The Types of Direct Object Glauses and their
Subordination in some Colloquial Arabic Dialects
and Classical Arabic*
By Judith Rosbnhouse, Haifa
Up to now we have not found any real attempt to investigate the
various kinds of Direct Object Clauses (henceforth : DOC) both in the
written or "Classical" Arabic level and the level of the modem coUo-
qidal dialects. It is the object of this paper to study DOC and point out
what will seem to be the main features common to most of the investi¬
gated dialects, as well as outstanding differences, thus finding their
tendencies of development. Another interesting angle to study is the
relation of DOC in the dialects to the types known for Classical Arabic.
For this paper we shall use the "Classical" grammars by Recken¬
dobf, Wbight and Brockelmann (see ref. at the end) for Classical
Arabic, and various grammars and text-collections for the modern dia¬
lects we chose to study : these are the dialects of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
Israel (Palestine), Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Malta and Mamitania
(although we have not found examples for the last three, to represent
some of the types). We thus get a general view of the Eastern and
Westem Arabic dialects (as far as we could see, the dialects in the Arab
peninsida do not show principal differences in relation to the stmctures
described here). We also used some tape-recording of Arabic-speaking
Jews from some Moroccan towns (these were made while working on the
thesis).
We intend to assume the following plan for the research : after a short
summary of the conventional opinions on DOC as viewed in Recken¬
doef's and Bbockelmann's works, we shall present om classification
of DOC types in Arabic with examples from the dialects. We shall also
compare the various subordinating conjunctions of DOC, those in Clas¬
sical Arabic and those in the dialects studied here ; finally we shall sum¬
marise the results.
* The author wishes to thank Professor H. Blanc of the Hebrew Univer¬
sity in Jerusalem for his encouragement and useful suggestions, and Profes¬
sor L. M. Davis of the University of Chioago, presently Visiting Professor
at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, for his valuable criticism and help¬
ful advice.
But before entering into a detailed discussion, we shall describe some
of the characteristics of DOC and the transitive verbs which govern
them in the Arabic language. DOC are sometimes called "complemental clauses"^, which is true on two levels : 1) the formal level — DOC are gov¬
erned by transitive verbs and thus complement the predicate in the
sentence ; 2) the semantic level — DOC complement the information trans¬
mitted in the sentence ; in the case of modal verbs*, the formal object is
semantically the real main verb.
As to the transitive verbs, they can be divided into fom groups ac¬
cording to their governments :
1) purely transitive — these verbs always govern an object,
which is or is not a clause, and cannot be used without the object. Here
we include also a sub-class of verbs requiring only verbal objects, i.e.,
DOC ; these are mainly modal verbs.
2) optionally transitive — such verbs can function also intran¬
sitively.
3) twice transitive — these verbs require two objects, with the
first a noxm or a pronoun and the second a nominal member or a DOC.
4) directly and indirectly transitive — some verbs which in
Classical Arabic require the object through a preposition (oZ-'a/'öi ai-
muia'addiya bi-gayrihä) ; in the dialects these verbs lose this preposition and appear directly transitive.
Complemental DOC can be classified into two major groups: 1) single
DOC required by the governing verb. 2) DOC as the second object ofthe
governing verb (this second object may also be a simple nominal member,
but we do not discuss this type here). Both groups are divided into two-
sub-classes, according to the types of the governing verbs (factual/
volitional; mental/physical), and these are again analysed into finer
classes, and then finally viewed from the aspect of sjTidetic/asyndetic
subordination. Thus we ultimately have 16 classes of verbs. (See below.
Table p. 22.)
Now, let us take a look at what is to be found in grammars of Classical
Arabic, and specifically the books by Beockelmann* and Recken-
doei*. Both authors deal with DOC as parts of two larger classes, namely
"Asyndetische Dass- Sätze" and "Syndetische Dass- Sätze" (asyndetic/ -\
syndetic substantive clauses). The main reason for this classification
can be understood from the titles of these chapters: DOC are really
» Cf. Cowell, p. 449.
* See below, our classification on pp. 12—13.
* Bbockelmann: Orundriß der Vergleichenden Orammatik, II, §§ 395, 404.
'Reckendoef: Arabiache Syntax, §§ 188, 189, 197; Reckiendobf: Die
Syntaktischen Verhältnisse, §§ 168, 187.
12 Judith Rosbnhouse
expansions or elaborations of the object, which is a substantive (or nom¬
inal) part of the sentence-structure. Indeed, the Arab grammarians who
developed their linguistic science defined DOC as ta'wil al-masdar, i.e.,
"explanation of the (nominal) infinitive". We may find this same
approach in the works just mentioned. Furthermore, DOC are related
to other substantive clauses" by the use of the subordinating conjimc-
tions 'an, 'anna, 'inna, as well as by mä and 'alladi (in more limited
circumstances). On a different level of analysis, there are many cases
when DOC and other substantive clauses are used without any sub¬
ordinating conjunction, so that it seems convenient to distinguish
between syndetic and asyndetic substantive clauses.
Within this general frame of chapters the various tj^es of DOC are
described according to the meanings of the governing verb (the verb of
the main clause) in such terms as verbs of swearing, of threatening, of
commanding, or verbs of the senses etc. Direct and indirect speech are
described in separate sections, although they may be governed also by
such verbs as have just been mentioned. Another section treats DOC as
the second object (accusative) of the verb (what Reckendobf calls
"accusativus cum verbo finito" after the similar "accusativus cum in¬
finitive" of Latin and other Indo-European languages).
In the present paper we suggest a different method of analysis and
description of DOC types, which seems to us to agree also with evidence
from the modern dialects. Our classification is based on the semantic
categories of the verbs governing the DOC :
I. Verbs governing a single DOC:
a. 1) factual verbs, i.e. verbs expressing certainty ofthe contents'
of the DOC subordinated to them.
2) verbs of saying, i.e. all kinds of verbs expressing transmit-
tance of communication between people. We separate this from the
former group because (1) not all verbs of saying express the same
certainty as defined for the group above, and (2) there are many
ways of transmitting information, ways which do not apply for verbs
of group 1.
b. 3) volitional verbs, i.e., verbs expressing uncertainty of the
action indicated in the DOC, however desirable it may be.
4) modal verbs, i.e., verbs which require a verbal complement-
which formally functions as DOC.
' Such as subject clauses, predicate clauses, relative clauses, genitive
clauses.
II. Verbs governing two objects, the second of which is a clause:
a. mental actions: 1) verbs ofthe heart {'apal al-qulvb); 2) verbs
of becoming {'apal at-tasyir) and volition'.
b. physical actions: 3) verbs of the 1st verbal form in Arabic;
4) verbs of other verbal forms — mainly 2nd and 4th forms;
all these verbs have causative meanings.
In the following we shall clarify these titles by additional explana¬
tions and examples (from the dialects investigated).
Factual verbs. The most common verbs of this group are: to know
{Hrif, Hlem), hear {sema'), see {Säf), find {wazad, lä'a), believe {saddaq),
think {ftakar, tann), prevent (mana'). They are used in sentences such
as the following :
Iraq: lumman sema'(a) bi'an reftgah meiiit gäm iiltem 'ala rdsah (Meiss-
NEK, p. 34.) (Als er hörte, daß sein Freimd gestorben sei, schlug er sein
Haupt.)»
Syria: maa Icsnt metsamudr 'enno ivdslet Jiassinä'a 'andkom lahaddaraze
(Feeguson-Äni, p. 251), (I didn't imagine that this industry had
reached such a level here.)
Lebanon: w-la'a 'inno 'indu bindayra (Jiha, p. 32.) (Er sah, daß er ein
Fähnchen hatte.)
Egypt: 'ana maa kuntiS 'aarif innida lean ittartiib (Mitchell, p. 105.)
(I didn't know that was the arrangement.)
Morocco: sme't kayen wahdrresturd rfi'a hna (Sa'id, p. 79.) (I heard
there's a good resturant here.)
Algeria: u-'la-balhum bylli rani mezzguw3z (MAngAis, p. 563.) (et ils
pensaient que j'etais marie.)
Mauritania: u-räni mhat^rtak dnn 'ahli mä zälu wä'in (Cohen, p. 225.)
(et je te signaie que mes parents sont encore eveill6s.)
Malta: Iconi taf li huk qal dan ? (Aquilina, p. 201.) (did you know that
your brother said this ? (p. 238).
The examples demonstrate the possibility of using or omitting the
subordinating conjunction; this point is discussed below, pp. 19—21.
Verbs of saying. We have found four ways of governing DOC by
verbs of saying: 1) direct speech. 2) indirect speech. 3) mixed speech.
4) interrogating DOC (neutral from the point of view of subordination).
' After Bravmann, § 75.
* We bring here and in the foUowing the original translations as found in
the texts; where there is no translation, we add it (in English). We should
also add that all transcriptions are left intact (including Maltese ortho¬
graphy), except for examples from Piamenta, which are written in Hebrew
characters, and transcribed by us.
14 Judith Rosbnhouse
1; 2. The differences between direct and indirect speech are usually
expressed by two kinds of formal elements : a. the use or omission of a
subordinating conjunction — its appearance usually indicates indirect
speech, while quoting direct speech is usually asyndetic, e.g., :
indirect speech:
Syria: galu 'enno fi yöm mn-dl-iyyäm (Cantineau: Horän, p. 405.)
(on dit qu'un certain jour. ..) direct speech:
Lebanon: 'ultillu: "wUTc ya 'ammi häda id-dawa ta-yuHul il mihrüb
wil-häfür (Jiha, p. 96.) (— ,,Mein Freund, das ist Medizin, um die Bazil¬
len und den Zahnstein zu beseitigen.")
Israel: qa:l : mni:n issa ja:i ? (Blanc, p. 104.) ("Where have you come
from?")
b. the forms of the various pronouns, i.e., personal pronouns, suffixed
pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, the person of the (finite) verb,
usually 3rd person, indicate indirect speech, while 1st and 2nd persons
are used in direct speech, e.g. :
indirect speech:
Egypt: webitqul-lafc hyje elli tiktib-lak elhitm (Spitta-Bey, p. 32.) (et te
fait dire que c'est elle qui t'ecrira le cachet.)
Morocco: bda kä-i'äwed-lhpm bin säf räsp mäi (Colin, p. 35.) (he began
to tell them that he'd seen himself dead.)
direct speech:
Iraq: gal linefsah ärtd ähidd {e)sru'(a)Jfaras (Meissner, p. 46.) (Da
dachte er bei sich: Ich will den Zügel meüier Stute loslassen.)
Lebanon: ruh qoi Pemmek mdnnii fddi (Feghali, p. 88.) (va dire a ta
mere que je suis occupe.)*
3. However, there may be also "mixed markers", such as a sub¬
ordinating conjunction -f 3rd person suffix followed by a verb in the
1st or 2nd person ; or, asyndetic subordination followed by a verb in the
3rd person, e.g.!
Iraq: gül li'ahüti bi'an fulän iläh hagg uiiäkun (Meissner, p. 32.) (Sag
aber zu meinen Brüdem: NN. hat das Recht mitzuerben.)
Syria: bi'dlli 'enno 'alek hnäl (Grotzfeld, p. 103.) (er sagt mir: Du
mußt noch einen Rest fertigmachen.)
'alli bdddo yähddni -(Grotzfeld, p. 103.) (er sagte mir, er wolle mich
nehmen (heiraten).)
Morocco: qül-lo ya'teni flüsi wdlla ndd'eh däba! (Colin, p. 37.) (teil him
to give me my money or I'll sue him right now.)
* The translation uses indirect speech for the direct speech in the Arabic text. However, it can be analysed also as ,, mixed speech" with the meaning of indirect speech.
This mixture may at times lead to ambiguity, when both direct and
indirect speech are equally reasonable interpretations (until the context
is considered — which may eliminate one of the possibilities.) The
"mixed syndetic" type seems to continue the Classical use of 'an al-
mufassira ("the explanatory 'an"), e.g., qäla 'an uktub (he said: write!);
but as the dialects have not preserved the syntactic distinction of Clas¬
sical Arabic between 'an and 'anna, the mentioned structure may appear
not only with 'an but also with any other form wldch serves as subordi¬
nating conjunction ('inno, 'mno etc.). Moreover, the 3rd person pronoun
affixed to the conjunction is sometimes just a fossil form, in no way con¬
nected with the actual persons of the DOC.
4. The fourth group of DOC involves the transformation of indepen¬
dent questions into a DOC introduced by a verb of saying (such as ask-
wonder, question etc.). The question may be direct or indirect — which
will be indicated by the various pronouns, as explained above. However,
the distinction between direct/indirect speech by the syndetic/asyndeti, subordination is "neutralised", because the presence of an interrogatory particle at the head of a question prevents the use of another (subordina¬
ting) particle. Yet we should note that frequently the conditional subordi¬
nating conjunction (*tza, 'in, Hia etc.) is used to introduce yes/no ques¬
tions (as happens also in French, colloquial English, Hebrew and other
languages). Here are some examples of questions as DOC:
Syria: bas'al men 'ede el-yöm (Cantineau: Palmyre, p. 238.) (je demande
qui est venu aujourd'hui.)
Israel: sa'alna ibbayaitna 'ihna li:S kull il-mga:ra mutqani. .. (Blanc,
p. 96.) (we asked oxir parents why the whole cave is properly fixed ...)
Egypt: 'aayiz as'al eeh ahammi haaga lazma lit-tayyaar'i (Haeeell:
Coil-Egypt., p. 32—1.(2).) (I want to ask, what's the most important
thing necessary to a filer?) ma-qult-iliiS lee ha-tiwsal imta'i (Haeeell,
ibid p. 38.1(3).) (why didn't you tell me when you were going to arrive ?)
Morocco: seqsih ina qyas bga (Sa'id, p. 114.) (ask him what size he
wants (wanted).)
An interesting point that came up through this inspection of verbs of
saying involves the numerous circumstances in which the verb qal(a)
(say) is used; it seems that its semantic field has become wider. It is
used:
1) in stories with the meaning "to say to oneself, think, make up one's
-mind"; e.g.,
Lebanon: uq< mauS rah yd'rfu rm^ne 'anu. (Feghali, p. 55.) (et je me
suis dit:ils ne sauront sans doute pas qui je suis.)
Morocco: qäl huua iihruz min elblad (Meissnee: Tangier, p. 61.) (Des¬
halb beschloß er, die Gegend zu verlassen. — p. 92.)
16 JXTDITH ROSENHOTJSE
2) to express assumptions, suppositions*":
Lebanon: 'ül hlisna min il-'amdlj, (Jiha, p. 86.) (Nimm an, wir sind
mit dem Weizen fertig.)
Morocco: nqülg hädi däiza (Colin, p. 21.) (Let's say this is all right
(it's so).)
3) as an "empty word" or a "connective" in stories and folk-tales:
Israel: ulissa qal ma ätaratS iSi (Piamenta, p. 77.) (and yet, to her
mind**, she has not bought anything.)
Lebanon: qäl bed^na nrüh häf yin (il parait que nous devons aller
nus-pieds.) (Feghali, p. 62.)
'ül fcanna halla' bit'ulli (Jiha, p. 73.) (VieUeicht wird sie zu mir sagen.) Morocco : qäl leh, bga ibi' u-iSri (Colin, p. 39.) (that is to say, he wanted
to sell and buy.) (The context enables us to translate the verb qäl by this
phrase.)
Volitional Verbs
Most of the books we checked give examples of this type, and mainly
of the asyndetic kind. The most common verbs included in this category
are : want, request, try, wish, desire, fear, intend etc. Most of the DOC
subordinated to these verbs are verbal, i.e., are verbs in the "subjunc¬
tive" (the yif'al form) but there occur also some „nominal" DOC (in the
sense ofthe Arab grammarians' nominal clauses, i.e., a clause beginning
with a nominal member). Incidentally, most of these nominal DOC are
also syndetic and originate from the Syro-Lebanese area. Here are some
examples of this type :
Asyndetic DOC:
Iraq : häwal ybaddil filcri (Erwin, p. 345.) (He tried to change my mind.)
Egypt: nihibbi nisma' axbaar Icwayyisa 'ankum (Harell, p. 102. (20).)
(We like to hear good news about you. (pl.).)
Morocco : ntbb Alläh dj-jlil dl-'äli ydjma' f-dl-qreb hmli m'a gzäli (JouiN,
p. 154.) (J'implore Dieu le Magnanime, le Tres-Haut, de me r6unir au
plus tot avec ma belle.)
Syndetic DOC:
Lebanon: talab minna 'innu fi sitt bihubba, w-issa 'umma may 'ärfi. ..
( Jiha, p. 72.) (und bat mich [um einem Gefallen, indem er sagte] daß es
da ein Mädchen gebe, das er liebe und dessen Mutter nichts von ihm wisse.)
Syria: w-ndhna mnatmanna mdn 'aila 'azza wa-zall, 'dnno yezma'na
b-wahde tkün bdnt haläl (Grotzfeld, p. 148.) (and we wish to God Al¬
mighty that he'll make us meet [and marry] one (girl) who'll be of a
good family.)
*° This meaning of the verb "to say" can be found in other languages as well, e.g., English, French, Hebrew.
** qäl in the 3rd person masculine form is not to be literaUy translated.
Modal Verbs
The verbs included in this class require some complement, either a
noim serving as the object of the verb or a DOC (which can be analysed
as ta'wil al-masdar of Classical Arabic). In the course of time, these verbs
have become automatically associated with the government of DOC
(rather than with a noun as the object) and semantically become "modal"
or "auxiliary", so that it is the DOC which is the main verb semantically.
Asyndetic subordination is typical of the modal verbs. Here are some
examples :
Iraq: btidaw yiStagluun bil-ma'mal il-baarha. (Ekwin, p. 344.) (They
began to work in the factory yesterday.)
Lebanon: beddi füt ma''ak Vend el-mrid (Feghali, p. 94.) (je d6sire
entrer avec toi chez le malade.)
Israel : kif baqdar 'awsal hunäk ? (Piamenta, p. 22.) (How can I reach
there?) >
Morocco: haduk li salau yikdtbu, yiqddru yiherzu 'ala barra (Rosen-
HOTTSE, p. 70 — from recording of D. Assaraf, born Casablanca.) (Those
who have finished writing can go out.)
Verbs governing two DO's
In classical Arabic such verbs are classified according to Weight
(II, §24) in two groups, each with two sub-classes: "(a) To the first
category belong all accusatives of the second and fourth verbal forms
whose ground form is transitive and governs an accusative; also verbs
that signify to fill or satisfy, give, deprive, forbid, ask, entreat and the
like, the most of which have likewise a causative meaning .... (b) those
verbs which are called by the Arab grammarians "verbs of the heart"**,
e.g., which signify an act which takes place in the mind or "verbs of
certainty and doubt or preponderance (of probability)" such as see, think,
know, and also verbs which mean to make, appoint, call, name and the
like."
Reckendorf sees in such a construction the subordination of a
complete clause, similar to the "accusativus cum infinitive" in Indo-
European languages. Bravmann tries to place this structure in the
frame of predicate clauses, such as those connected with "käna and its
sisters" (see §§ 74, 75). He classifies the verbs governing this structure
into three groups: verbs of becoming and changing {'af'äl at-tasyir),
"verbs ofthe heart" (as Wright does, after the Arab grammarians) and
"verbs of volition", which are to be found (in this structure) only in the dialects (§70).
" 'afäl al-qulüb.
2 ZDMQ 126/1
18 Judith Rosbnhouse
Geotzfeld has a different opinion about this structure in the dialects
of Syria; he considers it isolation of the subject ofthe „Dass-Satz".
(Cf. Geotzfeld, p. 104, § 105.)
We wish to suggest here a different classification of the various types
of these verbs, which, it is hoped, will prove to be both coherent and
consistent.
As we know from various linguistic phenomena, languages apply
oppositions, usually binary ones, for their needs; accordingly, we can
describe the verbs in question by the following scheme :
double DO-s
mental actions physical actions
/\ X\
verbs of the verbs of I (+2D0) II, IV (+2D0)
heart becoming and (transformation of
volition I + 1 DOC)
Such a classification is justifiable and useful for several reasons:
1) The division into 'mental' and 'physical' aspects is a semantic fea¬
ture very common in the Arabic lexicon; we extend it to distinguish
between various tjrpes of a syntactic structure.
2) This classification makes is possible to separate semantic elements
requiring a certain syntactic treatment from morpho-syntactic proces¬
ses (the double DO-s governed by a verb in the 1st verbal form, as a
device or transformation of IDO + 1 prepositional phrase ("indirect
object") ; or the causative element of the Und and IVth forms being
added to the sense of 1st form of the same (transitive )verb8.)
3) The "verbs of volition" are included in the group which semantically
indicates the influence of a person on another one to do the action of the
verb ofthe DOC (the second verb).
This classification seems to be correct for both Classical Arabic and
the modern dialects. We should note the closeness between this structure
and that with a single DOC : some verbs (volitional, verbs of the heart
and others) govern one or two DO's according to semantic needs.
Most of the DOC in the double DO structure are asyndetic, as in
Classical Arabic, but we have foimd also some syndetic examples in the
dialects of Syria and Lebanon (as also for volitional verbs governing one
DOC). It seems to us, that the isolation mentioned by Geotzfeld (cf.
above) applies mainly for the verbs "hear, see, know" (verbs of
the heart), and especially when the DOC is syndetic. However, since we
do not discuss here the history of the structures, we do not set apart
such examples from the rest. Here are some examples to represent the
various groups of the double DO-s :
Mental Action:
Verbs of the heart:
Syria: bya'rafha btarkez ma'ha Vahwe (Gbotzfeld, p. 104.) (asyndetic)
(er weiß daß ihr der Kaffee gelingt.)
Lebanon: min 'ayS Hrifni 'inni 'ana 'ummi mutdrbiyyi ? (Jiha, p. 56.)
(syndetic) (woher er gewußt hat, daß meine Mutter eine Zigeunerin war.)
Morocco : smeHak gadi msafer Itanza (Sa'id, p. 90.) (asyndetic) (I hear(d)
you are going to Tangier.)
Seftu belli gadi i-msi (Mebcieb, p. 64.) (syndetic) (J'ai vu qu'il allait
(certainement) partir.)
Verbs of becoming and volition:
Morocco: ntlub alläh nSüfek digja (Kampffmeyeb: Casablanca, p. 8.)
(Hoffentlich werde ich dich bald wiedersehen.)
as zäbik tdir häd ? (Kampffmeyeb, ibid, p. 37.) (Was hat dich dazu
verleitet das zu tun ?)
Malta: fcalitlu: fein tridni immurl (Stümme, p. 76.) (She said to him:
where do you want me to go ?)
Physical Action:
1st verbal form:
Egypt: 'inta Idazim tis'cdni fil'aurwil *ieh ilhagdat illi 'awziin ni'milha
(Mitchell: Egypt. Coll., p. 144.) (You'd better ask me first what food
we want (lit. what things we want to make them for eating), (p. 145).)
II, IV forms:**
Israel: fahhim layya 'inno 'ihna miS fädyin nuq'od niMri gräd (Pia¬
menta, p. 75.) (explain to Leah that we are not free to go shopping
things.)
Morocco: hna Imlika wdssaina nqatlüha ('Abd al-'Äl, p. 357.) (we, the
queen ordered us to kill her.)
w'dUmu bäbäh ydrfcdb 'la lhail ('Abd al-'Äl, p. 383.) (and his father
taught him how to ride a horse.)
Syria: wkailafni dabberlo beet hatta ydskon fii. (Peeguson-Ani, p. 289.)
(And he asked me to get him a house to live in.)
We shall now turn to survey the forms and use of the various con¬
junctions of DOC in Classical Arabic and the dialects investigated. In
** These examples actually combine mental actions with "causative effort"
i.e., by mental or psychological influence causing someone else to do some
action.
2»
20 JtJDITH ROSENHOUSE
Classical Arabic two kinds of conjunctions were used to subordinate
DOC: 1) 'an, 'anna (also 'inna, rarely) 2) mä, alladi. 'an was required by
"volitional" verbs and governed a verbal form in the subjunctive (the
mansüb form); 'annu was required by "factual verbs" according to our
classification and governed a nominal subject in the accusative. But
there was also 'an. al-muhaffafa min at-taqila ("the 'an lightened from
the heavy one" — i.e., 'anna) used after factual verbs, and also 'aw al-
mufassira used with direct speech. So that even at that stage of the
Arabic language, the subordination of DOC was rather complex.
mä and alladi, originally relative pronoims, were used in rather
restricted conditions, and therefore were less commonly used.
In the dialects we find basically the same subordinating conjunctions, but phonetically altered, and with partly "regional distribution": 'an
has remained in rather restricted areas — mainly Iraq and Morocco, but
it has been preserved almost always with bi prefixed to it, so that in
Iraq it gets the form bi'an, and in Morocco it gets the forms bein, bäin,
bin.
In the other Eastem regions — Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt, the
prevalent conjunction has the forms arew(o), 'enn(o), inn{o), all of which
seem to be connected with the Classical 'inna (or 'anna ?).
In Mauritania it is usually pronounced as 'an (> 'an), and rarely as
'dnn.
The forms derived from the relative pronouns are prevalent in the
North African area and in Malta, li (< illi < lladi) seems to be the only
subordinating conjunction for DOC in Malta, and in Algeria b-9lli
(< Ö + illi) and biy yes (< 6 + 'ayy-{-Si) are the only forms in use.
These last two forms are tj^ical of all the North African area, including
Morocco (where biyyeS is pronounced bäS).
In spite of the phonetic and morphologic variety of the subordinating
conjimctions for DOC, they do not seem to be very popularly used.
Mainly volitional and modal verbs, but also factual verbs in some areas,
subordinate the DOC asyndetically. About the Syrian region we find in
Grotzfield's book the following note: "Substantivesätze ... kommen
syndetisch (konj. 'enno) und asyndetisch vor, wobei Syndese und Asyn¬
dese im allgemeinen frei vertauschbar sind." (p. 102) Cowell seems
to affirm this opinion in his book (p. 443); and Cantineau says about
the same point in Palmyre: "Ces constructions avec 'enn sont un peu
suspects, elles appartiennent plus ou moins au langage recherche et
affectö et il est possible qu'elles se soient döveloppees sous l'influence de
la langue ecrite." (p. 239). This may be the source for the situation in
Syria (and Lebanon), where we found syndetic examples for cases that
are elsewhere asyndetic (e.g., the volitional and modal verbs).
As to Morocco, we noticed the scarce use of subordinating conjunc¬
tions, even for factual verbs that elsewhere usually govern syndetic DOC.
In Haerell's list of subordinating conjunctions, bin is said to be "rarely
used" (p. 162) without further explanations and without any reference
to bäS or belli in the same function. Only in Mercier's book we find the
following rule for the use of b-elli (p. 59): "la particule b-elli, qui, en arabe,
traduit notre conjunction 'que', ne s'emploie que si la phrase exprime
une assurance ou une certitude ; dans le cas contraire elle ne s'emploie
pas." This definition, which is based on a semantic criterion, seems to be
correct also for other DOC conjunctions in the mban dialects of Morocco,
except, perhaps, for the Jewish dialects there. (These seem to prefer
bäS or bain according to the tense ofthe verb in the DOC.)** We have not
found other sources discussing this problem, but the examples we have
met with rather confirm Mercier's definition.
To sum up this study and to demonstrate the findings for each of the
investigated dialects, please see the table on p. 22.
The table shows which types are used in the dialects, and it appears
that only modal verbs can be automatically associated with asyndetic
subordination of the DOC. The table does not show, however, the fre¬
quency of use of each of the types ; this remains for us to describe and
conclude :
1) Factual verbs, including verbs of saying in "indirect speech",
usually govern syndetic DOC. The DOC may be also asyndetic, espe¬
cially when direct speech is quoted (verbs of saying). Iraq and Morocco
seem to be exceptions to the rule ; the syndetic examples we have found
there are a minority in comparison with the asyndetic examples, and
they also seemed to be limited to relatively few verbs of saying, such as
wassa (order, recommend, make a will) and 'amar (command).
The situation in Morocco, though formally similar to that in Iraq,
seems to be moved by semantic rules (cf. above, p. 20), unlike Iraq.
As to Classical Arabic, we can find there no factual verbs governing
asyndetic DOC ; even those that seem to require such clauses really imply
transmittance of words, i.e. are ,, verbs of saying" (see ex. Reckendorf:
Arabische Syntax, § 187).
2) Volitional verbs usually govern asyndetic DOC, except in Syria
and Lebanon, where syndetic DOC are not rare in these circumstances.
In Classical Arabic we find both syndetic and asyndetic DOC for this
type, although the asyndetic DOC are considerably fewer than the
syndetic ones (perhaps because of the clear distinction between the
functions of 'an and 'anna.) There are also fewer syndetic DOC governed
" Cf. Rosbnhouse, pp. 62—74, esp. p. 69.
SINGLE DOC
factual volitional
factual saying volitional modal
syn asyn syn asyn syn asyn syn asyn
Iraq {bi'an) + + ( + ) + — + —
+
Syria + { + ) + + + + —
+
Lebanon + — + + + + — +
Israel + ( + ) + + (—) + —
+
Egypt + + + + ' - + — +
Algeria + (-) + (-) + + (—) +
Morocco ( + ) + ( + ) + — + — +
Mauritania + (-) + + (-) + — +
Malta + + + {-) — + —
+
Classical Arabic + —
+ + + + + +
{'anna) ('anna)
{'inna)
(•an) ('an)
DOUBLE DO
mental actions physical actions
'Afäl 'Afäl
al-qalb at-tasyir I ( + 2D0) II,IV(+2DO)
wal- 'irada
syn asyn syn asyn syn asyn syn asyn
— + — + —
+ —-
+
+ + + + + + + +
+ + (+) ( + ) (—) + (—) +
(—) ( + ) (—) + + + + +
+ ( + ) (—) ( + ) ( + ) ( + ) (—) +
+
+ + (-) + + + + +
+
( + ) + ( + ) + ( + ) + (+) +
by modal verbs than asyndetic ones, although this structure is more
"permissible" than asyndetic subordination by volitional verbs.
3) Double DO. We should first note, that this structure is not as
frequent as single DOC (perhaps that is the reason for not being able to
fill up all the columns ofthe Table.) We should also mention again that
there are verbs that govern one or two DO's, according to semantic needs.
Usually the DOC in the double DO structure is asyndetic; when it is
syndetic, especially when governed by some "verb of heart", there may
be added a sense of emphasis to the subject of the DOC because of its
isolation (both formal and psychological), and also perhaps because of
its relative rarity (in Classical Arabic, too.)
4) There is another type of DOC, neutral from the point of view of the
syndetic/asyndetic contrast — the "indirect questions" introduced by
an interrogative particle which prevents the use of the usual subordi¬
nating conjunction.
5) The structines described here seem to resemble the structmes in
Mediaeval Arabic, as described, e.g. by Blau*^ and Mtiller**, although
their material was written documents. Therefore, it may be, that the
similarity of these structures in the living speech of that period to the
same structures as here described, was even greater than can be seen
from the written material that has been preserved and studied.
6) The DOC themselves can have any syntactic form needed — they
may be verbal or nominal clauses, affirmative, negative or interrogative,
simple or complex. Because of this freedom of internal structure, the
discussion was centered not on the DOC themselves but on their sub¬
ordination to the main clauses.
To sxun up, we have found the main lines in which DOC subordination
moves in some of the major groups of dialects. In the present paper we
could not enter into more minute classifications, such as the comparison
between settled and nomadic or urban and village populations, or between
religious commiuiities. These may be subjects for subsequent research.
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zu einigen ibaditischen Handschriften
Von Josef van Ess, Tübingen
Rudi Paret zum 75. Geburtstag
Im März 1974 hatte ich dank der Unterstützung der Deutschen For¬
schungsgemeinschaft Gelegenheit, einige ibäditische Bibliotheken auf
der Insel Djerba und im Mzäb zu besuchen. Leider waren meine Aufent¬
halte nur verhältnismäßig kurz und die Arbeitsbedingungen nicht immer
günstig; man ist in Privatbibhotheken trotz allem Entgegenkommen
der Besitzer gewissen Beschränkungen unterworfen, die sich wohl nur
bei längerem Kontakt wirklich ausräumen lassen*. Dennoch scheinen mir
einige Ergebnisse meiner Untersuchungen bei aller Vorläufigkeit und bei
aller Gefahr, daß sich in der Hast des Notierens Fehler eingeschlichen
haben, der Veröffentlichmig wert. Die Ibädiya ist ja seit den Tagen
MoTYLiNSKi's von der abendländischen Forschung nicht gerade mit
Vorzug behandelt worden; auch heute gibt es außer T. Lewicki^ nie¬
manden, der sich intensiv und vorrangig mit ihr befaßt. Selbst Werke,
die seit knapp 100 Jahren im Druck, bzw. in einer Lithographie, vor¬
hegen, sind kaum bekannt oder ausgewertet. So sind z.B. die Öawähir
al-muntaqät des Historikers Barrädi (1. Hälfte 15. Jh.), obgleich für die
Geschichte des 1. Jh.s H. nicht ganz unwichtig, von der gesamten
jüngeren deutschen und englischen Umaiyadenforschung unbeachtet
gebheben ; auch die Artikel von L. Veccia Vagliebi' und R. Rttbi-
NACCi*, in denen der Quellenwert dieses Buches deuthch hervorgehoben
* Die wichtigste Bibliothek im Mzäb, die des Saih AtfaiyiS in Beni Izguen
{maktabat al-Qufb), ist z.B., da der augenblickliche Verwalter Lehrer an
einer Oberschule ist, nur Mo — Do sowie Sa von 7°°—8^° und So von 10—12
geöffnet. Die Privatbibhotheken auf Djerba sind in den Landhäusern der
Familien untergebracht und damit ■— zumindest für einen flüchtigen Be¬
sucher — nur am Wochenende zugänglich, wenn die Besitzer, die meist in
Houmt Souq ihren Geschäften nachgehen, sich dorthin zurückziehen.
"Vgl. die Bibhographie seiner Schriften bis 1969 in: Folia Orientalia 11
(1969) 7ff., zuvor auch die beiden Artikel von M. Canabd in: Revue Afri-
came 103 (1959) 356ff. und 105 (1961) 186ff.
ä II conflitto 'All — Mü'äwiya e la secessione Khäri^ita riesaminati aUa
luce di fonti ibädite. In: AIUON 4 (1952) Iff.; vgl. auch 5 (1954) Iff.
* II „Kitäb al-Öawähir" di al-Barrädl. In: AIUON 4 (1952) 95ff.
