Cover not available

Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 48:1 (2024) ► pp.121–180

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Phasal polarity in Tunisian Arabic

 | Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität MünsterMünster
ORCiD logo with link | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
 | Universität Wien
Published online: 20 March 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.22043.fis
This paper gives a corpus-based descriptive account of the phasal polarity system (still, already, not yet, and no longer) in the Arabic vernacular of Tunisia. The aim is to broaden the empirical foundations for cross-linguistic research in this domain, and to narrow the gap between typologically oriented and philological research on Arabic varieties. Like many languages (Baar, Theodorus M. van. 1997. Phasal polarity. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar: 118), Tunisian Arabic has autochthonous expressions for the three concepts still, not yet, and no longer. still is primarily expressed via a construction < ‘has not ceased’. Despite its conceptual transparency, this appears to be a cross-linguistically uncommon source. not yet is expressed via the inner negation of still, and no longer via a construction < ‘has not repeated’. For already, northern sedentary varieties have borrowed from French (replacing an older autochthonous expression), whereas southern Bedouin varieties have a “gap” in their system. The description further includes notes on the synchronic and diachronic variation of individual items, and functions of these outside the realm of phasal polarity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Subject matter and goals
    • 1.2Phasal polarity
    • 1.3Goals and scope of this study
  • 2.Tunisian Arabic
    • 2.1Geographic, demographic, and socio-linguistic background
    • 2.2Data collection
    • 2.3Previous treatments of PhP in Tunisian Arabic
    • 2.4Typological profile
  • 3.Overview of the Tunisian Arabic PhP system
  • 4.The expression of still
    • 4.1māzāl
      • 4.1.1Formal aspects
      • 4.1.2Meaning and use
      • 4.1.3Some functional extensions
    • 4.2bāqi
      • 4.2.1Formal aspects
      • 4.2.2Meaning and use
      • 4.2.3Other functions
    • 4.3The durative auxiliary q-ʕ-d/g-ʕ-d
    • 4.4l-taww(a)
  • 5.The expression of already
    • 5.1Baʕda
      • 5.1.1As an already expression
      • 5.1.2Other functions
    • 5.2Dēžā
      • 5.2.1As an already expression
      • 5.2.2Other functions
    • 5.3Other items
  • 6.The expression of not yet
    • 6.1māzāl neg
    • 6.2māzāl (without an overt predicate)
    • 6.3bāqi neg
    • 6.4“Bare” bāqi
    • 6.5l-taww(a) neg
  • 7.The expression of no longer
    • 7.1māʕād(š)
      • 7.1.1Formal aspects
      • 7.1.2Meaning and use
    • 7.2lāʕād
      • 7.2.1Formal aspects
      • 7.2.2Meaning and use
    • 7.3mā-māzāl-(š)
  • 8.Conclusions and outlook
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations and conventions
  • References
References (93)
References
Abdunnabi, Awad Wanis. 2000. A descriptive grammar of Libyan Arabic. Exeter: University of Exeter PhD dissertation.
Abe, Yuko. 2015. Persistive in Bende – on the grammaticalization path. Asian and African Languages and Linguistics 91. 23–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aguadé, Jordi. 2018. The Maghrebi Dialects of Arabic. In Clive Holes (ed.), The Historical Dialectology of Arabic: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches, 29–63. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Amor, Taoufik Ben. 1990. A beginner’s course in Tunisian Arabic. Tunis: Peace Corps (Tunisia).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Andrews, Richard J. 2003. Introduction to Classical Nahuatl. Revised edition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aonuki, Yurika. 2021. Unifying the ‘still’ and ‘just’ readings of ḵ’ay in Gitksan. In Daniel K. E. Reisinger & Marianne Huijsmans (eds.), Proceedings of the 37th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 68–78. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auwera, Johan van der. 1991. Yiddish shoyn and related issues. In Johan van der Auwera (ed.), Adverbs and particles of change and continuation (EUROTYP working papers V.2), 161–171. Strasbourg: European Science Foundation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1993. ‘already’ and ‘still’: Beyond duality. Linguistics and Philosophy 161. 613–653. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. Phasal adverbials in the languages of Europe. In Johan van der Auwera & Dónall P. O. Baoill (eds.), Adverbial constructions in the languages of Europe, 25–145. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baar, Theodorus M. van. 1997. Phasal polarity. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Badawi, Elsaid, Michael G. Carter & Adrian Gully. 2015. Modern written Arabic: A comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barclay, Peter. 2008. A grammar of Western Dani. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bernander, Rasmus. 2021. The phasal polarity marker -(a)kona in Manda and its history. In Raija Kramer (ed.), The expression of phasal polarity in African languages, 41–72. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boris, Gilbert. 1951. Documents linguistiques et ethnographiques sur une région du sud tunisien (Nefzaoua). Paris: Maisonneuve.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1958. Lexique du parler arabe des Marazig. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boussofara-Omar, Naima. 2011. Diglossia. In Kees Versteegh (ed.), Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics, vol.11, 619–639. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caubet, Dominique. 1993. L’Arabe Marocain. Tome I. Phonologie et Morphosyntaxe. Paris-Louvain: Éditions Peeters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohen, David. 1975. Le parler arabe des juifs de Tunis, vol. 21, Étude linguistique. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect. An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahl, Östen & Bernhard Wälchli. 2016. Perfects and iamatives: two gram types in one grammatical space. Letras de hoje 51 (3). 325–348. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dallaji, Ines, Ines Gabsi, Karlheinz Mörth, Stephan Procházka, Omar Siam. 2013–2016. TuniCo. [URL] (last accessed 13 July 2022).
Daoud, Mohamed. 2011. The sociolinguistic situation in Tunisia: Language rivalry or accommodation? International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2111. 9–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doherty, Monika. 1973. ‘noch’ and ‘schon’ and their presuppositions. In Ferenc Kiefer & Nicolas Ruwet (eds.), Generative grammar in Europe, 154–177. Dordrecht: Riedel. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons & Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2021. Ethnologue: Languages of the world. 24th edn. Dallas: SIL International.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elfitoury, Abubaker Abdalla. 1976. A descriptive grammar of Libyan Arabic. Washington DC: Georgetown University PhD dissertation.
Fanego, Axel. 2021. Phasal polarity in Amazigh varieties. In Raija Kramer (ed.), The expression of phasal polarity in African languages, 335–364. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gabsi, Zouhir. 2011. Attrition and maintenance of the Berber variety of Tunisia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2111. 135–164.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garrido, Joaquín. 1991. Adverbs and particles of change and continuation: Spanish ‘todavía’ and ‘ya’. In Johan van der Auwera (ed.), Adverbs and particles of change and continuation (EUROTYP working papers V.2), 43–58. Strasbourg: European Science Foundation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibson, Mark. 2011. Tunis Arabic. In Lutz Edzard & Rudolf de Jong (eds.), Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics online edition (last accessed 17 October 2021).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gordon, Lynn. 1986. Maricopa morphology and syntax. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gornink-Gerhardt, Hildegard. 1981. Zu den Funktionen der Modalpartikel “schon” und einiger ihrer Substituentia. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin & Ekkehard König. 1998. Concessive conditionals in the languages of Europe. In Johan van der Auwera (ed.), Adverbial constructions in the languages of Europe, 563–640. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heath, Jeffrey. 2002. Jewish and Muslim dialects of Moroccan Arabic. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holes, Clive & Said Salman Abu Athera. 2011. The Nabati Poetry of the United Arab Emirates: Selected Poems, Annotated and Translated into English. Reading: Ithaca.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ippolito, Michaela. 2007. On the meaning of some focus-sensitive particles. Natural Language Semantics 151. 1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jemni, Karim. 2011. Tempus, Aspekt und Modalität im tunesischen Arabisch und die Entwicklung der Kategorie Auxiliare. München: Lincom.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, Wolfgang. 1994. Time in language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. About the German particles schon and noch. In Wolfgang Klein (ed.), Looking at language, 283–323. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kluge, Angela. 2017. A grammar of Papuan Malay. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kockelmann, Paul. 2020. Dual operators, and their doubling, in Q’eqchi’ (Maya). International Journal of American Linguistics 86(4). 449–481. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koike, Dala A. 1996. Functions of the adverbial ya in Spanish narrative discourse. Journal of Pragmatics 251. 267–279. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
König, Ekkehardt. 1977. Temporal and non-temporal uses of ‘noch’ and ‘schon’ in German. Linguistics and Philosophy 11. 173–189. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
König, Ekkehardt. 1991. The meaning of focus particles. A comparative perspective. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kramer, Raija. 2017. Position paper on Phasal Polarity expressions. Hamburg: University of Hamburg. [URL] (last accessed 13 July 2022)
(ed.). 2021. The expression of phasal polarity in African languages. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krifka, Manfred. 2007. Basic notions of information structure. Interdisciplinary studies on information structure 71. 13–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuteva, Tania, Bernd Heine, Bo Hong, Haiping Long, Heiko Narrog & Seongha Ree. 2019. World lexicon of grammaticalization. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, EunHee. 2008. Aspectual and focus adverbs in English and Korean. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 26(2). 339–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Löbner, Sebastian. 1989. German schon–erst–noch: An integrated analysis. Linguistics and Philosophy 12(2). 167–212. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1999. Why German schon and noch are still duals. Linguistics and Philosophy 22(1). 45–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacNeill Hoyt, Frederick. 2010. Negative concord in Levantine Arabic. Austin: University of Texas PhD dissertation.
Marçais, Philippe. 1977. Esquisse grammaticale de l’arabe maghrébin. Paris (Langues d’Amérique et d’Orient 1977).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marçais, William. 1902. Le dialecte arabe parlé à Tlemcen: Grammaire, textes et glossaire. Paris: Publications de L’École des Lettres d’Alger.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1908. Le dialecte arabe des Ūlād Bṛāhîm de Saïda (Département d’Oran). Paris: E. Bertrand.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marçais, William & Abderrahmân Guîga. 1958–1961. Textes arabes de Takroûna. Vol 21: Glossaire. Contribution à l’etude du vocabulaire arabe (81 tomes). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthewson, Lisa. 2004. On the methodology of semantic fieldwork. International Journal of American Linguists 70(4). 369–415. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNeil, Karen & Miled Faiza. 2010–2021. Tunisian Arabic Corpus. [URL]
McNeil, Karen. 2017. Fī (‘in’) as a marker of the progressive aspect in Tunisian Arabic. In Veronika Ritt-Benmimoun (ed.), Tunisian and Libyan Arabic dialects: Common trends – recent developments – diachronic aspects, 161–190. Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Michaelis, Laura A. 1993. ‘Continuity’ within three scalar models: The polysemy of adverbial still. Journal of Semantics 101. 193–237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miestamo, Matti. 2010. Negatives without negators. In Jan Wohlgemuth & Michael Cysouw (eds.), Rethinking universals: How rarities affect linguistic theory, 169–194. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mion, Giuliano. 2013. Quelques remarques sur les verbes modaux et les pseudo-verbes de l’arabe parlé à Tunis. Folia Orientalia 501. 51–65.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitchell, Alice. 2021. Phasal polarity in Barabaiga and Gisamjanga Datooga (Nilotic): Interactions with tense, aspect, and participant expectation. In Raija Kramer (ed.), The expression of phasal polarity in African languages, 419–441. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mosegaard Hansen, Maj-Britt. 2008. Particles at the semantics/pragmatics interfact: Synchronic and diachronic issues. A study with special reference to the French phasal adverbs. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mosegaard Hansen, Maj-Britt & Erlin Strudsholm. 2008. The semantics of particles: advantages of a contrastive and panchronic approach: a study of the polysemy of French déjà and Italian già. Linguistics 46(3). 471–505.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. & Sergej Je. Jaxontov. 1988. The typology of resultative constructions. In Vladimir P. Nedjalkov (ed.), Typology of resultative constructions, 3–62. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olsson, Bruno. 2013. Iamatives. Perfects in Southeast Asia and beyond. Stockholm: University of Stockholm MA thesis.
Owens, Jonathan. 1984. A short reference grammar of eastern Libyan Arabic. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pat-El, Na’ama. 2019. The Semitic language family: A typological perspective. In John Huehnergard & Na’ama Pat-El (eds.), The Semitic languages, 2nd edn. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pereira, Christophe. 2010. Le parler arabe de Tripoli (Libye): phonologie, morphosyntaxe et catégories grammaticales. Zaragoza: Inst. de Estudios Islámicos y del Oriente próximo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Arabic in the North African Region. In Stefan Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook, 954–969. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Persohn, Bastian. 2022. When ‘still’ means ‘not yet’. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. In preparation. The polyfunctionality of ‘still’ expressions.
Procházka, Stephan & Ines Dallaji. 2019. A functional analysis of the particle ṛā- in the Arabic dialect of Tunis. Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik 701. 44–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
RAE-ASALE [Real Academia Española-Asociación de academias de la lengua española]. 2009. Nueva gramática de la lengua española. 21 vols. Madrid: Espasa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rapold, Christian J. 2018. Phasal Polarity expressions in Tashlhiyt. Paper presented at the International Conference on the Expression of Phasal Polarity in sub-Saharan African languages, University of Hamburg, 3–4 February.
Ritt-Benmimoun, Veronika. 2005a. Witze und Anekdoten im arabischen Dialekt der Maṛāzīg (Südtunesien). Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 951. 259–317.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005b. Niʕmat ṛabbi – Ethnographisches und Dialektales zum Brot bei den Maṛāzīg (Südtunesien). Folia Orientalia 411. 49–68.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006–2010. Knaben- und Männerspiele der Maṛāzīg (Südtunesien). Mediterranean Language Review 171. 89–156.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Das Süße und das Bittere der Dattel in der Nifzāwa-Region in Südtunesien. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 971. 413–431.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011a. Texte im arabischen Beduinendialekt der Region Douz (Südtunesien). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011b. Mädchenspiele der ʕAḏ̣āṛa in Zaʕfṛān (Südtunesien). Mediterranean Language Review 181. 25–64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. Grammatik des arabischen Beduinendialekts der Region Douz (Südtunesien). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. The preposition fi- as an object and aspect marker in a South Tunisian Bedouin dialect. Journal of Semitic Studies 621. 319–355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saddour, Inès. 2009. The expression of progressivity in Tunisian Arabic: A study of progressive markers in oral retellings of simultaneous situations. Revue de sémantique et pragmatique 25–261. 265–280.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Singer, Hans R. 1984. Grammatik der arabischen Mundart der Medina von Tunis. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taine-Cheikh, Catherine. 2016. Baˁd(a) dans les dialectes arabes: glissements sémantiques et phénomènes de transcatégorisation. In George Grigore & Gabriel Bițună (eds.), The Arabic varieties: Far and wide, 531–539. Bucarest: Editura Universității din București.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Continuité et cessation dans les parlers arabes maghrébins. Quelques remarques sur l’expression de ces notions. In Muntasir F. Al-Hamad, Rizwan Ahmed & Hafid I. Aloui (eds.), Lisan al-arab: Studies in Arabic dialects, 279–295. Münster: LIT-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Talmoudi, Fathi. 1980. The Arabic Dialect of Sūsa (Tunisia). Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tapiero, Norbert. 1978. Manuel d’arabe algérien moderne. Lyon: Presses Universitaires.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Treis, Yvonne. 2021. The expression of phasal polarity in Kambaata (Cushitic). In Raija Kramer (ed.), The expression of phasal polarity in African languages, 311–334. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Urdiales Campos, José Millán. 1973. Valores de YA. Archivum: Revista de la facultad de filosofía y letras 231. 141–199.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vandeweghe, Willy. 1992. Perspectivische evaluatie in het Nederlands: De partikels van de AL/NOG/PAS-groep. Ghent: Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal en Letterkunde.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veselinova, Ljuba, Leif Asplund & Jozina Vander Klok. Forthcoming. Phasal polarity in Malayo-Polynesian languages of South East Asia. In Alexander Adelaar & Antoinette Schapper (eds.), The Oxford Guide to The Malayo-Polynesian languages of South East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Ivani, Jessica K. & Taras Zakharko
2024. Phasal polarity in Suansu. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 47:2 ► pp. 318 ff. DOI logo
Persohn, Bastian
2024. When ‘still’ means ‘not yet’. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 77:1 ► pp. 83 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue