic Description of Four Kuwaiti Arabic Verbs 4. Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63 4.1 Sources ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 64 4.1.1 General-purpose Dictionaries ------------------------------------------------------------- 64 4.1.2 Specialised Dictionaries ------------------------------------------------------------------- 65 4.1.3 Online Questionnaires --------------------------------------------------------------------- 66 4.1.3.1 The Preference Questionnaire ------------------------------------------------------------ 67 4.1.3.2 The Elicitation Questionnaire ------------------------------------------------------------- 69 4.1.4 Notes on Terminology --------------------------------------------------------------------- 71 4.1.5 Notes on the Spoken Variety -------------------------------------------------------------- 73 4.2 Dašš ‘to enter’ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74 4.2.1 Formal and Morphological Characteristics of dašš ------------------------------------ 74 4.2.2 Dictionary Treatment and Attestation of dašš ------------------------------------------ 76 4.2.2.1 Sense 1 of dašš ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 77 4.2.2.2 Sense 2 of dašš ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 79 4.2.2.3
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