Arabic-L:LING:sa- and sawfa

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 11 Mar 2009
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1) Subject:sa- and sawfa
2) Subject:sa- and sawfa
3) Subject:sa- and sawfa
4) Subject:sa- and sawfa
5) Subject:sa- and sawfa

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1)
Date: 11 Mar 2009
From:wasamy at UMICH.EDU
Subject:sa- and sawfa

Hello Nancy.
I tell my students that they are the same.
Waheed

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2)
Date: 11 Mar 2009
From:Dilworth Parkinson <dil at byu.edu>
Subject:sa- and sawfa

I did a corpus study of sa- and sawfa based on a modern newspaper corpus

“Future Variability: A Corpus Study of Arabic Future Particles.”  
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XV.  Edited by Dilworth Parkinson  
and Samira Farwaneh. 2003.  pp. 191-211.

I really found no evidence that they are used to refer to near vs far  
future in modern newspapers, but a lot of evidence that they are  
different in other ways.

dil

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3)
Date: 11 Mar 2009
From:Sana N Hilmi <shilmi at gmu.edu>
Subject:sa- and sawfa

yes, I do that.
I tell my students if they are planning on graduating within a month  
but will start working after six months, use the sa- for the nearer  
action.

take care,
Sana

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4)
Date: 11 Mar 2009
From:Muhammad Aziz <muhammad.aziz at yale.edu>
Subject:sa- and sawfa

Hi Nancy,
1.     1. As you said the “sîn” (سَ  ) is used for the near  
future whereas “sawfa” ( سوفَ )  is used for the distant future.

2.      2. “sawfa” ( سوفَ ) is more formal while  
“sa” (سَ  ) is both formal and informal since it appears in the  
Qur’an, Arabic literature, with less in daily life
(because of a slight transformation to a different letter according to  
the dialect, i.e, in Egypt “hâ” (ح  ) while,  for instance, in  
some Yemeni dialects it is “’ayn” ( ع ).

3.    3. The “sîn” (سَ  ) is an abbreviation of  
“sawfa” ( سوفَ )  and is called the particle of  
“tanfîs” (amplification).

4.    4.  The “sîn” (سَ  ) is used for a quick response while  
“sawfa” ( سوفَ )  can be used for a delayed response.

5.      5. It is already known that the “sîn” (سَ  ) is always  
prefixed to the imperfect verb whereas “sawfa” ( سوفَ )  is  
never prefixed.

6.    6.  Finally, I always find it easier, especially, for first year  
students to say that the difference between the “sîn” (سَ  ) and  
“sawfa” ( سوفَ ) is like the difference between “will” and  
“shall”. “will” works very well for the “sîn” (سَ  )  
while “shall” works very well for “sawfa” ( سوفَ ), though  
some scholars may opt for the other way round, i.e., the  
“sîn”(سَ  ) for “shall” and “sawfa” ( سوفَ ) for  
“will”. At any case, these are just some quick thoughts.
Muhammad Aziz

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4)
Date: 11 Mar 2009
From:Douja Mamelouk <doujamamelouk at gmail.com>
Subject:sa- and sawfa

Even though al-kitaab does not mention the difference between sa and  
sawfa, I tell my students about the 'distance' rule that several Arab  
grammarians mention.  It makes sense to them, since there are more  
letters in sawfa for the distant future as opposed to sa.  I also  
explain to them that the use of sa and sawfa is more fluid and  
flexible in MSA today.




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End of Arabic-L:  11 Mar 2009