Exclamation in English and Arabic: a contrastive Study dr. Nadia Amin Hasan
Prototypical or matrix exclamatives
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Exclamation in English and Arabic A Cont
| Prototypical or matrix exclamatives The unmarked syntax for exclamatives in Arabic is what is called in Arabic grammar Qyassi: or Rule-governed. This can be dubbed exclamatives.
Ryding (2005: 518-19) states that form IV of the trilateral verbs in Traditional Arabic is used, preceded by the function word ma, to indicate surprise, wonder or astonishment at a certain quality or characteristic of someone or something. Form IV is augmented from form I by the prefixing of hamza plus fatha. It is a past non-finite verb. It has the stem pattern aC1C2aC3. It is followed by a noun in the accusative or a pronominal suffix to indicate the possessor. The verbs used in this type of construction are sometimes referred to as 'adjectival verbs'. They are also termed 'verbs of surprise or admiration' and they occur in two types of constructions on the pattern: ma ?af؟al and ?af؟el bi-hi. Examples: Type I: Ma ?akrama zaydan How generous zayd is! Ma ?a؟ðama Muhammadan How great Muhammad is! Type II: ?akrim bi-Zaydin ?a؟ð im bi-Muhammadin In the Glorious Qur'an we have: ?absir bi-hi wa ?asme؟ (Qur'an :18- 28) How well He beholds and how well He hears! (Ghali, 2008 : 296) 'Ma', in type I, is an indefinite exclamatory particle and it is the subject of the sentence. ?akram-a and ?a؟ðam-a are past non-finite verbs whose subjects are mustatir. The exclamatory objects are the two proper nouns cast in the accusative with the vowel /a/ and the nunation. In this type also, the verb may be suffixed with a pronoun that functions as the exclamatory object. It may be a second or a third person pronoun as shown in the following examples: ?ilah-ii ma ?krama-k My God how generous you are! Qutila al-?insaan-u maa ?akfar-a-h (Qur'an: 80-17} Slain be man! How disbelieving he is! (Ghali, 2008 : 585) This verb also may be augmented by the preventive 'n' or 'nuun al wyqaya'. It, then, should be suffixed by the first person pronoun i as in the following example Ma ?fqara-n-i ?ila ؟afwa allah Oh !How much I need God's forgiveness! In type II ?akrim and ?a ؟ð im are also past non-finite verbs cast in the form of an imperative to express exclamation. The letter bi- is additional and the two proper nouns are the subjects of the sentence. They are in the nominative case as subjects but they are pronounced with kasra or the vowel /i/ and nunation. The verbs used in these two types are the main verbs for exclamation. Verbs of surprise of the two above-mentioned types are formed only from trilateral verbs on condition that: 1- they are in the active voice they are capable of being fully inflected. So, we can't use verbs of praise and blame like 'ne؟ma' and 'bi?sa'. they should express an act or a state in which one person may surpass another. they shouldn't be one of the defective verbs. So, we can't use defective verbs like 'kan'. they shouldn't be one of those verbs whose adjectives are formed on the pattern ?f؟al for masculine and fa؟laa? for feminine. So, we can't use, in this construction, verbs like ħamura 'to become red' and ؟awara 'to become one-eyed' because the masculine and the feminine adjectives derived from these types of verbs are ?aħmar and ?a؟war and ħamraa? and ؟awraa? respectively. If the verb does not agree with the above conditions, there must be some recourse to a circumlocution. Thus, if the verb is augmented (e.g. tadahraja) we use a trilateral root verb that accepts this form (e.g. a?að ma), then we follow it with the masdar as in the following example: Ma ?a؟ðama tadahruja assaxra How fast this rock rolls! The same rules apply if the verb is one of the defective verbs. Ma ?ajmal-a ?esbah-a al-sama? Safiya How clear the sky is this morning! Tammam Hassan (2003: 358/9) adds that because of the confusion resulting from using these structures in interrogation and negation, Arabs resort to some techniques like dispensing with the verb of surprise and forming the structure with the tải về 54.19 Kb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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