Arabic Indefinites, Interrogatives, and Negators: A Linguistic History of Western Dialects

Cover
Arabic Indefinites, Interrogatives, and Negators:  A Linguistic History of Western Dialects
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Series preface
List of figures and tables
Transcription and notation
1. Introduction: Theory, conventions, and the assessment of facts
	1.1 Arabic in linguistic theory
	1.2 A facts-first approach to theory and a theory-free approach to facts
	1.3 A guide to the perplexing: chapter summaries
	1.4 A coming to terms
	1.5 A repayment of debts
2. On the age and origins of spoken Arabic vernaculars: An unresolved question
	2.1 Old and New Arabic
	2.2 New Arabic is old
	2.3 Retentions and innovations
	2.4 Shared Semitic retentions
	2.5 Shared dialectal retentions
	2.6 In conclusion, the way forward
3. fīš wa biddīš: The functions of šī
	3.1 Tracing the origin and development of the pseudo-verb bidd-
	3.2 The -š of biddīš
	3.3 Conventional views
	3.4 Grammaticalization of šay
	3.5 Partitive ši
	3.6 Polar interrogative ši
	3.7 Rhetorically negative ši
	3.8 Negative ši
	3.9 Distribution of ši
	3.10 Conclusion
4. Andalusi Arabic negators and interrogatives: Early evidence of grammatical ši
	4.1 Indefinite and negative ši in Andalusi Arabic
	4.2 A Jespersen’s Cycle?
	4.3 Interrogative or negative iš?
	4.4 Rhetorical questions in Arabic
	4.5 Arabic interrogatives as exclamatives
	4.6 Orthographic idiosyncrasies
	4.7 Conclusion
5. Interrogation and negation with ši in North African and Levantine Arabic
	5.1 Shared retentions in Andalusi Arabic, North African Arabic, and Maltese
	5.2 Copular interrogatives in modern North African dialects
	5.3 A H. ōrāni case study
	5.4 H.ōrāni analogues in other Arabic varieties
	5.5 Conclusion
6. Origins of grammatical ši: Southern Arabia or the Levant?
	6.1 Possible origins
	6.2 A shared West Semitic innovation
	6.3 Genera and geography
	6.4 Dialects with and without negative ši
	6.5 A pre-diaspora southern Arab presence in the Fertile Crescent
	6.6 Arab Christians in the pre-Islamic Fertile Crescent
	6.7 An ancient Arab presence in the Fertile Crescent
	6.8 Levantine or Yemeni?
	6.9 Conclusion
7. Proto-Semitic and Proto-Arabic origins of grammatical ši
	7.1 Early evidence of negator -š
	7.2 The Semitics of ši
	7.3 Implications for Arabic
	7.4 Implications for theory
	7.5 Processes of grammaticalization
	7.6 Degrammaticalization of ši
	7.7 Derivational pathways of grammatical ši
	7.8 A reassertion of theory: Croft’s Cycle, not Jespersen’s
	7.9 A reaffirmation of an assumption: negating with mā is early
	7.10 Conclusion
8. On explanation and theory in Arabic linguistics
	8.1 Formal approaches to Arabic: mistaken, misplaced, and misguided
	8.2 Formal approaches to grammatical ši
	8.3 Negator -š and negative polarity
	8.4 Conclusion
Afterword
Appendix: Points of divergence between written and spoken Arabic
References
Index
OXFORD STUDIES IN DIACHRONIC AND HISTORICAL LINGUI STICS