Properties of the Arabic language
5.4 Testing Levin’s Alternations for Arabic
5.4.9 Other constructions
5.4.9.1 Cognate object construction (332) a. Sara smiled.
b. Sara smiled a charming smile. (Levin,1993, 95–96)
(333) a. naama t
˙-t
˙ifl-u.
slept DEF-child-NOM
‘The child slept.’
b. naama t
˙-t
˙ifl-u nawm-an camiiq-an.
slept DEF-child-NOMsleep-ACC-IND deep-ACC-IND
‘The child slept a deep sleep.’
(334) a. yaciiˇsu l-kalb-u.
lives DEF-dog-NOM
‘The dog lives’
b. yaciiˇsu l-kalb-u ciiˇsat-an muriih
˙at-an.
lives DEF-dog-NOM life-ACC-IND comfortable-ACC-IND
‘The dog lives a comfortable life’
(335) a. ˙ganna-t salmaa.
sang Salma
‘Salma sang.’
b. ˙ganna-t salmaa Pu ˙gniyat-an.
sang Salma song-ACC-IND
‘Salma sang a song.’
(336) a. Pah
˙abba s-saaPih
˙-u l-madiinat-a.
liked DEF-tourist-NOM DEF-city-ACC
‘The tourist liked the city’
b. Pah
˙abba s-saaPih
˙-u l-madiinat-a h
˙ub-an kabiir-an liked DEF-tourist-NOM DEF-city-ACC love-ACC-INDbig-ACC-IND
‘The tourist liked the city (* a big love)’
(337) a. sallah
˙aa-t l-h
˙ukuwmat-u l-jayˇs-a.
armed-F DEF-government-NOM DEF-troops-ACC
‘The government armed the troops.’
a. sallah
˙aa-t l-h
˙ukuwmat-u l-jayˇs-a tajohiiz-an armed-F DEF-government-NOM DEF-troops-ACC arming-ACC-IND
jayyid-an.
good-ACC-IND
‘The government armed the troops (* a good arming).’
Comment:
The cognate object construction is the most frequent alternation in Arabic. Almost all verbs can be used in a cognate object construction including transitive verbs and verbs with an oblique object.1
A cognate object is a noun with a zero-relation to the verb and can be modified by an adjective. The frequency of the cognate alternation can be explained with the productive derivational morphology of Arabic, which permits each verb to possess one or more nominal (deverbal) forms. However, despite the frequency of the cognate object construction, Arabic imposes restrictions on its usage. For instance, a cognate object is not allowed to appear as second object of verbs with a dative object like Pact
˙aa ‘give’. We will treat this construction with more detail as part of Arabic-specific alternations in section 6.4.1.
5.4.9.2 Cognate preposition construction (338) a. Kelly buttered the bread.
b. * Kelly buttered the bread with butter.
c. Kelly buttered the bread with unsalted butter. (Levin,1993, 96–97) (339) dahana ‘smear’ verbs: Pat
˙t
˙ara ‘perfume’, Paljama ‘bridle’, cas
˙aba ‘ban-dage’,cat
˙t
˙ara‘perfume’,canwana ‘entitle’, ˇsah
˙h
˙ama‘grease’, ˇsammaca‘wax’,
˙gabbara ‘powder’, h
˙ajjaba ‘cloak’, t
˙ayyaba ‘perfume’, bahhara ‘flavour’, bawdara ‘powder’, dat
¯t
¯ara ‘cover’, dahana ‘grease’, dama ˙ga ‘postmark’, fal-fala ‘pepper’, kallala ‘garland’, kammama ‘muzzle’, mallah
˙a‘salt’, marhama
1That is why no verb classes are listed
‘pomade’, qat
˙rana ‘tar’, qayyara ‘tar’, rammala ‘sand’, sadda‘cork’, sakkara
‘sugar’, sammama ‘poison’, saqqafa ‘roof ’, sarraja ‘saddle’, tanbara ‘post-mark’, tawwaja ‘crown’, zaffata ‘asphalt’, zayyata ‘oil’, . . .
(340) a. saqqafa l-bannaaP-u l-manozil-a.
roofed DEF-builder-NOM DEF-house-ACC
‘The builder roofed the house.’
b. * saqqafa l-bannaaP-u l-manozil-a bi-saqf-in
roofed DEF-builder-NOM DEF-house-ACC with-roof-GEN-IND
* ‘The builder roofed the house with a roof.’
b. saqqafa l-bannaaP-u l-manozil-a bi-saqf-in
roofed DEF-builder-NOM DEF-house-ACC with-roof-GEN-IND
xaˇsabiy-in.
wooden-GEN
‘The builder roofed the house with a wooden roof .’
(341) tajaworaba ‘wear sock’ verbs: Piddaraca‘wear a cuirass’, tacammama
‘wear a turban’, tah
˙ajjaba ‘wear a veil’, tah
˙azzama ‘wear a belt’, tat
˙arbaˇsa
‘wear a tarboosh’, tabarqaca ‘wear a veil’, tadarraca ‘wear an cuirass’, ta-jawraba ‘wear socks’, tamact
˙afa ‘wear a jacket’, tamantaqa ‘wear a belt’, tanaqqaba ‘wear a veil’, taqalnasa ‘wear a cap’, taqammas
˙a ‘wear a shirt’, tasarwala ‘wear pants’, . . .
(342) a. tajwraba caliy-un.
wore-socks Ali-NOM
‘Ali wore socks’
b. tajawraba caliy-un bi-jawaarib-a.
wore-socks Ali-NOM with-socks-GEN
‘Ali wore socks’
c. tajawraba caliy-un bi-jawaarib-a s
˙uufiyat-in.
wore-socks Ali-NOM with-socks-GEN woolen-GEN
‘Ali wore woolen socks’
(343) * qaˇsˇsara ‘shell’ verbs: Palh
˙aa ‘rind’, Paxs
˙aa ‘castrate’, h
˙alaba ‘milk’, Pıh˙talaba‘milk’, Pih
˙taqafa ‘debone’, Piltah
˙a ‘rinf ’, jalafa ‘rind’, lah
˙aa ‘rind’, nawaa ‘pit’, qaˇsˇsra ‘shell’, qalafa ‘rind’, qarafa ‘rind’, rayyaˇsa ‘displume’, xas˙aa‘castrate’, . . .
(344) a. qaˇsˇsara-t faatimat-u l-bat
˙aat
˙is-a.
peeled Fatima-NOM DEF-potatoes-ACC
‘Fatima peeled the potatoes.’
a. * qaˇsˇsara-t faatimat-u l-bat
˙aat
˙is-a min l-quˇsuur-i.
peeled Fatima-NOM DEF-potatoes-ACC of DEF-peels-GEN
* ‘Fatima peeled the potatoes of peels.’
(345) * dama ˙ga ‘hit on the head’ verbs: carqaba ‘hit-on-the-ankle’, d
˙alaca
‘hit-on-the-side’, dama ˙ga ‘hit-on-the-head’, jalada ‘belt’, karaca ‘hit-on-the-ankle’, qafaa ‘hit-on-the-nape’, qarana ‘hit-on-the-horn’, raPasa ‘hit-on-the-head’, caqaba ‘hit-on-the-ankle’, d
˙alaca ‘hit-on-the-rib’, h
˙aˇsaa ‘hit-on-the-stomach’, qafada ‘hit-on-the-neck’, qah
˙afa ‘hit-on-the-head’, daqana ‘hit-on-the-chin’, kacaba ‘hit-on-the-ankle’, bat
˙ana ‘hit-on-the-stomach’, jabah
˙a
‘hit-on-the-forehead’
(346) a. raPasa kariim-un xas
˙m-a-hu.
hit-on-the-head Karim-NOMadversary-ACC-his
‘Karim hit his adversary on the head.’
b. * raPasa kariim-un xas
˙m-a-hu calaa hit-on-the-head Karim-NOMadversary-ACC-his on raPs-i-hi.
head-GEN-his
‘Karim hit his adversary on the head.’
Comment:
This alternation is found with some classes of verbs with a zero-relation to nouns.
In most cases these verbs involve the meaning of putting some entity in/on some location or container. The prepositional phrase is headed by bi and its object constitutes the nominal from which the verb is derived from. However, only a
modified cognate PP is acceptable. Otherwise, the whole construction will have a high degree of redundancy, since the meaning introduced by the (unmodified) cognate phrase is already introduced by the verb.
5.4.9.3 Reaction object construction (347) a. Pauline smiled.
b. Pauline smiled her thanks. (Levin,1993, 97–98) (348) Verbs of Nonverbal expression (one verb): bakaa ‘cry’
(349) a. baka-t faat
˙imat-u.
cried-F Fatima-NOM
‘Fatima cried.’
b. baka-t faat
˙imat-u h
˙asrat-a-haa.
cried-Ffatima-NOM disappointment-ACC-her
‘Fatima cried her disappointment.’
Comment:
In Arabic, only one verb is found in this alternation. The verbbakaa ‘cry’ belongs to the class of non verbal expression, but not all verbs in this class can be used in this construction. The reaction object alternation introduces a non subcategorized object expressing a reaction (emotion or disposition). Thus, the example in (349b) can be paraphrased as “Fatima expressed her disappointment by crying”.
5.4.9.4 X’s way construction (350) Unergative Verbs:
a. They shopped their way around New York.
b. He worked his way through the book.
c. She talked her way out the class. (Levin, 1993, 99) (351) Transitive Verbs:
a. She stipulaed her way out of the problem.
b. The boy pushed his way through the crowd.
c. The explorers cut their way through the jungle.
Comment:
This construction is not found in Arabic.
5.4.9.5 Resultative construction (352) a. Pauline hammered the metal flat.
b. Jasmine pushed the door open. (Levin, 1993, 99–100) (353) a. Belinda walked the soles off her shoes.
b. Philippa cried herself to sleep. (Levin, 1993, 99–100) (354) a. The river froze solid.
b. The door slid shut. (Levin, 1993, 99–100)
(355) * h
˙afara l-flaah
˙-u l-biPr-a camiiq-an dug DEF-farmer-NOM DEF-well-ACC deep-ACC
? ‘The farmer dug the well deep.’
(356) * tajammada n-nahr-u s
˙alb-an.
foze DEF-river-NOMsold-ACC
‘The river foze solid.’
Comment:
This construction is not available in Arabic. In English, a resultative construction describes the result of an action and is realized as an XP. It is found with different types of verbs, transitive as well as intransitive (unaccusative). Arabic knows two main forms of resultative: The first form adds an unsubcategorized object to the frame of the transitive or intransitive verb as in (357a) or it adds an unsubcategorized prepositional phrase headed by the directional preposition Pilaa
‘to’ (357b). These two forms will be treated separately as part of the Arabic-specific constructions in section 6.2.10.
(357) a. mazzaqa s
˙-s
˙abiy-u l-waraqat-a PajzaaP-a ripped DEF-boy-NOM DEF-paper-ACC pieces-ACC
s˙agiirat-an.
small-ACC-IND
‘The boy ripped the paper into small pieces’
b. mazzaqa s
˙-s
˙abiy-u l-waraqat-a Pilaa PajaaP-in ripped DEF-boy-NOM DEF-paper-ACC to pieces-GEN-IND
s˙agiirat-in.
small-GEN-IND
‘The boy ripped the paper into small pieces’