The lexical basis of variation in Jordanian Arabic

Abstract

In this paper we consider the agreement rule associated with plural nonhuman nouns from a corpus of data. It is shown that two rules exist, one associated with colloquial Jordanian Arabic, one with Standard Arabic, and that the association is lexically conditioned: nouns trigger one rule or the other according to their provenance (as colloquial!standard). It is further shown, however, that the rules are constrained along two parameters, one paradigmatic, the other syntagmatic. Paradigmatically there is no evidence of the lexical diffusion of the agreement rule from one class to the other; syntagmatically there is a 'diffusion' of standard nouns to items with colloquial features via the agreement rule itself, but not the reverse spread of agreement between colloquial nouns and Standard Arabic items. The implications of the data for the history of Arabic are briefly discussed.

Le redoublement des sujets en français informel québécois: une approche variationniste

“…En arabe jordanien standard eduque, une variete intermediate entre l'arabe vernaculaire et 1' arabe standard, Owens et Bani-Yasin (1987) ont observe que l'accord avec les noms pluriels referant a des inanimes varie : l'accord peut etre soit au feminin singulier, comme en arabe standard, ou au feminin pluriel, comme en arabe vernaculaire. Le choix entre ces deux accords est cependant previsible : les mots d'origine standard requierent l'accord au singulier, alors que ceux d'origine vernaculaire entrainent un accord au pluriel.…”

“…D'autres exemples de systemes d'accord variable se retrouvent dans l'accord sujet-verbe en anglais de Belfast (Henry 1995) et dans l'arabe du Caire et de Jordanie (Belnap 1991et Owens et Bani-Yasin 1987. Nous verrons que les contraintes qui regissent l'application des regies d'accord sont tres semblables d'une langue a l'autre, que ces regies soient variables ou categoriques, et qu'il apparait en consequence peu plausible que cette systematicite doive etre attribute a des facteurs de performance.…”

Rethinking Agreement in Spoken Arabic: The Question of Gender

“…agreement. Owens and Bani-Yasin (1987) analyze the agreement rules associated with plural nonhuman nouns in a rural dialect of northern Jordan. The hypothesis they put forward is that variation between F.SG.…”

Agreement patterns in Omani Arabic: Sociolinguistic conditioning and diachronic developments

“…In particular, almost no study on agreement exists which focuses on a dialect where gender distinction in the plural is still existent (but see n. 4). One partial exception is represented by Owens and Bani-Yasin (1987): in this article, the two scholars analyse the way lexical conditioning influences agreement with nonhuman referents in a rural dialect of northern Jordan. Northern Jordanian Arabic, they claim, has two basic types of agreement systems for plural nonhuman referents: feminine singular (i.e.…”

“…The labels 'target' and 'controller' come from the same source. We will employ these two labels throughout this paper, though some of the other authors who have worked on agreement in Arabic have used a different terminology (Owens and Bani-Yasin, 1987, for instance, employed the definitions 'head noun' and 'concordant', after Carter, 1981, while Belnap, 1993, used 'head' and 'agreement locus'). 3.…”