Copulae in the Arabic noun phrase : : a unified analysis of Arabic adnominal markers / / by Francesco Grande ; with a foreword by Antonella Ghersetti.

• Superior document: Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics, volume 70
• Author: Grande, Francesco.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden : : Brill,, 2013.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics ; 70.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (343 p.)
• Notes: Includes index.

Morphemes combined with the Arabic noun are clearly described in the literature, but their interpretation can be somewhat nebulous, and a unified scholarly analysis does not as yet exist. This book proposes a new and unified perspective regarding these morphemes, analyzing them as copulae, and the constructions in which they occur as instances of predication. Analyzing morphemes combined with the Arabic noun as copulae explains many of their puzzling properties (rise and loss of declension, proteiform nature of nunation, et cetera). Emphasis is placed on data previously marginalized in the description of these morphemes, from pre-Classical Arabic transmitted by Arab Grammarians, Semitic languages that contributed to the emergence of Arabic through language contact, and roughly 30 languages genetically unrelated to Arabic.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Copulae in Arabic and Semitic -- 2 Arabic Copulae: From Modifiers to Relative Clauses -- 3 Arabic Copulae: From Relative Clauses to Recursion -- 4 Arabic Case-Endings as Copulae -- 5 B eyond Arabic Copulae -- Conclusions -- Appendix I -- Appendix II -- Appendix III -- References -- Index of Personal Names -- Index of Languages -- Subject Index.