The phonological structure of the verbal roots in Arabic and Hebrew / by Bernard N. Bachra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bachra, Bernard Nehemia, 1926-

Series:

Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics ; v. 34.

Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics ; v. 34

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arabic language--Verb.

Arabic language.

Hebrew language--Verb.

Hebrew language.

Arabic language--Phonology, Comparative--Hebrew.

Hebrew language--Phonology, Comparative--Arabic.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Phonology, Comparative.

Physical Description:

xiv, 325 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2001.

Summary:

This book gives a detailed analysis of the co-occurrence restrictions and co-occurrence preferences which act on the consonants of the triliteral and quadriliteral verbal roots in Arabic and Hebrew. It contains a wealth of tabulated material which can be of great use to other investigators. The findings are explained within the framework of generative phonology.

Contents:

Chapter 1. General introduction, purpose and scope of this study

1.3 Accidental absence or presence 4

1.4 Outline and Organization of the Presentation 6

Chapter 2. The verbal roots of Arabic and Hebrew and their autosegmental representation

2.1 Aspects of the phonology of Arabic and Hebrew 8

2.1.1 The consonant phonemes of Arabic 9

2.1.2 The consonant phonemes of Hebrew 9

2.1.3 Subdivision of the consonants into phonological groups 12

2.2 Types of verbal roots 12

2.3 Autosegmental representation of phonological features 16

2.3.1 Autosegmental representation of tonal features 16

2.3.2 Autosegmental representation of the Arabic verb 18

2.3.3 Autosegmental representation of the Hebrew verb 22

2.3.4 Further developments and criticisms of McCarthy's model 23

Chapter 3. Earlier work on co-occurrence restrictions in Semitic

3.1 Phonological constraints on pairs of consonants 25

3.2 The pregenerative approach 26

3.2.1 The work of Cantineau on Classical Arabic 26

3.2.2 The work of Greenberg on Classical Arabic 27

3.2.3 The work of Koskinen on Biblical Hebrew 31

3.2.4 The work of Reiner on Akkadian 32

3.2.5 The work of Kurylowicz work on Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew 34

3.2.6 The work of Morgenbrod and Serifi on HEB 35

3.2.7 The work of Weitzman on Biblical Hebrew and Classical Arabic 38

3.2.8 The work of Tobin on Modern Israeli Hebrew 40

3.2.9 The work of Petracek on Classical Arabic 41

3.3 The generative approach 41

3.3.1 The work of Yip on Modern Standard Arabic 41

3.3.2 The work of McCarthy on Modern Standard Arabic 43

3.3.3 A gradient model of OCP-Place 45

3.4 Discussion of the earlier work on co-occurrence restrictions and preferences 46

3.4.1 Some general remarks 46

3.4.2 Comparison of the findings in the earlier studies 47

3.4.2.1 The structuralist approach 47

3.4.2.2 The generative approach 48

Chapter 4. Methodology used in this study

4.1 The files of verbal roots 51

4.2 Method of calculation for the triliterals 52

4.3 Method of calculation for the quadriliterals 56

4.4 Possible effects of low frequencies of occurrence 57

4.5 The two approaches used in this study 58

Chapter 5. Co-occurrence restrictions which act on the consonants in the verbal root patterns of Arabic and Hebrew

5.2 Types of phonological constraints which can cause co-occurrence restrictions 62

5.3 The consonant distribution in the three root positions of the Triliterals 63

5.3.1 Positional constraints 63

5.3.2 Positional preferences 64

5.4 Combinatory constraints which act on triliterals 65

5.4.1 Absolute combinatory and ordering constraints 65

5.4.2 Relative (statistical) combinatory constraints 66

5.4.2.1 Relative combinatory constraints on consonants from the same group 66

5.4.2.2 Relative combinatory constraints on consonants from different groups 67

5.5 Ordering constraints which act on triliterals 68

5.6 Co-occurrence restrictions on specific consonants 68

5.6.1 The labials and the coronal sonorants 68

5.6.1.1 Root patterns with two labials, two coronal sonorants or one labial and one coronal sonorant 69

5.6.1.2 Root patterns with a labial or a coronal sonorant and one of the consonant groups 69

5.6.2 The status of the fa' and the jim in Arabic and of the sade in Hebrew 70

5.6.3 The status of the uvular stop /q/ 71

5.7 Co-occurrence restrictions on consonant pairs in the Mediae Geminatae 72

5.8 Co-occurrence restrictions on the quadriliterals 72

5.8.1 Combinatory constraints 73

5.8.2 Ordering constraints 74

5.9 Co-occurrence restrictions on root patterns of the type C1C2C1C2 74

5.10 Co-occurrence restrictions on triliteral root patterns with three specified root positions 75

5.10.1 Root patterns with three specified consonant groups 76

5.10.2 Root patterns with two specified consonant groups and a labial or a coronal sonorant 79

Chapter 6. Co-occurrence preferences for verbal roots in Arabic and Hebrew

6.2 Co-occurrence preferences for triliteral root patterns with two specified consonant groups 80

6.2.1 Combinatory preferences for consonant pairs from different groups 81

6.2.2 Ordering preferences for consonant pairs from different groups 83

6.2.3 Summary of combinatory and ordering preferences for the triliterals 87

6.3 Co-occurrence preferences for triliterals with a labial or a coronal sonorant and one of the consonant groups 88

6.3.1 Combinatory preferences 88

6.3.2 Ordering preferences 89

6.3.3 Summary of the findings 93

6.4 Co-occurrence preferences for consonant pairs in the Mediae Geminatae 94

6.5 Co-occurrence preferences for consonant pairs in the quadriliterals 94

6.6 Co-occurrence preferences for consonant pairs in the root patterns of the type C1C2C1C2 97

6.7 Preferred triliteral root patterns with three specified root positions 98

6.7.1 Consonant groups classified on the basis of Manner 98

6.7.2 Consonant groups classified on the basis of Place 101

6.7.3 Summary of the findings for the preferred root patterns with three specified consonant groups 105

6.8 Triliteral root patterns with three specified positions which contain a labial or a coronal sonorant 106

6.8.1 Consonant groups classified on the basis of Manner 106

6.8.2 Consonant groups classified on the basis of Place 108

6.8.3 Summary of the findings for the Triliterals with three specified positions and a labial or a coronal sonorant 110

6.9 Co-occurrence preferences among the Quadriliterals of the type C1C2C3C3 110

Chapter 7. Co-occurrence restrictions and co-occurrence preference in Arabic and Hebrew. Refinement and summary of the findings

7.2 Co-occurrence restrictions on triliterals with two specified root positions 112

7.2.1 Restrictions on pairs of consonant groups 112

7.2.1.1 Co-occurrence restrictions on the basis of Manner 113

7.2.1.1.1 Pairs of consonant groups classified on the basis of Manner 113

7.2.1.1.2 Pairs of an individual labial or coronal sonorant and consonant groups classified on the basis of Manner 114

7.2.1.2 Restrictions on the basis of Place 114

7.2.1.2.1 Pairs of consonant groups classified on the basis of Place 114

7.2.1.2.2 Pairs of an individual labial or a coronal sonorant and a consonant group classified on the basis of Place 115

7.2.1.2.3 Pairs consisting of individual labial and coronal sonorants 116

7.3 Co-occurrence preferences for triliterals 117

7.3.1 Root patterns with two specified positions 117

7.3.1.1 Preferences on the basis of Manner 117

7.3.1.2 Preferences on the basis of Place 118

7.3.1.2.1 Comparison of root patterns with coronal stops or coronal fricatives 118

7.3.1.2.2 Root patterns with coronal obstruents as a group and other consonant groups 118

7.3.1.2.3 Triliteral root patterns with an individual labial or a coronal sonorant and one of the consonant groups 119

7.4 Co-occurrence relationships of the quadriliterals with two specified root positions 120

7.4.1 Quadriliterals different from C1C2C1C2 or C1C2C3C3 120

7.4.2 Quadriliterals of the type C1C2C1C2 122

7.5 Co-occurrence preferences for triliterals with three specified root positions 123

7.5.1 Preferences on the basis of Manner 123

7.5.1.1 Root patterns with three specified consonants groups 123

7.5.1.1.1 Root patterns with stops or fricatives in two positions 123

7.5.1.1.2 Root patterns with both stops and fricatives 124

7.5.1.1.3 Root patterns with nasals or liquids adjacent to stops or fricatives 125

7.5.1.1.4 Root patterns with both nasals and liquids 126

7.5.1.2 Root patterns with an individual labial or a coronal sonorant and stops and/or fricatives 126

7.5.2 Preferences on the basis of Place 128

7.5.2.1 Root patterns with three specified consonants groups 128

7.5.2.1.1 Root patterns with coronal stops, coronal fricatives or coronal obstruents as a group 128

7.5.2.1.2 Root patterns with various consonant groups 129

7.5.2.2 Root patterns with an individual labial or a coronal

sonorant and two specified consonant groups 133

7.6 Comparison of the Mediae Geminatae and the triliterals with three specified positions 134

Chapter 8. Theoretical implications

8.2 Co-occurrence restrictions. The OCP and the NBC 136

8.3 The co-occurrence relationships of the uvular stop /q/ 137

8.4 The role of [continuant] in the co-occurrence relationships 143

8.4.1 Root patterns classified on the basis of Manner 143

8.4.2 Root patterns classified on the basis of Place 145

8.5 Sonority and Manner features 147

8.5.1 Can Sonority be defined phonologically? 147

8.5.2 Sonority and Manner features in feature geometry 149

8.6 The co-occurrence relationships of nasals, liquids and coronal sonorants 153

8.7 Root patterns with three specified positions classified on the basis of Place 155

8.7.1 Root patterns with expected frequencies 155

8.7.2 Preferred root patterns 156

8.8 Quadriliterals and triliterals. Similarities and differences in their co-occurrence relationships 157

8.9 Other explanations for the co-occurrence restrictions 158

8.9.1 Intersyllabic consonant clusters 158

8.9.2 Verbal roots are an abstraction and the OCP is not needed 160

8.9.3 Unknown morphological processes in unwritten precursor languages 164

8.9.4 The OCP acts on biconsonantal precursors of the roots 167

8.10 Co-occurrence restrictions and co-occurrence preferences. Rules and exceptions 170

8.10.1 Explaining the fairly large number of roots of the type C1C1X in MIH 171

8.10.2 Reasons why co-occurrence restrictions are relative (statistical) and not absolute 172

8.10.3 Preferences by chance or by phonological factors 174

8.10.3.1 Root patterns classified on the basis of Manner 174

8.10.3.2 Root patterns classified on the basis of Place 175

8.10.3.3 The lack of proper acoustic and perceptual features 176

8.11 Comparison of the co-occurrence relationships of the consonants in the verbal roots of AR, BH and HEB 177

8.12 Reasons for the differences between AR, BH and HEB 181.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [189]-193) and index.

ISBN:

9004120084

OCLC:

44818374