Arabic-L:LING:Three new publications on Arabic

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 09 Jun 2010
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1) Subject:Three new publications on Arabic

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1)
Date: 09 Jun 2010
From:"Prof. Jonathan Owens" <jonathan.owens at uni-bayreuth.de>
Subject:Three new publications on Arabic

Please note three new publications on Arabic. The first two appear in 
the Journal of Language Contact:
http://cgi.server.uni-frankfurt.de/fb09/ifas/JLCCMS/issues-amp-articles/varia-iii-2010-/index_en.html

Andrei A. Avram
University of Bucharest
Abstract
This paper looks at Romanian Pidgin Arabic, a contact language formerly 
in use on Romanian
well sites in various locations in Iraq. The phonology, morphology, 
syntax and lexicon of the
language are described on the basis of a corpus of data collected during 
fieldwork. The data are
discussed in comparison to those from other pidgins, with various 
lexifier languages. Romanian
Pidgin Arabic is shown to exhibit features typical of the so-called 
pre-pidgins. Also discussed
are the implications of the findings for the study of pidgin and creole 
languages, in general, and
of Arabic-based contact languages in particular.

DEBATES:
Jonathan Owens
University of Bayreuth

What is a Language? : Review of Bernard Comrie, Ray Fabri, Elizabeth 
Hume, Manwel
Mifsud, Thomas Stolz & Martine Vanhove (eds.), ‘Introducing Maltese 
Linguistics.
Abstract
The notion of ‘language’ is a surprisingly fuzzy concept even among the 
community of
linguistic scholars. This is despite the fact that concepts and 
methodologies exist to give fairly
explicit characterizations of the notion. In the context of a general 
review of a book on Maltese
Linguistics, this article will address definitional issues arising out 
of the interesting historical
and socio-political reality of present-day Maltese, particularly as they 
relate to comparative and
language contact problems.

Anthropological Linguistics 51: 151-175

Stability in Subject-Verb Word Order:
From Contemporary Arabian Peninsular Arabic to Biblical Aramaic
JONATHAN OWENS
University of Bayreuth
ROBIN DODSWORTH
North Carolina State University

Abstract. This article differs from traditional treatments of 
subject-verb word
order in Semitic in two respects. First, we take as our point of departure a
detailed study of word order in contemporary Arabian Peninsular Arabic, 
which
shows that the respective order of the subject and verb in that variety 
is determined
by morpholexical and by discourse-immanent factors. From this starting
point, we work backwards, applying the same analytical framework to 
subject-verb
word order in Biblical Aramaic. Secondly, we use corpus-based quantitative
methods and regression analysis to determine the degree of similarity
between Arabian Peninsular Arabic and Biblical Aramaic. It emerges that, for
all intents and purposes, subject-verb word order in Arabian Peninsular 
Arabic
and Biblical Aramaic are governed by an identical set of morpholexical and
discourse constraints. Historical explanations for these results are 
discussed; it
is emphasized that, whether the patterns are due to common inheritance or to
diffusion, a complex pattern of word order determination is sustained 
over at
least 2,500 years of chronological time.



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End of Arabic-L: 09 Jun 2010


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