Arabic-L:LING:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Fri 12 Feb 2009
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1) Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous
2) Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous
3) Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous
4) Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous
5) Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

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1)
Date: 12 Feb 2009
From:Uri Horesh <uri.horesh at fandm.edu>
Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

'm assuming this isn't specifically what you were talking about, but  
Levantine dialects (probably most notable the dialect of Damascus)  
have a /m-/ prefix for 1st person plural verbs. It is merely the  
result of phonological assimilation:

b --> m /_n

E.g.: bnoktob --> mnoktob 'we write'.

To be precise, these prefixes don't denote any particular time/tense,  
but rather the indicative mood.

Another instance of this phonological assimilation is the adverb / 
bnoob/ '[not] at all', which is often pronounced [mnoob] in Damascene.

I, for one, would like to hear more about these Central Asian dialects.

Thanks,
Uri
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2)
Date: 12 Feb 2009
From:Robert Ratcliffe <ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp>
Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

Dear Keri, a very interesting question. I think its the first time I  
have seen Central Asian Arabic refered to on this list. Of course you  
have b- assimilating to the n- of the 1pl. maker and becoming m- in  
Damascus (mi-n-kitib "we are writing" or "will write") and I'm not  
sure how much farther afield. My best guess (Ratcliffe 2005) is that  
the Central Asian m- (as in: eysh kom m-isuun "they were making  
bread") either reflects a similar assimilation of b- plus analogic  
extension or it's borrowed from the Persian present progressive mi-.  
Of course you have a bunch of these little particles filling this  
function, d- in Iraq, k- and t- in Morocco, etc. and the etymologies  
are fairly obscure in most cases, so it could be an independent  
development of something else. If you come up with a better  idea let  
us know.

Ratcliffe. R. 2005. "Bukhara Arabic: a Metatypized Dialect of Arabic  
in Central Asia." in Csato, Isaksson and Jahani, eds. Linguistic  
Convergence and Areal Diffusion, case studies from Iranian, Semitic,  
and Turkic. RoutledgeCurzon: London.

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3)
Date: 12 Feb 2009
From:"A. Ferhadi" <af3 at nyu.edu>
Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

Dear Keri,

In Iraqi Arabic the prefix /da-/ is used in the same way the prefix / 
b-/ is used in Egyptian and Levantine Arabic to for the present  
continuous/progressive as exemplified in the affirmative,  
interrogative and negative below:

da-yibchi "He is crying."

lesh da-tSayyiH  "Why are you screaming?"

ma da-asma9 "I am not hearing."


Ahmed Ferhadi

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4)
Date: 12 Feb 2009
From:Steve Robertson <stevebinrobert at gmail.com>
Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

  think you are unlikely to find other dialects that use /m-/ as a  
indicator of present continuous due to its likely origin in what is  
now the present/future marker in Persian (/mi-/ in Persian, /me-/ in  
Tajik). I have only heard of it being used in the dialects in  
Uzbekistan and the related dialects in the Balkh region of Afghanistan.

As for other dialects using /m-/, it is used as a phonemic variant of / 
b-/ in the environment of /n/ in the first person plural of verbs in  
Syrian Arabic, e.g. /mniktub/, /mnidrus/, /mniHki/, /mnit3ashsha/

Hope this helps,

Steve Robertson

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5)
Date: 12 Feb 2009
From:Afra Al-Mussawir <afraalmussawir at yahoo.com>
Subject:Arabic Dialects with /m-/ prefix for present continuous

Dear Keri,
To answer your question directly: no, I don't know of any dialects of  
Arabic which use /m/ as a progressive marker for verbs.

However, the Baghdadi dialect I know best uses /d/ as such a marker.  
Given Iraq's historical geographical and political position between  
the Middle East and Asia, you may find this fact meaningful.

Best,
Afra Al-Mussawir

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