16.2636, Review: Textbook/Semitic Lang: Schulz (2005), 2nd review

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-2636. Mon Sep 12 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.2636, Review: Textbook/Semitic Lang: Schulz (2005), 2nd review

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1)
Date: 06-Sep-2005
From: Rebecca Molloy < becky at molloys.net >
Subject: A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 21:13:33
From: Rebecca Molloy < becky at molloys.net >
Subject: A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic 
 

AUTHOR: Schulz, Eckehard
TITLE: A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2005
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-407.html 

Rebecca B. Molloy, unaffiliated scholar

In what follows is a description of the contents of a grammar guide for 
Modern Standard Arabic. This description, which essentially is a 
revised table of contents, is a comment on the book's claim that it is 
accessible, concise, practical and user-friendly. Enumeration was 
added to the book's table of contents to help clarify the actual 
structure of the book. Question marks were used to mark questionable 
classification and are usually followed by a brief comment in brackets.

Part I: Letters, pronunciation, auxiliary signs, writing
1.1 The characters and their pronunciation
1.2 Auxiliary signs (vowels and other signs)
1.3 Alphabet
1.4 Spelling of Hamza
1.5 Stress
1.6 Radical, Root, Pattern

Part II: Verbs
2.1. Sound verbs
a. Perfect tense
b. Imperfect/indicative
c. Moods of the imperfect tense (subjunctive and jussive)
d. Imperative
e. Passive voice
2.2 Derived forms of the verbs
2.3 Hamza verbs 
2.4 Doubled verbs 
2.5 Weak verbs 
2.6 Assimilated verbs 
2.7 Hollow verbs 
2.8 Defective verbs
a. Quadriliteral Verbs (?) [This group of verbs does not belong under 
Defectives; rather it is a separate group]

Part III: Nouns
3.1 Primary and Derived Nouns (Deverbatives)
3.2 Infinitives (?) [Better described as verbal nouns, should be 
discussed under Deverbatives, not under primary nouns and then 
again separately here p. 58]
3.3 Participles (?) [Better described as agent and patient nouns, 
should be under Deverbatives; the subsection on Participle as 
Nominal Predicate pp. 72-74 should be discussed in the fourth part of 
the book on Syntax]
3.4 Nouns of Intensity (?) [There is no real need to introduce these 
nouns as a group at this point in the course of study p. 74]
3.5 Nouns of Place and Time (?) [should be under Deverbatives; 
together with Nouns of Instruments these nouns are discussed again 
in a section on Adverbial constructs pp. 151-153]
3.6 Nouns of Instruments, Vehicles and Vessels (?) [Should be under 
Deverbatives]
3.7-3.11 Collective Nouns, Generic Collective Nouns, Collectives 
Proper, Names of Nationalities and Proper Names (?) [This is a case 
of over-classification pp 80-81. There is no need to introduce these 
nouns as separate groups or patterns at this point in the course of 
study]
3.12 Diminutives
3.13 Adjectives
3.14- 3.17 Relative Adjectives, The Feminine Nisba, Adjectives of 
Color and Defect (?) [These groups belong under Adjectives p. 83]
3.18- 3.19 Adverbs and Adverbial Constructions, Interrogative 
Adverbs (?) [Adverbs should be discussed under a different section 
on Particles and Conjunctions, mainly because of the way Adverbs are 
constructed in Arabic, the most common are made of prepositions and 
nouns of place, time, manner, and others. Unfortunately the book 
introduces prepositions and particles later on beginning on p. 103. 
Nouns of Time, Place and Purpose that make up the adverb are 
introduced again in Part IV on Syntax pp. 151-153]
3.20 Pronouns
a. Personal Pronouns
b. Affixed Pronouns
c. Independent Direct Object Pronouns
d. Demonstrative Pronouns
e. Relative pronouns
f. Interrogative Pronouns and Particles
3.21- 3.22 Prepositions and Particles (?) [should not be discussed 
under Nouns; A separate part in the book should have been devoted 
to particles, prepositions and conjunctions.] 
3.23 Gender and Number [this section includes a discussion on 
plurals]
3.24 Dual
3.25 Declension and Nunation (?) [was discussed already on p. 4 
under Writing]
3.26- 3.28 Diptotes, Indeclinable Nouns and the Five Nouns

Part IV: Syntax
4.1 [no section title- this section introduces several different topics 
indicating a conflation of formal, functional and grammatical categories]
a. The [definite] article
b. Construct (?) [better defined as Annexation] and Genitive
c. Improper Annexation
d. Genitive with /dhuu/ and /dhaat/ (?)[Better discussed in a section on 
Pronouns]
e. Comparison (elative)
f. Everybody, All, Whole (?) [Better discussed in a subsection of 
Annexation]
g. Appositions
h. Quasi-, Semi-, half-, non- quarter- (?) [Also a subsection of 
Annexation]
i. Accusative
i.1 Accusative object
i.2 Direct Object
i.3 Cognate Accusative
i.4 - i.6 Adverbs of Time, Place, and Purpose (?) [already introduced 
under Nouns]
i.7 /Haal/ accusative
i.7.1 The /Haal/ clause
i.8 Accusative of Specification
i.9 Predicate Complement in the Accusative
i.10 Subject in the Accusative (?) [the author discusses this again two 
pages later under Particles followed by the Accusative]
i.11-i.21 These topics introduce instances in which a noun is put in the 
accusative
i.22 Doubly Transitive Verbs (?) [at this point in the discussion (p. 158) 
the author has not yet introduced Transitivity except via the 
presentation of the direct object p. 151]
i.23 The passive voice of the doubly transitive verbs (?) [should be 
presented as part of the previous section and not as a separate 
discussion]
j. Negation (?) [Probably should be discussed in conjunction with 
Particles and/or types of sentences]
4.2 Types of sentences (?) [as this section deals with basic concepts 
and structures of Arabic it would be much better suited in the 
beginning of the chapter on Syntax]
a. Nominal Sentences
b. Verbal Sentences
c. The Tenses and the use of /kaana/
d. The Sisters of /kaana/
e. The sisters of /kaada/
f. Objective Clauses (?) [this topic is introduced long after presenting 
the uses of the Accusative, the Direct Object, and Transitivity; it is thus 
yet another example of the conflation of categories and general 
chaotic state of the book].
g. Word Order (?) [better suited for the beginning of the chapter on 
Syntax rather than here p. 185]
h.- s. there are 12 more types of sentences, clauses and particles that 
are introduced and need not be mentioned here.
4.3 - 4.4 Cardinal numbers and Ordinal numbers (?) [perhaps it is 
better to discuss numbers in a separate chapter devoted to Numerals 
or in a separate section in the context of nouns].

The book describes itself as an accessible grammar that provides a 
concise and user-friendly guide to the structure of Modern Standard 
Arabic. Using familiar terminology and keeping theory to a minimum, 
the description continues, it is suitable for beginners as well as 
students at a more advanced level. The hope is expressed that being 
clearly organized and practical, the book will be a reference resource 
for all learners and teachers of Modern Standard Arabic. 

Unfortunately, however well-intentioned, the author's "keeping theory 
to a minimum" hampers rather than helps. With the above description 
of the book in mind, it appears that refusing to introduce "theory" does 
not simplify the material at all. Instead, it breaks the logic of the matter 
and makes it impractical and harder to follow especially for a beginner. 
Furthermore, some of the material is defined and categorized in 
sections and sub-sections that are not clearly or properly marked for 
their level in the text. This becomes apparent in the table of contents 
which is supposed to be a precise skeletal depiction of the material, 
but alas it betrays the lapses in the book's organization. For starters, it 
would be a much easier read if chapters, sections and subsections 
were numbered and itemized in the text and in the table of contents. 
Currently levels are merely noted in the table of contents with two 
different font styles and indents. Titles of the four main parts of the 
book are bold and centered, while the titles of the sections within are 
bold and aligned left. This format makes the table of contents "user-
unfriendly" and no doubt overwhelms the reader.

Symptoms of this major problem of poor ordering of information and 
insufficient internal references abound. Many of them were noted in 
the description of the contents above. The survey of nominal 
declension paradigms appears in the middle of the book, the definite 
article is introduced rather late in the fourth part on Syntax, and the 
discussion of nominal morphological categories starts on page 113, 
long after the discussion on concordance began on page 83. On page 
157, there is a subsection on "Subjects in the Accusative" after the 
particles ['inna], ['anna], etc. It is followed by ten more subsections 
dealing with other uses of the accusative. Then on page 160, the 
author revisits the topic and devotes a subsection to "Particles 
Followed by the Accusative ['akhawaatu 'inna]", the kind of information 
the reader should have been given while being taught about subjects 
in the accusative.

In a previous review of this book on LINGUIST 
(http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-2221.html#1), the reviewers O. 
Smrz and I. Kourilova note that bound or dependent pronouns seem 
to be confused by the author. the book introduces bound pronouns 
as "direct object pronouns" (93). Within that context the reader is told 
[y] is the 1st person singular form for direct object pronouns, which is 
incorrect. It should be [nii]; unfortunately, this form is missing all 
together in the discussion of bound pronouns and in fact, as far as 
this reviewer can tell, it is missing entirely from the book. Rather [y], 
i.e. [ii] and [ya], are possessive pronouns and the discussion should 
have been entitled as such. Not only do we find here lack of proper 
classification which of course hurts the order of the material, but it also 
results in a fairly big error in the description of the grammar. Separate 
subsections under Pronouns should have been allotted to unbound 
(independent, free) pronouns, direct object (dependent) pronouns 
and possessive (oblique) pronouns.

On page 45 concerning the past tense of defective verbs, the author 
sidetracks to explain how ['alif maqsuura], found in defective verbs, 
transforms into ['alif] in nouns followed by dependent pronouns. This 
explanation is irrelevant to the description of the verbs in these 
circumstances, and as Smrz and Kourilova mention in their review, the 
transformation itself is governed by over-arching rules of Arabic 
phonology and orthography which are not discussed under a separate 
subsection in the book.

Two last comments. First, it is rather surprising that there is no 
bibliography referring to the grammars, dictionaries and other sources 
used by the author during the preparation of the book. Neither is there 
any reading list of recommended literature for advanced study. 
Second, the book contains dozens of spelling mistakes and 
vocalization mistakes in the Arabic script, e.g. /al-fi'lu ghayru al-
muta'addiiyu/ instead of /al-muta'addii/, and /bi-.suuratin ghayri 
rasmiiyin/ instead of /rasmiiyatin/, while there is no transliterated 
counterpart that might otherwise settle the questionable cases and 
explain some as inadvertent typographical error. For a student, there 
is no way of discovering that for instance the patterns of passive 
participles /mad'uwun/ and /mad'uwatun/ on page 65 are wrong. Both 
forms should have had shaddas (emphasis marker) on the /w/. 

There are some positive aspects that should be noted. The book 
gives a detailed description of all types of sentences, and numerous 
tables provide a pretty thorough presentation of verbs and nouns. The 
most familiar grammatical terms are given in Arabic as well as in 
English in order to help students identify them, and the index is also 
presented in both languages for cross referencing. Each pattern or 
rule described is in fact illustrated with plenty of examples from what is 
defined in the preface as contemporary Arabic used in newspapers, 
magazines, business communication and the internet, as well as from 
Arabic literary texts.

REFERENCES

M. G. Carter (1991), Arabic Reference Tables: A manual of the 
Essential Features of Arabic Grammar, New York University: 
unpublished.

O. Smrz and I. Kourilova (2005), Review of E. Schulz, A Student 
Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. LINGUIST List 16.2221. 

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Rebecca B. Molloy, Ph.D. is an unaffiliated scholar. Her main research 
interests are medieval Arabic grammatical theory (particularly, aspects 
of Transitivity), Islamic legal reasoning, Qur'an, and Arabic semantic 
theory.





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