Arabic-L:LING:ja ‘ala+ object+verb

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 03 Sep 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:ja‘ala+ object+verb
2) Subject:ja‘ala+ object+verb

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1)
Date: 03 Sep 2007
From:Waheed Samy <wasamy at umich.edu>
Subject:ja‘ala+ object+verb

I am quite comfortable with the verb جعل followed by a مضارع,  
which is used to mean to make someone do something.  I don't think  
it's something new; at least in Egyptian Arabic there is the  
extremely common equivalent with khalla خلاّ / خلّى.

Waheed

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2)
Date: 03 Sep 2007
From:"Dr. M Deeb" <muhammaddeeb at gmail.com>
Subject:ja‘ala+ object+verb

Purists Arabs and Arabists (among whom I count myself) would object  
to the
structure of (ja'ala + object + verb) as it falls beyond the range of  
the
verb's classical senses and applications: (1) an ordinary doubly  
transitive
verb; (2) one of a cluster commonly known as "appropinquation  
verbs" ( أفعال
المقاربة /af'aal al- muqaarabah), for which we use a simpler  
term, i.e.,
inceptive verbs; (3) a member of another cluster called ( أفعال  
القلوب /
af'aal al-quluub), denoting mental perception (as contrasted to  
physical).

To cut otiosity, Michael Schub turns (ja'altuh yafham) into (afhamtuh).
This correct short-hand structure is probably easy with some, but not  
all,
triliteral verbs, and increasingly difficult with derived verbal
forms.  Examples of (a) a triliteral verb: (ja'altuh yashkuruni),
(muHaaDaratii ja'alat aT-Tullaab yu'jabuun bi T.S. Eliot), (b) derived
forms: iHtilaalu al-'iraaqi ja'ala al-'aalama yastankiru ad- 
dimuqraatiyyat
al-amriiikiyyah).  Here is the Arabic, if it survives electronic  
garbling:

(جعلته يشكرني)
   ( محاضراتي جعلت الطلاب يُعجبون   
بإليوت)
( احتلال العراق جعل العالم يستنكر  
الديموقراطية الأمريكية )

Mike's paradigm of "afhamtuh," in lieu of ("ja'altuhu yafham) would  
not help
much here, even if one uses circuitous structures.  Such difficulties  
must
have prompted old practitioners of Arabic to coin this convenient and
serviceable structure.   Apart from grammar, the structure in  
question is
not untenable on semantic grounds, if one construes "ja'alahu yafham" as
"Sayyarahu qaadiran 'ala al-fahm," being it understood that the sense of
"Sayyara" (to induce s.o. to become s.o. or sth. else) is inherent in  
verb
"ja'ala."

Without defending the structure "ja'ala + object + verb," I would  
argue that
there is a not too subtle distinction between "ja'altuhu yafham" and
"afhamtuhu." The former entails an effort and probably time for  
making him
understand whereas the latter takes little or no effort in the process.

Finally, for what it is worth, Hans Wehr, like most lexicographers,  
records
this register without any comment.

MD
--
M. Deeb

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End of Arabic-L:  03 Sep 2007
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