<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">------------------------------------------------------------------------</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Arabic-L: Wed 302 May 2007</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <<A href="mailto:dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu">dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu</A>></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[To post messages to the list, send them to <A href="mailto:arabic-l@byu.edu">arabic-l@byu.edu</A>]</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:listserv@byu.edu">listserv@byu.edu</A> with first line reading:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> unsubscribe arabic-l ]</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-------------------------Directory------------------------------------</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1) Subject:Test Message #1</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Date: 30 May 2007</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From:moderator</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Subject:Test Message #1</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[Dr. Deeb's original formatting]</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic"> </FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"> </P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>On the "broken plurals," my colleague, Dr. Schub, raises a few probing questions:</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>(1) He wonders why the plural / أسباط / is used instead of the singular / سبط / in the qur'anic verse: / وقطّعناهم اثنتي عشرة أسباطا أمما /, VII: 160. </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 48px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>I'm afraid there is no violation of the grammatical code here. We are to be alerted that / أسباطا / is not a noun of distinction /تمييز /; rather, it is a noun in apposition / بدل / to the number / اثنتي عشرة /. As a relevant detail, may I add that even the masculine singular / سبط / would not fit as a noun of distinction after the feminine composite number / اثنتي عشرة /. Exegetes and grammarians construe the verse as:</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"> </P><DIV style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>/ اثنتي عشرة ، أسباطا أمما [ فرقا] قطّعناهم /.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><P style="text-align: auto;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> </P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>Incidentally, the word / سبط / has / سُبطان / as another, yet rarely used, plural of abundance.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>(2) As I probably had pointed out in one of my earlier posts on the "broken plurals," the sound feminine and masculine plurals are plurals of abundance, yet they may be used to indicate paucity either (a) by default or (b) on contextual and syntactic grounds. The word / مرة / has several plurals, the most common of which are /مرات / & / مِرار /, the latter being a broken plural of abundance. Thus, the sentence / رأيته مرات / would mean "I've seen him" anywhere from three times to infinity, whilst /رأيته مرارا / emphasizes the more repeated action of seeing as counting starts from eleven to infinity. All that notwithstanding, practitioners of Arabic don't use pocket calculators!</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"> </P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> (In parenthesis, I'm often tempted to think of / مرار / as a verbal noun, not a plural , which is lexically justified.)</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"> </P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"> </P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>(3) On /آلاف / (plural of paucity) & / ألوف / (plural of multiplicity or abundance), Dr. Schub observes correctly that / ألوف / "is found in contexts meaning 'thousands upon thousands,' etc." Unfortunately, with the disturbing Arabic illiteracy and growing use of local dialects, very few, if at all, would tell the distinction between plural forms, let alone use them properly.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"> </P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>With my 'abundant' and kind regards.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>--------</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B>* MD</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B> </B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times New Arabic" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><B><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--------------------------------------------------------------------------</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">End of Arabic-L: 30 May 2007</DIV></BODY></HTML>