Arabic-L:LING:Apposition

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 25 Mar 2008
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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-------------------------Directory------------------------------------

1) Subject:Apposition
2) Subject:Apposition

-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 25 Mar 2008
From: "Francesco Leggio" <f.leggio at email.it>
Subject:Apposition

There is another very common occurrence of asas in this position: al- 
Hajar al-asas. It is quite similar to the use of wasaT in some cases  
as in : al-Hall al-wasat , or the coranic verse:

وكذلك جعلناكم أمة وسطاً
[wkvlk jclnAkm LmQ wsTA]

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2)
Date: 25 Mar 2008
From:BearMeiser at aol.com
Subject:Apposition

In classical Arabic grammar, it is OK to use a noun as an adjective if  
its
underlying meaning is actually adjectival, or is the nisba version of  
that noun.
Sibawayh did not like this type of construction, and called it "ugly and
weak", and Abbas Hasan says to stay away from it wherever possible.  
Examples given
in grammar references include "rajulun fir'aun al-'adhab" in which  
"fir'aun"
can be reinterpreted as "qaasi," and "sharibtu dawaa'an 'asalan" in  
which
'asalan can be reinterpreted as "ladhidhan" or "sukriyyan" or  
"'asaliyyan"

I remember seeing years ago a Batman comic book in Arabic in which  
"Batman"
was translated as "al-Rajul al-WaTwaaT." This would be a perfectly  
legitimate
Arabic construction, according to the grammarians, since it can be  
construed as
meaning in its underlying form "al-rajul al-waTwaaTi" ("the  
chiropteran man")

Thus, many of these types of constructions are not really badals but a  
type
of adjective. That is certainly the case with "al-qaDiyya al-asaas,"  
which can
be thought of as "al-qaDiyya al-asaasiyya." "al-Lugha al-Umm" is a bit
tougher, and it might be better to call that one a badal.

In the pages Prof. Parkinson references, Ryding includes a similar  
phrase
"al-sharika al-umm" as an example of "apposition," and pretty much all  
of the
examples of apposition she gives are what Arab grammarians would call  
badal.

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