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In:Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXIX: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2015
Edited by Hamid Ouali
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 5] 2017
► pp. 153–180

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Chapter 6
Participles in Syrian Arabic

 | University of Vienna
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.5.07hal
Abstract
This paper explores the distribution and interpretation of active and passive participles in contemporary Syrian Arabic. The fact that Syrian Arabic participles license objective Case suggests they are ‘verbal’ participles, i.e. verbs ‘disguised’ as adjectives. However, a detailed investigation uncovers substantial parallels with English adjectival participles. I therefore argue that Syrian Arabic adjectival participles differ from those in better-studied Indo-European languages in containing licensing structure for object Case. This, in turn, means that adjectival participles are not necessarily structurally defective, as has been proposed in the literature, but that the size of adjectival participles is a point of cross-linguistic parametric variation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background on the verbal/adjectival distinction
  • 3.Participles in Syrian Arabic
  • 4.Syrian Arabic active participles
    • 4.1‘Perfect’ properties of the active participles
      • Stativity
      • Non-finiteness
      • Present orientation
      • The present perfect puzzle
      • Summary
    • 4.2‘Adjectival’ properties of the active participles
      • Compatibility with lissa (still)
  • 5.Complement frames again
  • 6.Analysis
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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