Towards A syntactic Analysis of English and Arabic Multi-Word Verbs in Selected Literary Works: A Contrastive Study

Abstract

The current study is concerned with a linguistic contrastive analysis of one specific feature of grammar and vocabulary in both English and Arabic languages, which is a combination of lexical verbs with adverbial and/or prepositional particle(s), which is commonly known as multi-word verbs in John Steinbeck's English novel (East of Eden) (1952) and Naguib Mahfuz's Arabic novel (Palace of Desire) [Qasr alshawq] (1957).Furthermore, the study seeks to demonstrate that there are essential similarties and differences between English and Arabic multi-word verbs. Such parallels and differences are examined in depth through a theoretical comparison of these combinations in both languages, as well as an analysis of the two novels mentioned above.The current study is divided into five sections: It begins with an introduction that provides an explanation to the concept of multi-word verbs in both languages, followed by the objectives, research question, hypothesis, techniques, limitations of the study, and importance of the study. The second section is devoted to the theoretical foundations of multi-word verbs in English and Arabic, respectively. It explains that English multi-word verb is a combination of two or three elements (verb + adverb, verb + preposition, and verb + adverb + preposition) that works as a single unit of meaning in the sense that its meaning cannot be deduced from the sum of its individual components' meanings. The syntactic features of such combinations include characteristics such as adverbial or prepositional particles that often combine with verbs.The third section is intended to outline the methods used in data analysis, while the fourth section is an examination of the target verbs in the English novel and Arabic novel previously mentioned. Finally, in section 5, the findings and the results are revealed. The current data analysis employs Quirk et al. (1985) and Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) as a theoretical model for the examination of English multi-word verbs in Steinbeck's English novel (East of Eden). While Wright (1996) is also used as a theoretical model for analyzing Arabic multi-word verbs in Mahfuz's Arabic novel (Palace of Desire) [qasr alshawq]. Furthermore, Cowie (1993) is used as a practical model for multi-word verbs analysis in both languages.