Arabic-L:LING:Needs refs on semantic values of plurals

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 23 Apr 2007
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1) Subject:Needs refs on semantic values of plurals

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1)
Date: 23 Apr 2007
From:Ignacio Ferrando Frutos <ignacio.ferrando at uca.es>
Subject:Needs refs on semantic values of plurals

When a given singular noun has more than one form of plural, these
forms usually carry on different semantic values. In some of these
cases the first plural form is used for small numbers, according
to the detailed treatment of this subject by Siibawayhi, like
shahr "month" which has ashhur "a few months" and shuhuur "months"
(supposedly mor then ten). The same may be observed in alf
"thousand", which gives aalaaf "a few thousands" and uluuf
"thousands" (mor then ten). But the nouns in which this contrast
remains productive in modern usage of Arabic are very few. Other
types of semantic discrimination may be proposed, like specific or
concrete vs. genral or abstract (wajh has wujuuh "faces" and awjuh
"aspects"). Other samples are taHliil which has taHaaliil
"analyses, mainly tehcnical, clynical or medical" and taHliilaat
(used, I think, mainly for critical writings), or taSriiH, which
gives taSaariiH "permissions" and TaSriiHaat "statments". Many
other cases could be added to the list (baHth-buHuuth-abHaath,
mushkila-mashali-mushkilaat, imra`a-nisaa`-niswa, ax-ixwaan-ixwa),
to mention but a few.
Do you know any literature, any paper, both in Arab and Western
scholarship, dealing with this interesting phenomenon? Any idea on
the question? I'm mainly interested in the synchronic angle,
trying to know if a principle or a rule governs the motivation and
choice of one meaning for one of the plural forms and another
different meaning for the other form.
Many thanks in advance,

Ignacio Ferrando
Cádiz (Spain)

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End of Arabic-L:  23 Apr 2007