Nominal targets and individuation in Qurʾānic Arabic agreement variation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.10858Abstract
Qurʾānic Arabic is characterised by a highly complex agreement system. This system is commonly regarded as a transitional stage in a process that affected the high register of the written/literary language from (before) the 6th to the 10th century CE, namely the spread and (almost) obligatorisation of deflected (i.e., f.sg.) agreement with nonhuman plural controllers, and its counterpart, i.e., the receding and (almost complete) loss of plural agreement in the same contexts. Consequently, Qurʾānic Arabic agreement with nonhumans shows a high rate of agreement variation: mainly f.sg., f.pl. and c.g.pl, but also marginal m.sg. and m.pl. The present study takes a synchronic perspective on Qurʾānic agreement and aims to provide a detailed account of the factors that lead to the choice of each agreement value and, thus, to their relative distribution. The focus is laid exclusively on nominal targets (to the exclusion of verbal and pronominal ones) because they are the most conservative, i.e. the richest in plural agreement, and therefore display the most complex agreement patterns. The description is based on a full-text study of the Qurʾān and aims to identify all factors, semantic-pragmatic and formal, involved in determining the agreement outcome. However, particular attention is paid to agreement-relevant “individuating factors” (e.g., quantification, animacy, physical prominence) and their multifaceted manifestations. A thorough analysis is provided of how the individuating factors interact with each other and with the more formal type of agreement-relevant factors (controller and target morphology, syntax, stylistics) in determining the agreement outcome. The description proceeds along the different derivational types of nominal targets (elative, colour and form adjective, participle, verbal adjective). It culminates in postulating a specifically Qurʾānic “agreement hierarchy of nominal targets,” which, for each type of nominal target, reflects its plural-affinity vs. accessibility to individuating effects.
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