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Verbal Complementation in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic an LFG Account

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Verbal Complementation in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic an LFG Account Verbal Complementation in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic An LFG account Shaimaa ElSadek A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Language and Linguistics University of Essex December, 2016 Abstract This study provides description and analysis of some verbal complementation patterns in Egyp- tian Colloquial Arabic (ECA), namely the Auxiliary k¯an, Causative halla, phasal verbs and ¯ modals. Each verb is represented by a set of sentences extracted from a 5 million word corpus of ECA online texts that was built for the purpose of the current study using the Sketch En- gine tool. These verbal complements are described and analysed within the principles of LFG syntactic theory, and represented in a grammar fragment implemented using the XLE tool. The analysis shows that both tense and aspect can be expressed verbs in ECA, where in simple tense forms the verb carries tense only, while in compound tense, the main predicate marks tense and occupies I while the following lexical verb marks grammatical aspect and occupies V. The bi- prefix marks present tense on verbs in I and imperfect aspect on verbs in V, as well as a HAB/PROG feature. The bare Imperfective verb form is treated as a non-finite verb in ECA, where it can not occupy I and is marked by VFORM=BARE. All of the verbal constructions analysed are bi-clausal structures, however, they show differences regarding the kind of control relation. Functional control was attested in constructions where the main predicate is the aux- iliary k¯an, the causative verb halla, phasal verbs, as well as non-inflecting modals. Anaphoric ¯ control was attested only with inflecting modals, with the modal yiPdar ‘able’ showing a case of obligatory anaphoric control. This is, to my knowledge, the first study which attempts to develop a grammar for ECA using the XLE platform. It provides an insight over the issues correlated with developing this grammar, which could be a step towards including ECA into the ParGram project in order to develop broad coverage grammars for a bigger number of languages. iii Acknowledgements This PhD thesis is the result of an exciting journey full of highs and lows, through which I have learned a lot and got to know some really beautiful people, and this is a humble expression of gratitude to all of them. On top of the list is my supervisor, Prof.Louisa Sadler, who has helped and guided me in every step of the way, encouraged me to push myself further than I thought I can go, and supported me in many ways. She is a real role model to me, and I am proud to be her student. I am also lucky to be in close contact with Dr. Doug Arnold, who has helped me solve many technical issues with my XLE, as well as overcome a lot of the PhD lows with his words of wisdom, and I have to quote here “It only has to be too good to fail”. He is definitely my PhD Guru. I am also grateful to my examiners, Prof. Miriam Butt and Prof. Robert Borsley for their insights and valuable comments, which helped me improve my work and re- assured me that my work was really too good to fail. I will do my best to keep up the good work. I would also like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education in Egypt and the Egyptian Cultural Bureau in London for providing me with the scholarship that faciliated my stay and study in the UK. I loved being a student at the University of Essex and I am thankful for the staff members of the department of Language and Linguistics for their constant help and support. The PhD journey would not be complete without the company, and I was lucky to get to know great people as fellow students at the department with whom I shared lots of laughs and worries as well as seminars and research groups. On top of this list is Paloma Carretero Garcia, my friend and companion with whom I started and ended this journey, who gave me the emotional support when I needed it most, and with whom I shared lots of laughs and crazy adventures as well as achievements and sometimes tears, as well as a marvelous Japanese experience. She was my family in Essex. Last but by no means least, my deepest gratitude goes to the three pillars of my life. My mom, who encouraged me every step of the way, my cousin Sarah, who believed in me and helped me go through a lot. And Mohamed, my life partner, husband, and best friend, who supported me in every possible way, believed in me, endured my moods and provided me with whatever I needed to finish this work, his presence made this journey much more exciting, and I dedicate this work to him. v Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Verbal complementation . 3 1.2 Egyptian Colloquial Arabic . 5 1.3 The corpus . 7 1.3.1 Sketch Engine . 8 1.3.2 Data collection . 9 1.4 Non-finite form . 13 1.5 Defining Control relation within LFG . 16 1.5.1 Kinds of Control relations within LFG . 18 1.5.2 Finite Control . 20 1.6 Outline . 22 2 Aux k¯an - Tense and Aspect in E.C.A 25 2.1 Tense . 26 2.1.1 Different tenses . 27 2.1.2 Reichenbach’s system . 28 2.2 Aspect . 30 2.3 Morphosyntactic tense on ECA verbs . 34 2.3.1 bi-prefix . 35 2.3.2 Auxiliary k¯an ................................. 39 2.4 Accounts of tense and aspect in ECA . 45 2.4.1 Issues in studying tense and aspect in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic . 49 2.5 Data . 52 2.5.1 Simple tense forms . 53 2.5.2 Compound tense forms . 56 2.5.2.1 k¯an ................................. 58 2.5.2.2 bi-k¯un ................................ 63 2.5.2.3 Future tense èa-yk¯un:....................... 66 2.6 Discussing the data . 69 2.7 Analysis . 72 vii viii Contents 2.7.1 Marking of Auxiliary and verb . 72 2.7.2 Defining the notions for ECA . 73 2.7.2.1 Tense distinctions . 74 2.7.2.2 Aspect distinctions . 75 2.7.3 The bi-prefix revisited . 77 2.7.4 Status of the Auxiliary . 79 2.7.5 Lexical Entries . 84 2.7.6 F-structure . 89 2.7.7 C-structure . 90 2.8 Conclusions . 92 3 Causative halla 97 3.1 Types¯ of causative constructions . 98 3.2 halla .......................................... 100 ¯ 3.3 Literature review . 101 3.4 Data . 106 3.5 Behaviour of the verb . 111 3.5.1 Negation . 112 3.5.2 Arguments . 113 3.5.2.1 Is the causee an OBJ argument of halla?............. 113 ¯ 3.5.2.2 Is the SUBJ of halla a thematic argument? . 115 ¯ 3.5.3 Insertions . 116 3.5.4 Verb forms . 117 3.5.5 Complementiser Pin .............................. 120 3.6 Analysis . 122 3.6.1 Is the structure mono or bi-clausal? . 123 3.6.2 Kind of control relation . 124 3.6.3 Lexical Entries . 127 3.6.4 F-structures . 128 3.6.5 C-structures . 130 3.7 Conclusions . 131 4 Phasal verbs 133 4.1 Literature review . 134 4.1.1 Definitions . 134 4.1.2 Properties of phasal verbs . 136 4.1.2.1 Phasal verbs as auxiliaries . 136 4.1.2.2 Phasal verbs as complex predicates . 138 4.1.2.3 Phasal verbs as raising verbs . 138 4.1.3 Complements of phasal verbs . 139 4.2 Data . 140 4.2.1 Choosing the verbs . 140 4.2.2 Verbs covered . 141 4.2.3 Phasal vs. Lexical verb . 141 4.3 Behaviour of Phasal verbs . 144 Contents ix 4.3.1 rigiQ ‘return’, baPa ‘become’, fidil ‘remain’ and PaQad ‘go.on’ . 144 4.3.1.1 Negation . 147 4.3.1.2 Arguments . 148 4.3.1.3 Insertions . 149 4.3.1.4 Verb forms . 150 4.3.2 badaP ‘begin’, lièiP ‘catch’ and Parrab ‘be.near’ . 152 4.3.2.1 Negation . 153 4.3.2.2 Arguments . 153 4.3.2.3 Insertions . 154 4.3.2.4 Verb Forms . 155 4.3.3 battal ‘stop’ . 156 4.3.3.1 Negation . 156 4.3.3.2 Arguments . 157 4.3.3.3 Insertions . 157 4.3.3.4 Verb forms . 158 4.4 Analysis . 159 4.4.1 Mono or Bi-clausal? . 160 4.4.2 Kind of control relation . ..
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