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First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013

Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration?


Steve Hewitt, s.hewitt@unesco.org, UNESCO
Welsh syntactic mutation, often known as direct object mutation (DOM), after the most commonly affected element, has been the subject of considerable debate among theoretical linguists in recent decades. It is the main Celtic initial consonant mutation which appears to be controlled from a distance (most other initial consonant mutations in Celtic languages are triggered by some immediately preceding element). Analyses of Welsh syntactic mutation fall broadly into two camps: semantic (case) vs syntactic (configuration), cf. the XP trigger hypothesis (XPTH) (W sangiad interpolation) and the Distance Dependency Hypothesis (DDH). In Formal Arabic (= Classical Arabic; Modern Standard Arabic), a little-noted and ostensibly incorrect, but strongly persistent phenomenon, faulty (indefinite) accusative, instead of correct indefinite nominative, is strikingly reminiscent of Welsh syntactic mutation (all Arabic examples of faulty indefinite accusative would show syntactic mutation in Welsh) in that it appears to involve some trigger constituent intervening between the head and the dependent affected. Indeed, it may be possible to describe the grammar of accusative-marked elements in Formal Arabic in simpler configurational terms, not only for faulty indefinite accusatives, but for all accusatives, thus incorporating these erroneous, but persistent constructions fully into a more accurate grammar. Finally, evidence suggests that the two phenomena in both languages may have originally involved semantic case rather than simple syntactic configuration; but the fact that these twin explanations to a very large extent overlap may, diachronically, have promoted a case > configuration reanalysis by native speakers both in Arabic and in Welsh. In other words, both the case and the configuration approaches may be apposite, but the configurational approach is probably now more correct for Welsh than the case-marking approach. The Formal Arabic faulty accusative analogue of Welsh syntactic mutation highlights how natural such a rule may be cross-linguistically.

Abbreviations
< original source of quote apersonal verb form: tensemarked, but not personmarked first, second, third person agent accusative Ar. faulty accusative (<NOM) adverb, adverbial affirmative (a, y W affirmative tense particle) Arabic Breton Biblical Hebrew Classical Arabic Classical Hebrew Christian Middle Arabic construct state direct object definite definite object marker (Hebrew -; Turkish i; Persian r) - directional accusative (Hebrew) dual elative Educated Spoken Arabic (colloquial-based tending towards MSA) feminine Formal Arabic (= CA, MSA) genitive Hebrew
HLP

1, 2, 3 A
ACC ACC! ADV AFF

HYP IDF INF INT IMP IPF IPR

Ar. Br. BH CA CH CMA


CS

IH IHAA

Ir.
JUSS
L

DO
DEF DFO

JMA MMA MSA MW


M
N

DIR DU ELAT

NEG NEG.PRF NOM

ESA

O o
OBL

PASS Pr P

FA
GEN

inna Ar. NP introductory highlighting particle ( H hinn lo, verily) lau Ar. hypothetical if indefinite infinitive hal interrogative particle (Arabic) imperfect imperfective imperative Israeli Hebrew indeterminate human agent active impersonal/autonomous type Irish jussive (Formal Arabic) lenition, soft mutation Jewish Middle Arabic Muslim Middle Arabic Modern Standard Arabic Middle Welsh masculine nasal mutation negative lam Ar. negative perfective particle nominative object pronominal object oblique passive impersonal/ autonomous type predicate patient

PRF PL POT

PP Prep PrP
PRP PROG PRT

s
S

S $

SM SFA
SG SBJ T

[xxx]T
UA UE

V W xxx A xxx xxx L xxx

perfective, qad Ar. perfective particle plural qad Ar. potential particle past participle preposition prepositional phrase yn W predicative particle yn W progressive particle preterite pronominal subject spirant mutation subject active subject supressed (W impersonal/autonomous form ir, -er, -id, -wyd; Ar. mahl unknown (impersonal ~ passive) vowelling: PRF u-(u)-i; IPF u-(a)-a) W soft mutation (lenition) Spoken Formal Arabic (oral production of MSA) singular subjunctive tense XP trigger unaccusative unergative verb Welsh distance accusative head accusative-marked target distance lenition head lenited initial consonant

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 2 1. STRIKING SIMILARITY BETWEEN ARABIC FAULTY ACCUSATIVE AND WELSH SYNTACTIC MUTATION (1a) wid: an yakn lad-k hadafan Muammad asanain Haikal, Maa haikal one: that should.be.SBJM with-you.M objective.M.ACC! Al-Jazeera, 20.03.2008 one: that you should have an objective; SFA (1b) Un: bod da chi darged (<targed) one: be.INF with you Ltarget One: that you should have a target Welsh equivalent

(2a) yabd anna-hu sa-yakn hunk allan siysyan BBC Arabic.com seems that-it.M FUT-will.beM there solution.M.ACC! political.M.ACC! 04.05.2004 yattasim bi-l-fau li-l-au f l-irq MSA it.is.characterized.M by-the-anarchy to-the-conditions in the-Iraq It seems that there will be a fairly anarchical political solution to the situation in Iraq (2b) Mae n debyg y bydd na ddatrysiad gwleidyddol Welsh equivalent L is PRP likely AFF will.be there solution political braidd yn anarchaidd ir sefyllfa yn Iraq. Iraq rather PRP anarchical to+the situation in It seems likely that there will be a fairly anarchical political solution to the situation in Iraq Arabic faulty accusative not part of the canonical grammar of Formal Arabic; all faulty accusatives should, according to the norm, be nominatives. Welsh syntactic mutation (direct object mutation DOM) fully part of the grammar of both Formal (Classical) Welsh and Colloquial Welsh; developed during the Middle Welsh period (11501450). However, persistent errors by skilled users (writers/speakers) of fu (Formal Arabic (FA): Qurnic Arabic, Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Spoken Formal Arabic (SFA)) suggest a subconscious reanalysis: from a true case assignment system to a simpler configurational mechanism All faulty accusative errors in Arabic would have syntactic mutation in Welsh: same underlying rule? In Formal Arabic, the affected noun is by definition indefinite. (Definites may be affected, but much more difficult to tell few texts are fully vocalized; in SFA, many case/mood endings, especially the definite ones, are elided). In Welsh, the leftmost noun of the affected NP cannot have the (definite) article (mutations triggered or blocked by the article take precedence over syntactic mutation), but may be semantically definite, i.e. first term in a definite genitive construct t fy mrawd > d fy mrawd my brothers house, or proper noun Pedr > Bedr. 2. 2.1 Person-marking: For ease of comprehension, we usually gloss what the verb form contains in normal English: kataba [he.wrote], rather than [write.PST.3.SG]. Both Arabic and Welsh do not indicate number in verbs followed by a 3.SG/PL subject; unlike Welsh, Arabic does indicate gender; such lack of indication of number (possible in the 3rd person only) is indicated by . In such cases, we gloss kataba ar-raul/arril [wroteM the-man/the-men] and katabat al-mar/an-nis [wroteF the-woman/the-women]; in Welsh, ysgrifennodd y dynion/y merched [wrote the men/the women]. PRELIMINARIES

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013

2.2 Celtic impersonal/autonomous form; Arabic mahl unknown, passive: $ Both Arabic and Welsh have special impersonal/autonomous forms indicating action by some indeterminate human subject, who one cannot, or does not wish to specify. Such forms are indicated in glosses with $, indicating the backgrounding or withdrawal of the subject. Celtic impersonal/autonomous forms: indeterminate human agent active / passive (see Hewitt 2002) Breton appears always to have been of the indeterminate human agent active (IHAA) type, whereas Welsh appears to have shifted from the IHAA type towards a more genuine passive (PASS) type (accepts agentives by X), and Irish appears to have gone in the opposite direction, from the PASS type towards the IHAA type: Type\Period Old Modern IHAA PASS Br, W Ir Ir, Br W

The Welsh -ir, -id, -wyd; Breton -er, -ffer, -ed, -ffed, -jed, -jod/-at; Irish -tar, -adh, -ta, -fa etc. impersonal/autonomous forms refer implicitly to some indeterminate human agent for whom there is no pronoun. (3) gwelir t is.seen$ house a house is seen

The Arabic mahl unknown, passive vowelling patterns (perfective/past u (u) i; imperfective/presentfuture u (a) a) are exponents of a valency-reducing process: passive with transitives (all persons possible); indeterminate human agentive with intransitives. Hewitt 2002:15-16, exx. 35-38: Thus, [the Celtic impersonal/autonomous forms] cannot perform the twin functions (either indeterminate subject or passive subject) of the majhl unknown, passive vowelling (36) in Arabic: (4) qatala (a) killedM S.M (some masculine entity killed) S.M killed (b) he.killed.3.SG.M he killed (5) qutila (a) was.killed$.M S.M (some masculine entity was killed) S.M was killed (b) he.was.killed$.3.SG.M he was killed (c) was.killed$.M it was killed, there was killing, people were killed (6) qatal they.killed.3.M.PL they killed qutil they.were.killed.$.3.M.PL they were killed

(7)

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 4 2.3 Unaccusative Alexiadou et al. 2004:Introduction pp.1-13: intransitive verbs divided into unergatives with an underlying VP-external subject NP [VP V], and unaccusatives with an underlying VP-internal subject NP [VPV NP]; subjects of unergative verbs have subject-like qualities; subjects of unaccusative verbs have object-like qualities.
Diagnostic Type of intransitive Unergative
HAVE

Unaccusative
BE

Auxiliary selection (where split) jai march / je suis all Impersonal passives (German, Dutch) es wird getanzt / *es wird gegangen Subject-NP-modifying past participle: *the worked student / the departed boy Presentative construction: *there telephoned four new students / there arrived four new students Ne-cliticization (Italian) * ne teleferanno molti / ne arriveranno molti studenti

Alexiadou et al. 2004:12-13:


a. Generally unergative predicates: i. Predicates describing willed or volitional acts, e.g. work, play, speak, talk, smile, grimace, wink, walk, box, knock, bank, laugh, dance; manner-of-speaking verts, e.g. whisper, shout, bellow; predicates describing sounds made by animals e.g. bark, quack, roar. ii. Certain involuntary bodily processes e.g. cough, sneeze, burp, sleep. b. Generally unaccusative predicates: i. Predicates expressed by adjectives in English; predicates describing size, shapes, weights, colours, smells. ii. Predicates whose initial nuclear term is semantically a patient, for example, burn, fall, drop, sink, float, tremble, shake, melt, freeze, evaporate, solidify, crystallize, dim, redden, darken. iii. Predicates of existing or happening, such as exist, happen, occur, take place. iv. Involuntary emission of stimuli, for example shine, glow, clink, pop, smell, sting. v. Aspectual predicates: begin, start, stop, cease.

Unclear what tests could be used for Arabic or Welsh (cf. Tallerman 2001): no BE/HAVE auxiliary split; past/passive participle Arabic , but not fully productive for Welsh. Presentatives not distinctive in VSO languages. No ne-cliticization. No clear split with impersonal passives. 2.4 Arabic diglossia Diglossia: Ferguson 1959a; original Arabic koin not identical with Classical Arabic: 14 nonclassical features shared by all modern dialects, Ferguson 1959b. Formal Arabic (FA): fu al-lu al-fu the most elegant, refined language (Qurnic Arabic, Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Spoken Formal Arabic (SFA). Written and formal oral production; no ones native language, but some regular users acquire near-native competence (most Western Arabists deny this). No one dialect closer to Formal Arabic than another. Differences (cf. Altoma 1969, Brustad 2000) concern lexicon, syntax, morphology (FA irb lit. Arabization: terminal mood variations in verbs; terminal case and definiteness variations in nominals), phonology (some consonants have varying reflexes in different dialects; most Arabs well aware, through television, of these equivalences; see Annex 1). Fu likely to have developed from a pre-Qurnic poetic koin never actually spoken spontaneously (al-muallaqt the hung ones: the very best pre-Islamic poems hung up for public inspection in Mecca). SFA often shorn of final irb, except when apparent in script, bringing it close to ESA. Colloquial dialects al-lu al-mmy the common language, al-lu ad-drij the ordinary language, lahj dialect, local form. mother tongue of all Arabs: capital of each country,

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013 sometimes other distinct prestigious varities, e.g.: Aleppo, Mosul, Fs, Benghazi, etc. All spontaneous oral communication except in the most formal situations. Rarely written, except for dialect poetry, some plays, cartoon captions; not felt to be a suitable medium for normal written communication. Most Arabs believe that modern dialects are corruptions of Classical Arabic (cf. above, Ferguson 1959b); often describe dialects to non-Arabs as slang no grammar; loath to teach Colloquial Arabic to non-Arabs. Slightly different status of Egyptian (Cairo) Colloquial: extremely well-defined and stable; understood throughout the Arab world thanks to Egyptian soap operas and films; often acceptable in formal situations where other Arabs would use SFA (also true to a lesser extent of Lebanese Colloquial). Intermediate forms: Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA): dialect-based morphology (e.g. no -n, -n, no feminine human plurals, no duals in verbs; no case or indefinite markers in nominals, esp. absence of accusative indefinite -an, mainly Egyptian or Levantine (Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian) and to a lesser extent Iraqi dialect base. Many MSA lexical items (usually no equivalents in spoken dialects). Medieval Muslim Middle Arabic (MMA), Christian Middle Arabic (CMA), Jewish Middle Arabic (JMA, written in Hebrew letters, but reproducing Arabic orthographic conventions: alef used to represent all of , and final -an/- (indefinite accusative), as with final Arabic alif U? . Impression given by such texts is of a living, spontaneous language very close to the borderline area between modern ESA and SFA. 3. WELSH

3.1 Welsh soft mutation (lenition ) p b p b t d t d + voice c g k Orthography m b d f dd IPA m b d v +fric g -(<) ll l rh r

r l r + voice

inventory of consonants affected phonological process (historically) local: immediately after a preceding trigger spreading: mutating element, e.g. F.SG noun: itself lenited following the article y, r; infects following adjectives and nouns within the same NP. distance: mutation unique to Welsh: case or configuration? frequency (lexicon): high-frequency lexemes mutated more consistently than less frequent ones. (8) torthL oL Lfara loaf of bread (bara) a loaf of bread
L L

(9)

torthL LfawrL loaf.F big (mawr) a big yellow loaf

felen yellow.F (M melyn)


L

L dorthL LfawrL (10) y the loaf.F big (mawr) the big yellow loaf

felen yellow.F (M melyn)

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 6 3.2 Welsh syntactic mutation (11) Tentative rule for syntactic mutation: V.T [XP]T LNP (12) Mae torth oL Lfara ar y bwrdd loaf of bread on the table is There is a loaf of bread on the table. (13) Mae [na] T Ldorth oL Lfara ar y bwrdd there loaf of bread on the table is There is a loaf of bread on the table. (14) Mae [ar y bwrdd] dorth o fara. on the table loaf of bread is There is a loaf of bread on the table. (15) Gwelodd [Sin] y Saw Sin the
T T L L L

Adv

PrP

t house

(16) Gwelodd [Sin]T Ld Saw Sin house (t) Sin saw a house. (17) Gwelodd [ef] d Saw he house (t) He saw a house.
T L

(18) Gwelodd [ef] d (ef = pro) Saw.3.SG [he] house (t) He/she saw a house.
T L

pro

(19) Gwelwyd t Saw.$ house A house was seen. (20) Gwelwyd [ar y bryn]T Ld mawr Was.seen.$ on the hill house big On the hill was to be seen a big house. (21) chonaic [m] [anuraidh] saw.PRT I last.year I saw you last year in Galway
T T

PrP
T L

[i in

nGaillimhe] Galway

th you.ACC

Irish

Only t you.SG, s he, s she, siad they > th you.SG, him, her, iad them affected lexical? (22) maS ollL Sflijadur (<plijadur) my all pleasure my whole pleasure Not productive; almost always this particular example cited. Six basic syntactic mutation types in Welsh (Borsley, Tallerman, Willis 2007:224, exx. 1-6): [y ddynes] T Lfeic. (23) Prynodd bought the woman bike The woman bought a bike VSO S Breton

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013 AuxVSO (!) S embedded VO clause S embedded infinitival i-clause [i S] [ V] S/PrP/both? extrapolated existential (subject!) PrP existential (subject!) Adv
T L

(24) Gwnaeth [y dyn] T [Lwerthu beic.] Did the man sell.INF bike The man sold a bike (25) Dechreuodd [Huw] [ olchi r llestri.] Began Huw wash.INF the dishes Huw began to wash the dishes. (26) Dymunodd [Aled] [i Mair] [ fynd adref.] wished Aled to Mair go.INF home Aled wanted Mair to go home (27) Mae [yn yr ardd] gi is in the garden dog There is a dog in the garden. (28) Roedd [yna] gath yn y gegin Was there cat in the kitchen There was a cat in the kitchen 3.3 Case-based approaches to Welsh syntactic mutation
T L T L T T L T L

Welsh assign accusative case to objects; ACC > Linitial consonant of noun phrase (not preceded by y, r [definite article]). Lieber 1983; Zwicky 1984; Roberts 1997, 2005. Problems: (29) T mawr welodd house big saw He saw a big house. e he (fronting: no mutation)

(30) Roedd Sin yn gweld was Sin PROG see.INF Sin could see a house. (31) vdet ptcu see.INF bird.F.ACC to see a bird (32) Yr
AFF

t (object of verbal noun/infinitive: no mutation) house (object of infinitive: case-marking) Russian

oedd Prs yn rhagweld [PP yn 1721] dranc was Prs PROG foresee.INF in 1721 demise Prs foresaw in 1721 the death of the Welsh language
AFF

yr the

iaith Gymraeg language.F Welsh Tallerman 2006 < Thorne 1993:52

(33) Fe

welodd e d, gardd a bachgen. saw he house, garden and boy He saw a house, a garden and a boy.

(only leftmost object lenited)

(34) Ja vu ptcu, dvuku i mlika. (all objects accusative-marked) I I.see bird.ACC.F.SG girl.ACC.F.SG and boy.ACC.HUM(=GEN).M.SG I can see a bird, a girl and a boy

Russian

Tallermann 2006, summarizing Roberts 2005 case-based account of Welsh direct object mutation: Direct object mutation (DOM) applies exactly where the finite main verb moves to the pre-subject position in a transitive clause (i.e. to [the functional head] PERS ...). On the other hand, where an auxiliary appears initially and the transitive main verb is realised in a non-finite form ... occupying a position in between the subject and the object, there is no DOM.

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 8 3.4 Configurational approaches to Welsh syntactic mutation XP Trigger Hypothesis (XPTH): [XP]L > Linitial consonant of noun phrase (not preceded by definite article y, r) Rhys Jones 1977 (NP without article mutates following subject pronoun/NP/proper name); Harlow 1989; King 1993, 1995, 1996, 2003; Borsley 1997, 1999; Borsley & Tallerman 1996; Tallerman 1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2009. Tallerman 2009:171: The principal idea in this literature is that initial consonants undergo SM when immediately preceded by a phrase, XP Tallermann 2009:172: A complement bears S[oft] M[utation] if it is immediately preceded by a ccommanding phrase. No reference to head/verb. Original suggestion by Rhys Jones: subject [of verb] indirect reference, but informal characterization taken literally by XPTH supporters. Phonological Phrase Formation (PPF) () (Hannahs 1996): (Hannahs 1996:52) Phonological Utterance (PU) > Intonational Phrase (I) > Phonological Phrase () > Clitic Group (C) > Phonological Word (PW) > Foot () > Syllable (). (Hannahs 1996:54) [T]he mutated word is the leftmost element of a (phonological phrase) and is preceded immediately by another [ ... ] [ _ ... ] Dependency Distance Hypothesis (DDH) (Hudson 2009): Tallerman 2009:176: X bears soft mutation if: (a) X is a VALENT of a preceding overt head H, and (b) X is SEPARATED from H. Hudson 2009: Valent: subject or complement SSM applies to any valent D2 which is: after the head word H and separated by another dependent of H, D1 (so dependency distance of D2 > 0).

Case approach: Does not readily explain why no soft mutation on: (a) fronted objects; (b) non-leftmost objects; (c) objects following infinitives (verbal nouns). Configuration approach: XPTH: No reference to head (verb); SM caused solely by immediately preceding XP (in same clause). DDH: Reference to three terms: head (verb), intervening element (trigger), mutated noun (target). 4. ARABIC

4.1 Formal and Colloquial Arabic verb systems See Annex 6 note written forms (in yellow) which would not also reflect the spoken form; most of the time, the written form may be interpreted (read out) either as Formal Arabic or as Educated Spoken Arabic.

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013

4.2 Formal Arabic case system nouns, adjectives, participles (no case system in Colloquial Arabic) Most common type (for all other declension types, see Annex 5 note written forms (in yellow) which would not also reflect the spoken form; most of the time, the written form may be interpreted either as Formal Arabic or as Educated Spoken Arabic: Arabic name of case raf being high, above (amma ? u) (xaf being low, below (kasra ? i) arr pulling nab raising, putting up (alif tanwn ?) English nominative genitive accusative French cas sujet cas indirect cas direct definite -u -i -a indefinite -un -in -an

Pierre Larcher (Aix-en-Provence, p.c.): it is thought that the Arabic terms raf, xaf, nab are scriptopictorial, and refer to the placement of the nominative vowel amma ? u above (raf) the final consonant, the genitive vowel kasra ? i below (xaf) the final consonant, and writing an alif upwards (nab) after the final consonant for the nunated accusative indefinite ? an. (The more usual term today for the genitive, jarr pulling seems to be syntactic, referring to genitive constructs NP+NP or Prep+NP). The only case ending of this, by far the most frequent declension, which is apparent in unvocalized script is the accusative indefinite ? an.
Arabic script (unvocalized) construct definite indefinite Transcription (raised letters full, formal) indefinite definite construct baitun al-baitu baitu baitin al-baiti baiti baitan -# (-#) al-baita house baita

XO

XO
house

XO UO UO

N G A

Only Formal Arabic (Qurnic, Classical, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)) has irb (case and mood terminal variations, see Annexes 5 and 6); no living Arabic dialects do. Bedouin -in, -n (popularly thought to prove that Bedouins have retained case-marking) is an invariable highlighting marker, not true case. Proper irb is de rigueur in all non-dialectal writing (dialectal writing uncommon; however, new ESA styles arising with email and texting). Most irb endings (except indefinite accusative) not apparent in unvocalized writing (writing usually not vocalized, except in Qurn and pedagogical materials, or to disambiguate; partial vocalization sometimes in classical poetry). Dialect-based Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA) does not normally use case endings at all, except for the very productive adverbial an (< accusative indefinite) e.g. tmtkyan automatically. Spoken Formal Arabic (SFA) may range from full production of all case and mood endings (few competent to do so spontaneously without slip-ups mainly newsreaders, literary academics, religious leaders) to observance of correct endings only where apparent in the script (much more frequent solution), with speakers constantly moving up and down the formality continuum. Pausal forms: even in the most formal Arabic, a sentence-final short vowel -a, -i, -u or nunated vowel -in, -un is always elided; many speakers simply extend this principle to more and more words sentence-internally, and even to all words, so as not to have to worry about getting it right. Problem with indefinite accusative: correct pausal form - felt to be affected, precious (reminiscent of Qurnic recitation, classical poetry); solution: either elide -an entirely (informal) or retain an in all positions, even finally (formal).

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 10 H r land; ar- [land-my] my land; nfal ar- [he.fell ground-dir] he fell to the ground Ar. waqaa ar-an (pausal form: ar-) [he.fell earth-acc] he fell to the ground. Hebrew directional one of the few traces of the Proto-Semitic case system in Biblical/Classical Hebrew. Present/future 3.M.PL and 2.F.SG endings: distinction between na, -na (indicative) vs -, - (subjunctive, jussive) observed in writing and in SFA, but not in ESA a given dialect will have one or the other, but not both with a distinction between them. Dual and feminine human plural endings in verbs restricted to FA, and very formal SFA; some bedouin-type dialects still have feminine plural verb forms, but these would not be used in ESA. Common solution for SFA: reproduce full irb only where actually apparent in Arabic script. Only someone speaking at least this formally may be used to test for faulty accusative. In written texts, only indefinites of the first and third declension classes may be used to test for faulty accusative because only they are unambiguously indicated in the script and are not shared with some other case (nominative or genitive, such as the masculine and feminine participial forms and the dual forms, last classes); in the latter case the accusative/genitive usually coincides with the general spoken form,; so such a form could thus be the result of levelling influence from Colloquial Arabic, ESA. Common saying among Arabs about speaking fu (Formal Arabic): (35) izim, taslam cut.short.IPR.2.SG.M you.will.be.safe.JUSS.2.SG.M Cut short [elide case and mood vowellings], youll be safe. 4.3 Functions of the Formal Arabic cases The nominative case (raf, marf) (unmarked, default form) is used for: subject of a verb. subject and predicate of a nominal (verbless) sentence. citation form of nominals (nouns/adjectives) The genitive case (arr, marr [xaf, maxf]) is used solely for genitive constructs: all except first term of a genitive construct NP+NP(+NP(+NP, etc.)); (first term is nominative, genitive, accusative, according to syntactic context). object of a preposition PrP (all prepositions take the genitive). complement of ayy any. complement of an elative: akbaru baitin [big.ELAT.NOM house.GEN] the biggest house. The accusative case (nab, manb) is used for a much wider range of functions: direct/indirect object of a verb. subject X (= NP) of clauses beginning with the pseudo-verb inna NP introductory, highlighting particle ( Heb. hinn lo, verily) and its sisters (all subordinating: lakinna but X; anna that X; lianna because X; kaanna as if X; laalla perhaps X, in the hope/fear that X); also laita in the hope that X (X in each case complement of a pseudo-verb). predicate (in Arabic direct object) of kna/yaknu be and its sisters (laisa not be; m zla not continue, remain = still be; ra reach > become; abaa reach morning > become; a reach forenoon > become; ams reach evening > become; alla remain, continue; bta spend the night, become). Hence, al-baitu kabrun the houseNOM.DEF is bigNOM.IDF, but al-baitu kna kabran

11

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013 [the house it.was.3.SG.M big.ACC.IDF] the house was big (all complements of BE and other predicative verbs)
NOM.DEF

both objects of anna think, consider X as Y and its sisters (asiba reckon, consider; itabara consider; aala make X Y, etc.) (verb X = Y) (all complements of verbs of considering X as Y), and a give Y X (also a give X to Y) internal/cognate object: ma mashyan saran [walked.PRT.3.SG.M walk.ACC quick.ACC] he walked a quick walk > ma saran [walked.PRT.3.SG.M quick.ACC] he walked quickly (all cognitive [(same-root) objects of verbs) adverbs: saran fast, rapidly (same as above, with elision of cognate object). objects of specification (tamyz), purpose, circumstance (l): itaala muhandisan [worked.3.SG.M engineer.ACC] he worked as an engineer (complement of verb function, purpose). nouns after numerals 11-99 (unit+ten+NP (cf. German) distance government over (multiple of) ten; even plain multiples of ten: 20 =? zero+20, or by assimilation to unit+ten+NP?). 1: SG; 2: DU; 3-10 + PL.GEN; 11-99 + SG.ACC; hundreds, thousands, millions, etc. + SG.GEN; 4.4 Example of scripted oral Formal Arabic and spontaneous Spoken Formal Arabic (a) Arabic script; (b) what Arab eyes see; (c) FA fullirb; (d) SFA partial irb; (e) ESA no irb; (a)

WOKzUF U s be uKD WO WOU) uHu

ly (b) mwfw wzr -lxry -ltrky ylbwn mzyd mn -l-z -ly (c) muwaa wizrti l-xriyti t-turkyti f employees.M.PL.CS ministry.F.GEN.(CS) the-external.F.GEN the-Turkish.F.GEN yalubna mazdan mina they.demand.M.PL more.ACC.IDF of (d) muwaa f (e) muwaa fn wizrt al-xriy wizrit al-xriy l-izti lilyti the-leave.F the-family.ADJ.F mazdan min al-iz min al-iz al-ily al-ly

at-turky yalubn

at-turky (b)yulub mazd_

Employees of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs demand more family leave. http://www.aljazeera.net/portal lack of corpus material for Spoken Formal Arabic and for unedited Formal Arabic; difficult to assess the prevalence of faulty accusative only concrete examples of faulty accusative are significant; absence may always be attributed to observance of the canonical grammar. Arabic faulty accusatives noted in Spoken Formal Arabic and in poorly edited or unedited texts (Emad Mohamed, Egyptian linguist, Indiana University, p.c., notes that written faulty accusatives are particularly common in letters to the editor and in film subtitles, both produced hastily, and without proper editing; reveal more about users real grammatical instincts).

4.5 Formal Arabic equivalents of Welsh examples in 3.1 (36) Tentative rule for faulty accusative: V [XP]T ANP (37) ra ysufu l-baita sawM Yusuf.NOM the-house.ACC.DEF Yusuf saw the house.

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 12
A (38) ra [ysufu] T baitan sawM Yusuf.NOM house.ACC.IDF Yusuf saw a house.

(39) ruiya l-bait was.seen$.M the-house.M.NOM.DEF The house was seen. (40) ruiya baitun was.seen$.M house.M.NOM.IDF A house was seen. (41) ruiya [al t-tall] baitun was.seen$.M on the-hill house.M.NOM.IDF On the hill was to be seen a big house. (42) ruiya [al t-tall] baitan was.seen$.M on the-hill house.M.ACC!IDF On the hill was to be seen a big house.
T A

kabrun big.M.NOM.IDF Correct kabran big.M.ACC!IDF


A

Faulty accusative, PrP

4.6 Definite object marker (DFO) in Hebrew, Persian and Turkish Important for detecting unaccusative in Biblical Hebrew. (43) r ysef bayi sawM Joseph house Joseph saw a house. (Classical) Hebrew

(Classical) Hebrew (44) r [ysef] T A-ha-bayi sawM Joseph DFO-the-house Joseph saw the house. (configurational analysis possible, but more likely DFO case-marking) (45) ysuf manzil dd Yusuf house he/she.saw Yusuf saw a house / some houses. (46) ysuf manzil-r dd Yusuf house-DFO he/she.saw Yusuf saw the house (47) yusuf ev grd Yusuf house he/she.saw Yusuf saw a house / some houses (48) yusuf evi grd Yusuf house.DFO he/she.saw Yusuf saw the house. 4.7 Examples of Arabic faulty accusative: V.T [XP]T ANP Faulty accusative in Arabic noticed by Blau (various), Schen 1973, Mahmoud 1991, Abdul Raof 1998, Peled 2004, and myself (without at first being aware of these authors). No trace in standard grammars (ostensibly incorrect). (49) wid: an yakn [lad-k] T Ahadafan Muammad asanain Haikal, Maa haikal Al-Jazeera, 20.03.2008 one: that should.be.SBJM with-you.M objective.M.ACC! One: that you should have an objective; SFA, PrP Persian

Persian

Turkish

Turkish

13

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013

(50) yabd anna-hu sa-yakn [hunk]T Aallan siysyan BBC Arabic.com FUT-will.beM there solution.M.ACC! political.M.ACC! 04.05.2004 seems that-it yattasim bi-l-fau li-l-au f l-irq MSA, Adv it.will.be.characterized.M by-the-anarchy to-the-conditions in the-Iraq It seems that there will be a fairly anarchical political solution to the situation in Iraq (51) wa-l akk f anna rmsfld BBC Arabic.com 07.05.2004 and-no doubt about that Rumsfeld MSA, o-NP a-ifatain l yazu-[hu]T Aayyan min htain NEG lack-him any.ACC! of these.two.DU.F the-two.qualities.DU.F and there is no doubt that Rumsfeld does not lack either of these qualities [determination and firmness] [f l-waq 33 mm/5]T Egyptian reply to consultation (52) wa-naqari an yudra on UNESCO Programme and-we.suggest that be.included.$.M in the-document 33 C/5 A nuhjan ify mutarak bain al-qit amilt:... and Budget for between the.sectors likes.CS: 2006-2007 approaches.F.ACC! additional.F joint.F We suggest that additional intersectoral approaches be included in document 33 C/5, such as:... MSA, PrP
A [yauma adin]T itiman xar (53) wa-sa-yuqad and-FUT-will.be.held.$.M day.ACC.CS tomorrow.GEN meeting.M.ACC! other.M and another meeting will be held tomorrow

Iat a-arq 19.07.2005 SFA, Adv

(54) lia anna-hu warada [bi-hi]T (adwal al-aml) Egyptian reply to consultation on UNESCO 33 C/Resolution 92 was.noticed.$.M that-it.M arrived in-it.M [agenda] A uran wfiy MSA, PrP explanations.F.ACC! extensive.F It was noted that it [the agenda] contained extensive explanations (55) wa-kna [la-h]T (muallaft Ibn Rushd) Ms asan, Pres. UNESCO Gen. Conf., World Philosophy Day 15.11.2006, and-wasM to-them.F.SG [works Ibn Rushd] A taran kabran al l-fikr al-mas wa-l-falsaf Rabat, Morocco influence.ACC! great.ACC! on the-thought the-Christian and-the-philosophical f l-ur al-wus MSA, PrP in the-ages the-middle.F And they [the works of Ibn Rushd (Averros)] had a great impact on Christian and philosophical thought in the Middle Ages. (56) abaa [hunk]T Aburdan bain amrk wa-marInterviewer M war al-xabar coolness.ACC between America and-Egypt Al-Jazeera, has.becomeM there There is now a coolness between America and Egypt SFA, Adv 1950 GMT 02.04.2008 (57) hal yabq [f l-ahn] T Aaaran al maql MSA, PrP INT remainM in the-minds trace.ACC! on dictum.F yuraddidu-h ba al-mustariqn al-udud wa-l-mutaaibn 1 repeatM-it.F some the-orientalists.M.PL the-new.M.PL and-the-fanatical.M.PL Is there any trace left in [peoples] minds of a dictum often repeated by some latter-day, fanatical orientalists (58) inna-n f mir [ladai-n]T Amnan rsixan bi-anna Egypt, UNESCO Executive HLP-we in Egypt with-us faith.ACC! firm.ACC!in-that Board, 182 EX/SR.3 para. 7.4 We in Egypt have a firm belief that MSA, PrP 12.09.2009
1

The influence of the Arab heritage on the West in the field of medicine and pharmacology, paper presented at the International Encounters on the Shores of the Mediterranean: The Alchemy of an Uninterrupted Dialogue, UNESCO, Paris, 4-6 December 2008.

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 14
A (59) laisa [la-h]T (al-arakt al-muri) dauran fil is.notM to-them.F.SG (the-movements the-opposing) role.ACC! active. They [the opposition movements] have no active role

al-Ittijh al-mukis 21.09.2010, 1940 GMT SFA, PrP

(60) wa-nataalla il an Egypt, 186th UNESCO Executive Board and-we.look.forward.1.PL to that 186 EX/SR.2 para. 2.6, 09.05.2011 [li-l-ynesk] T Adauran f MSA, PrP yakn beSBJ.M to-the-UNESCO role.ACC! in And we look forward to UNESCO having a role in . 4.8 Examples of Arabic faulty accusative analysed by Peled (2004) as unaccusative, but for which a configurational approach also works Peled 2004 remarkable article explains faulty accusative effects in Arabic (and Hebrew) as the result of unaccusativity. Peled almost certainly unaware of the configurational XPTH approach for Welsh. For non-contemporary examples, Peled rightly gives only non-vocalized original Arabic or Hebrew script; my proposed transcriptions, to make the examples accessible to non-Semiticists; assumption that final Ar. U? or H is -an rather than strict pausal form -; of little moment for the argument. (61) fa-lam yabq so-NEG.PRF remainM And no trace of it remained. [la-hu]T Aaaran > < d to-it.M trace.ACC!

t UI rK

PELED 2004:122 <BLAU 1966:336 n.67 CMA, PrP PELED 2004:119 <HAIKAL 1978:210 MSA, PrP PELED 2004:128 <BLAU 1981:185 JMA, PrP PELED 2004:122 <BLAU 1981:172 JMA, PrP

(62) wa-kna talq- al lik al-iwr and-wasM comment.M-my on that.M the-dialogue.M na tanhat [ilay-ya] T Aarfan min-hu parts.F.ACC! of-it.M when reachedF to-me My comment on that exchange, when bits of it reached me, was (63) wa- kna [l-] waladan wad > < and- wasM to-me boy.M.ACC! single* And I had only one son.
T A

(64) lam yail [ilai-h]T Aaadan > < did.not.PRF arriveM to-him anyone.M.ACC! No one came to him

[al ass mil hihi l-muwfaq]T PELED 2004:124 (65) umma yubn such this.F the-agreement.F <al-Muawwar then will.be.builtM on basis aula 49 nuq 07.02.1997:25 (l-iftiry.F) Ataqadduman [the-putative] progress.M.ACC! around 49 point MSA, PrP then, on the basis of such an [putative] agreement, progress will be made on 49 points. (66) wa-kam kna yawadd lau yad [f-him] T Awidan and-how he.was he.wants if is.found.$.M in-them one.M.ACC! and how he would like it if there were [to be] one among them (67) l yaz an yuzd > < ' ' NEG is.allowed that be.added.$ [alai-him]T Axmisan onto-them fifth.ACC! It is not allowed to add a fifth to them. PELED 2004:124 <BLAU 1973:196 MSA, $, PrP PELED 2004:125 <BLAU 1981:185 JMA, $, PrP

15
(un?)

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013

(68) malik wulida [la-hu]T > < UM t s NOM? king. was.born.$.M to-him [min amati-hi] T Aibnan from maid-his son.M.ACC! A king to whom a son was born from his maid.

t b pK

PELED 2004:125 <BLAU 1966-7:336

CMA, $, PrP, PrP

4.9 Peleds examples of Arabic and Hebrew faulty accusative for which unaccusative is more plausible than configuration (69) lam
A yadu aian NEG.PRF happenM thing.M.ACC! Nothing happened. A A

PELED 2004:111 MSA?, UA

(70) wa-f ayti-n taassadat dursan mustafdtan PELED 2004:119 and-in life-our materializedF lessons.F.ACC! beneficial.F.ACC! <al-Muawar 07.02.1997:31 In our lives, lessons have materialized from which we could learn a great deal MSA, UA
A (71) adaa an > < ' ' happenedM famine.M.ACC! A famine occurred

PELED 2004:122 <BLAU 1981:185 JMA, UA

(72) l

A A yjad malman fa-l yasul Ailman jaddan PELED 2004:124 is.found.M.$ known.M.ACC so.NEG happens knowledge.ACC! new.ACC! < MA thesis There is no known, nor does any new knowledge arise MSA, $ UA

NEG

(73) ga-n waladun/an ism-uh > < ... cameM-us.ACC boy.M.NOM/ACC! name-his There came to us a boy whose name was
A (74) futia mauian > < UF{u was.opened.$.M place.M.ACC! A place was opened

PELED 2004:123 <BLAU 1946:32 JMA, UA? PELED 2004:125

<SCHEN 1973:84
MMA, $ UA

Biblical Hebrew examples show that unaccusative effects are very old in Semitic: (75) -v h-r wa--ha-dv > < - and-came the-lion and-DFO-the-bear When a lion came or a bear (76) - kl h-r ha-z DFO all the-evil.F the-this.F All this evil came upon us b l-n > < - it.came.F upon-us PELED 2004:123 <1 Samuel 17:34 PELED 2004:123 <Daniel 9:13 PELED 2004:123 <2 Kings 6:5 PELED 2004:126 <Genesis 4:18 PELED 2004:126 <Genesis 27:42

(77) w nfal l-ha-mayyim > < - - --ha-barzl and-DFO-the-iron.M it.fell. M to-the-waters The iron [axe-head] fell into the water (78) way-yiwwle la-nx - r > < - and-is.born to-Enoch DFO Irad And unto Enoch was born Irad. (79) way-yugga l > < - -rivqh and-was.told.$ to-Rebeccah A -divr ew DFO-words.PL.CS Esau And the words of Esau were told to Rebeccah.

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 16 (80) im A-kl d ha-yam > < - or DFO-all fish.PL.CS the-sea yesef l-hm will.be.gathered.$ to-them Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them? 5. WELSH AGAIN PELED 2004:126 <Numbers 11:22

Iosad 2007c:2: The Direct Object Mutation of Welsh is triggered not by a specific lexical item or a class of those, but rather by a certain syntactic configuration: in simple terms, whatever comes directly after the first post-verbal constituent undergoes soft mutation. In particular, this includes the object NP in VSO clauses.. Reformulate as V.T [XP]T LNP: tensed verb; verb must govern affected NP reference to three terms: finite verb government, XP trigger and target NP. Origins of Welsh syntactic mutation: Willis 2007:313-15; Evans 1964; Morgan 1953 lenition of post-verbal NPs in Middle Welsh confused. Lenition not always written; when written, after tensed verb forms: sometimes subject lenited, sometimes object; only at a later stage does the indefinite object (bare NP, without preceding article (may be definite in genitive constructs)) lenite systematically. Sangiad (interpolated XP) sometimes triggers lenition, sometimes not. Possible sequence of developments in Middle Welsh, assuming both unaccusative and configurational explanations for Arabic faulty accusative are germane: Lenition of following NP after tense(-person) endings, especially those ending in a vowel or a sonorant (except subjunctive -o: original -h-o, metathis > -oh blocking lenition?), irrespective of whether NP is subject or object (difficult to ascertain conclusively; absence of written lenition does not prove absence in spoken language) (also increasing frequency of post-verbal subject pronouns, all ending in vowels). With introduction of T-2 constraint, O (P) and S.UA (P) likely to be more frequent following V than S.UE (A) (general tendency for NPs with object properties to come later than those with subject properties). Post finite-verb lenition shifts from phonetic to semantic: first NP with object properties: O (P) or S.UA (P). Accusative case realized by lenition on first object-like bare NP (no definite article). Shift from semantic (case)-based rule (above) to simpler configuration mechanism, as in Arabic: V.T [XP]T LNP (XP may be S, s, pro, PrP, Adv, etc.) with no reference to semantic function; neatly accounts for sangiad lenition of non-objects. Need to screen Middle Welsh texts (by 50-year periods with following types) for lenition of post-verbal NPs and for relative prevalence of types: (V = verb; A = agent (transitive subject; intransitive unergative subject); P = patient (transitive object; intransitive unaccusative subject; Verb-initial: V A P; V A; X-initial: X V A P; X V A; Argument-initial: A V P; VP XVP (P V A?)

A V; P V;

17

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013 6. A (VERY!) TENTATIVE CONCLUSION

Arabic evolution: case (unclear when lost in living dialects) > unaccusative effects give faulty accusative NOM ACC > configuration: V.T [XP]T ANP, XPTH or DDH? Possible overlapping of unaccusative and configuration, with growing dominance of configuration; unlikely that faulty accusatives which can only be explained by unaccusative effects are frequent today; distance dependency, yes frequent (near-native-speaker reanalysis of canonical fu rules governing indefinite accusative marking). Could also cover all other normal functions of accusative Welsh evolution: phonetic (sandhi) after tensed verb endings: lenition on first post-verbal NP following vowels and sonorants > (in connection with emergence of Middle Welsh T.2) post-verbal intransitive subject increasingly likely to be unaccusative > lenition of post-verbal NPs thus increasingly associated with object features > VSO with systematic lenition of Case effects unsurprising; XPTH overlaps with probably dominant today, and appears to explain all instances of syntactic mutation (DOM, sangiad, etc.) 7. ENVOI

reliability of data in generative work on exotic languages usefulness of typology with smaller numbers of languages of which linguist has practical mastery possibility of rules from different components overlapping, applying simultaneously (e.g. both case or unaccusative and XPTH) Hewitt 2001:156 Lun des dbats rcurrents en linguistique moderne concerne le nombre et lorganisation des composants de la grammaire phonologie, morphologie, lexique, syntaxe, smantique, pragmatique, structure de linformation, etc., et lon recherche un modle maximalement efficace et conomique, avec des frontires prcises et tanches entre ces composants. Cependant, lon sait quen phontique acoustique le signal sonore contient une redondance optimale de lordre de 50 % avec moins de redondance, le risque de perdre le signal est trop grand ; avec plus de redondance, le systme devient excessivement lourd. Ce principe de redondance optimale pourrait bien stendre lensemble des sous-systmes linguistiques, et notamment aux rapports entre eux ; ainsi il ny aurait plus de frontires nettes (mais curieusement insaisissables) entre les diffrentes parties de la grammaire, dont le chevauchement servirait renforcer la fiabilit du systme. Mme lopposition entre la rptition mcanique de phrases toutes faites et lanalyse grammaticale sophistique pourrait sestomper dans ce schma, les deux principes sappliquant simultanment. Lanalyse grammaticale est naturellement ncessaire pour pouvoir produire et dcoder des phrases totalement nouvelles : la phrase jai vu un crocodile en coiffe danser la gavotte avec Alexis Gourvennec na gure t produite auparavant, mais elle est parfaitement comprhensible pour tout locuteur du franais. En revanche, lon peut se demander si tout le dispositif grammatical est rellement mis en marche chaque fois quon dit ou entend jen sais rien , phrase qui a d tre prononce littralement des milliards de fois. Finalement, lide de la redondance optimale et du renforcement mutuel des diffrents composants de la grammaire pourrait galement expliquer comment les gens qui parlent des variantes sensiblement diffrentes dune langue arrivent communiquer.

rK e
izim, taslam!

Cwtogwch, byddwch yn saff! Cut short, youll be safe!

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 18 Annex 1: Arabic consonants dialect variation
= pharyngealization (tafxm) emphatic consonants: a dull, hollow, dark sound, mainly perceptible to non-Arabs in the lower, backed timbre of the adjacent vowels) [sounds used in elevated lexical items] Standard transcription , th, t , dh, d , q () , j, dj Classical Arabic (orig. ?) q Bedouin dialects [q] Urban dialects t d [s] [z] [] [] [q]

Letter

Name l d qf m

Lower Egypt, North Yemen Levant, Maghreb Upper Egypt, Sudan

One of the epithets of the Arabic language is lut a-d the language of the [letter] d, so unique that sound was deemed to be; it is paradoxical that is today a sound which many Arabs have trouble pronouncing correctly; in spoken dialects it falls everywhere together with / /: Bedouin-type dialects / /; urban-type dialects (ordinary words) // (but often not pharyngalized: /d/), (elevated words) //. There is evidence that the original sound also involved a lateral, i.e. something like , cf. Arabic al-q the judge, cf. Spanish alcalde mayor.

Annex 2: Arabic dialect map


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Arabic_Dialects.svg

19

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013 Annex 3: Arabic script positional forms, transcription variants and IPA values

name of letter hamz alif alif mamdd b t m x dl l r zy sn n d d ain ain f qf kf lam lam-alif mm nn h t marb ww y alif maqr fat kasr amm sukn add

alone

? ? ?

R? Q? T? U? P? V? X? Y? Z? `? a? b? c? d? e? f? g? h? i? j? k? l? m? n? o? p? q? ? r? s? t? W? u? w? v?

end

R? Q? ?? < < ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? < < < < ?? ?A? ?B? ?C? ?D? ?E? ?F? ?G? ?H? ?I? ?J? ?K? < ?L? ?M? ?N?

middle

front

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?{ ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? u? ?

< ?O? ( U? W ? U?) (?) ( ?)

transcription a/i/u- -- - b t th t j dj H 7 x kh k 5 d dh d r z s sh S 9 D 9 T 6 Z 6 c 9 3 gh g 3 f q 2 8 k l l / l-a/i/um n h - -a -ah -t -at (CS) w (- in verbs) au aw y ai ay - - a (-an) i (-in) u (-un) (no vowel) CC (dbl. cons.)

IPA () a () + b t (t s) ( ) x d (d z) r z s s d (+ z) t (z) f q ( ) k (/_i/e_) l (l+, l+a- i- u-) m n h - - -a - - (+h) - - -a - - +t (CS) w u: : au ou (o) j i ai ei (e) (-) - -a - (-) a (-an, -n) i e () (-n) u o () (-n) C

? ?

< Older traditional order (subparagraphs (a), (b), (c), etc.)


Mnemonic: abad hawwaz u kaliman safa quriat axi ai

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 20 Annex 4: Hebrew script transcription variants and IPA values (Classical and Israeli Hebrew)
Alphabet Classical Hebrew Israeli Hebrew letter (5 have name transcription IPA transcription IPA end forms) lf (-) (-) >b b v b bh b v b v b v gml g gh g g dl d d dh d d d he h h h h ww w w v v zayin z z z z x kh ch >x t t t t y y j y j kaf - k x k kh ch k x k x kh ch k x lm l l l l mem - m m m m nn - n n n n smx s s s s ayin c >>pe - p f p p f p f ph - s t ? c ts tz qf q q q k ? q k k r r r ? r n sh sh n s ? s s tw t t th t t t paa a a a a sl e sl-y/ml e r e e e r-y/ml e e rq i i i i rq-y i i i qma gl : a a qma f o o lm o o o lm-ww/ml o o qibbu u u u u rq u u u w e e aef-paa a a aef-sl e e aef-qma o o Bakfa letters: with de (point inside), stops: b d g p t k; without de, fricatives: v f x (Israeli Hebrew only for v, f, x) Gr diacritic for non-Hebrew sounds: j/ x (not ) ' x / . Classical Hebrew consonants: , b~v, d~, g~, h, w, z, , , y, k~x, l, m, n, s, , p~f, ,.q, r, , , t~; long vowels: , , , , ; short vowels: a, , e, i, , o, u; furtive vowels: , a, , Classical > Israeli Hebrew: >d, >g, >t, w>v, > c[], >s, (>x, >>-), double consonants > simple; no long or furtive vowels: all vowels short: , > a; , , , > e []; > i; , , , > o []; > u

21

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013

Annex 5: Terminal variations in Formal Arabic nominals (nouns and adjectives irb lit. Arabization) FA markers
Arabic script (unvocalized) construct definite indefinite Transcription (raised letters full, formal) indefinite definite construct baitun al-baitu baitu in i bait al-bait baiti baitan -# (-#) al-baita house baita

XO

XO
house

XO UO UO Wb

N G A

Wb

Wb*
school F.SG

N G A N G A

madras madrastin, -h# madrastan, -h#

tun, -h#

al-madrasatu, -h# al-madrasti, -h# al-madrasta, -h# school F.SG (al-)q (al-)qya judge

madrastu madrasti madrasta

w{U

w{UI
judge

U UO{U vMF

qn qyan -iy#)

vMF

vMF*
meaning

N G A N G A N G A N G A

mann meaning

(al-)man

ub
call, invitation

daw

(ad-)daw call, invitation

_
biggest, most great

akbar

akbara

(al-)akbaru (al-)akbari (al-)akbara biggest, most great (al-)man (al-)manya meanings F.SG (al-)muslimna (al-)muslimn
a

wUF uLK wLK wK

wUF*
meanings F.SG

UF wUF uLK 5LK 5K

mann manya

uLK* 5LK*
Muslims M.PL

N G A rilni rilain
i

muslim muslim

Muslims M.PL N G A N G A ar-rilni ar-rilain two feet DU


i

d 5Kd
two feet DU

ril rilai

ULK

ULK*
Muslims F.PL

ULK

muslimtun muslimtin Muslims F.PL

Steve Hewitt Welsh syntactic mutation and Arabic faulty accusative: case or configuration? 22 Annex 6: Formal Arabic verbs and typical ESA verb morphology (FA modal variations irb lit. Arabization) FA markers in script ESA markers
Arabic script MSA transcription kataba, yaktubu write; (ariba, yarabu drink) Preterite (perfective) m f kataba katabat katabta katabti katabtu katab katabtum katab katabna katabtunna katabn typical ESA

3SG 2SG 1SG 3PL 2PL 1PL 3DU 2DU 3SG 2SG 1SG 3PL 2PL 1PL 3DU 2DU 2SG 2PL 2DU 3SG 2SG 1SG 3PL 2PL 1PL 3DU 2DU 3SG 2SG 1SG 3PL 2PL 1PL 3DU 2DU

X X 6 7 U VJ 5J 6J 6J UJ 6 VJ J V 6J 6J UJ VJ J 6J 6J UJ

X UM UL

V X u r U VJ VJ uJ uJ UJ V u VJ VJ uJ uJ UJ VJ VJ uJ uJ UJ

m katab katabt katabt katabu katabtu katabna

f katabit katabti

katabat katabtum

(irib, irbit, irbu)

V VJ UJ

Present/Future Indicative (imperfective) yaktubu taktubu (b)yiktib (b)tiktib taktubu taktubna (b)tiktib (b)tiktibi aktubu (b)aktib yaktubna yaktubna taktubna taktubna naktubu yaktubni taktubni taktubni Imperative uktub uktub uktub uktubna uktub Subjunctive (FA) yaktuba taktuba taktuba taktub aktuba yaktub taktub naktuba yaktub taktub taktub yaktubna taktubna (b)yiktibu (b)tiktibu (b)niktib ((b)yirab, (b)yirabu)

iktib

iktibi iktibu (irab, irabi, irabu) tiktib tiktibi aktib yiktibu tiktibu niktib (yirab, yirabu)

yiktib tiktib

VJ UJ

V VJ UJ

Jussive (FA) yaktub taktub taktub taktub yaktub taktub naktub yaktub taktub taktub yaktubna taktubna

yiktib tiktib aktib yiktibu tiktibu niktib

tiktib tiktibi

(yirab, yirabu)

23

First European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Trier, 5-9 August 2013 References and bibliography

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OWENS Jonathan. 1988b. The Foundations of Grammar: An introduction to medieval Arabic grammatical theory. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. OWENS Jonathan. 1990. Early Arabic Grammatical Theory: Heterogeneity and standardization. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. PARKINSON Dilworth B. 1994. Speaking Fu in Cairo: The role of the ending vowels, pp.179-211 in Yasser SULEIMAN (ed.), Arabic Sociolinguistics: Issues and perspectives, Curzon, Richmond, Surrey, UK. PELED Yishai. 1999. Aspects of the use of grammatical terminology in medieval Arabic grammatical tradition, pp.50-85 in Yasir SULEIMAN (ed.), Arabic Grammar and Linguistics, Routledge Curzon, London & New York. PELED Yishai. 2004. Accusatival subjects in Arabic non-transitive constructions and the unaccusative hypothesis, A. LEVIN, S. HOPKINS, J. BLAU, et al (eds) Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 29:111-35: Studies in honour of Moshe Piamenta. Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. PELED Yishai. 2009. Sentence Types and Word-Order Patterns in Written Arabic. Brill, Leiden. SCHEN I. 1973. Usama Ibn Munqidhs memoirs: Some further light on Muslim Middle Arabic (Part II), Journal of Semitic Studies 18:64-97 VERSTEEGH Cornelis H.M. (Kees). 1993. Arabic Grammar and Qurnic Exegesis in Early Islam. Brill, Leiden, New York, Cologne. VERSTEEGH Cornelis H.M. (Kees). 1995. The Explanation of Linguistic Causes: Al-Zas theory of grammar introduction, translation, commentary. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia. (see Ch XVI The theory about the lexical meaning of the nominative, accusative and genitive VERSTEEGH Cornelis H.M. (Kees). 1997. Landmarks in Linguistic Thought III: The Arabic Linguistic Tradition. Routledge, New York/London. VERSTEEGH Cornelis H.M. (Kees). 2001. The Arabic Language. Edinburgh University Press. VERSTEEGH Cornelis H.M. (Kees), Konrad KOERNER, Hans-J. NIEDEREHE (eds). 1982. The History of Linguistics in the Near East. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. al-Waan al-arab [the Arab Homeland]: weekly, Paris. WRIGHT William. 1859-1862. A Grammar of the Arabic Language. 2 vols. Simon Wallenberg, London. Numerous editions and reprints. Zack Liesbeth & Arie Schippers. 2012. Middle Arabic and Mixed Arabic: Diachrony and synchrony. Brill, Leiden. Unaccusativity; grammatical/thematic roles/relations; split auxiliary systems ALEXIADOU Artemis, Elena ANAGNOSTOPOULOU, Marin EVERAERT (eds). 2004. The Unaccusativity Puzzle: Explorations of the syntax-lexicon interface. Oxford University Press. ARANOVICH Ral (ed.). 2007. Split Auxiliary Systems: A cross-linguistic perspective. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/ Philadelphia. DONOHUE Mark & Sren WICHMANN (eds). 2008. The Typology of Semantic Alignment, Oxford University Press. DOWTY David. 1991. Thematic proto-roles and argument selection, Language 67/3:647-619. BURZIO L. 1986. Italian Syntax: A Government and Binding approach. Reidel, Dordrecht. LEVIN Beth. & Malka RAPPAPORT-HOVAV. 1995. Unaccusativity at the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface. Cambridge, Massachusetts. LEVIN Beth. & Malka RAPPAPORT-HOVAV. 2005. Argument Realization. Cambridge University Press. PALMER Frank R. 1994. Grammatical Roles and Relations. Cambridge University Press. PERLEMUTTER David M. 1978. Impersonal passives and the unaccusative hypothesis, pp. 157-90 in Proceedings of the 4th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. RAPPAPORT-HOVAV Malka, Edit DORON, Ivy SICHEL (eds). 2010. Syntax, Lexical Semantics, and Event Structure. Oxford University Press. SORACE Antonella. 2000. Gradients in auxiliary selection with intransitive verbs, Language 76/4:859-90. Welsh, Celtic BALL Martin & Nicole MLLER. 1992. Mutation in Welsh. Routledge, London. [esp. 3.3 Direct Object Mutation (and others) revisited, pp.136-161] BORSLEY Robert D. 1986. Prepositional complementizers in Welsh, Journal of Linguistics 20:277-302. BORSLEY Robert D. 1989. An HPSG approach to Welsh, Journal of Linguistics 25:333-54. BORSLEY Robert D. 1995. On some similarities and differences between Welsh and Syrian Arabic. Linguistics 33:99122.

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