M. Z. Kebbe - A Transformational Grammar of Modern Literary Arabic

Library of Arabic Linguistics

The reasons behind the establishment of this Series on Arabic linguistics are manifold.

First: Arabic linguistics is developing into an increasingly interesting and important subject within the broad field of modern linguistic studies. The subject is now fully recognised in the Universities of the Arabic speaking world and in international linguistic circles, as a subject of great theoretical and descriptive interest and importance.

Second: Arabic linguistics is reaching a mature stage in its development benefiting both from early Arabic linguistic scholarship and modern techniques of general linguistics and related disciplines.

Third: The scope of this discipline is wide and varied, covering diverse areas such as Arabic phonetics, phonology and grammar, Arabic psycholinguistics, Arabic dialectology, Arabic lexicography and lexicology, Arabic sociolinguistics, the teaching and learning of Arabic as a first, second, or foreign language, communications, semiotics, terminology, translation, machine translation, Arabic computational linguistics, history of Arabic linguistics, etc.

Viewed against this background, Arabic linguists may be defined as: the scientific investigation and study of the Arabic language in all its aspects. This embraces the descriptive, comparative and historical aspects of the language. It also concerns itself with the classical form as well as the Modem and contemporary standard forms and their dialects. Moreover, it attempts to study the language in the appropriate regional, social and cultural settings.

It is hoped that the Series will devote itself to all issues of Arabic linguistics in all its manifestations on both the theoretical and applied levels. The results of these studies will also be of use in the field of linguistics in general, as well as related subjects.

Although a number of works have appeared independently or within series, yet there is no platform designed specifically for this subject. This Series is being started to fill this gap in the linguistic field. It will be devoted to Monographs written in either English or Arabic, or both, for the benefit of wider circles of readership.

All these reasons justify the establishment of a new forum which is devoted to all areas of Arabic linguistic studies. It is also hoped that this Series will be of interest not only to students and researchers in Arabic linguistics but also to students and scholars of other disciplines who are looking for information of theoretical, practical or pragmatic interest.

The Series Editors

A TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR OF MODERN LITERARY ARABIC

This transformational analysis will greatly enrich the field of Arabic linguistics. While the majority of works on the Arabic language have concentrated on regional dialects, the present work fulfils a long- felt need by focusing on modern written or literary Arabic. Although literary Arabic is not used in casual conversation in any of the Arab countries, it is the formal and official form of the language and has great influence on the colloquial dialects, particularly those spoken by educated Arabs. Arranged in five chapters, the work gives particular emphasis to three major types of Arabic sentences - the co-ordinate, the negative and the interrogative - and gives a generative account of them. The work is largely based on transformational theory as formulated by Chomsky, but reference is made to subsequent development in linguistic theory.

Mohammed Ziad Kebbe is Professor of Linguistics at King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Library of Arabic Linguistics

Series Editors
Muhammad Hasan Bakalla
King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Bruce Ingham
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Clive Holes
Oriental Institute, University of Oxford

Advisory Editorial Board
Peter F. Abboud, University of Texas at Austin; M.H. Abdulaziz, University of Nairobi; Yousif El-Khalifa Abu Bakr, Univercsity of Khartoum; Salih J. Altoma, Indiana University; Arne Ambros, University of Vienna; El Said M. Badawi, American University in Cairo; Michael G. Carter, New York University; Ahmad al-Dhubaib, King Saud Univerity (formerly University of Riyadh); Martin Forstner, Gutenberg University at Mainz; Otto Jastrow, University of Heidelberg; Raja T. Nasr, University College of Beirut; C.H.M. Versteegh, Catholic University at Nijmegen; Bougslaw R. Zagorski, University of Warsaw.

Library of Arabic Linguistics

North East Arabian Dialects: Bruce Ingham

Transivity, Causation and Passivization: George Nemeh Saad

Language and Linguistic Origins in Bahrain: Mehdi Abdalla al-Tajir

A Linguistic Study of the Development of Scientific Vocabulary in Standard Arabic: Abdul Sahib Mehdi Ali

Language Variation and Change in a Modernising Arab State: Clive Holes

Saudi Arabian Dialects: Theodore Prochazka, Jr.

From Code Switching to Borrowing: Jeffrey Heath

Sibawayh the Phonologist: A. A. al-Nassir

Modality, Mood and Aspect in Spoken Arabic: T.F. Mitchell and Shahir al-Hassan

Sictdo Arabic: Dionisius A. Agius

The Socialinguistic Market of Cairo: Niloofar Haeri

M. Z. Kebbe

Monograph No. 14

A TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR OF MODERN LITERARY ARABIC

First published in 2000 by
Kegan Paul International

This edition first published in 2010 by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Mohammed Ziad Kebbe, 2000

Transferred to Digital Printing 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 10: 0-7103-0572-9 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7103-0572-5 (hbk)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Editors Note

The field of Transformational- Generative Grammar has developed extensively since the publication of Chomskys Syntactic Structures in 1969 and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax in 1965. A number of comprehensive studies of varieties of Arabic have appeared since then using this framework from Gamal-Eldins early A Syntactic Study of Egyption Colloquial Arabic in 1961 to Wises insightful look at transitivity and passivization in A Transformational Study of Egyptian Spoken Arabic in 1975 and Bakir 1980 Aspects of Clause Structure in Arabic. Other studies have concentrated on specific aspects of syntax in depth and in particular the process of topicalization and underlying sentences such as the work of Kennedy Lewcowicz 1971 Topic Comment and relative clause in Arabic, Bubenik 1974 Thematization and passivization in Arabic, Anshen and Schreiber 1968 A focus transformation in Modem Standard Arabic. Quite apart from these published works, numerous unpublished theses have been produced within this field.