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This joint research deals with semantic classification of verbs in the following languages: English and
Arabic, it highlights the points of similarities and differences showing these facts within the employment of
examples. The first part of this paper is dedicated to Tense and Aspect, it is the grammatical system in a
language in which tense covers the (location in time), aspect (fabric of time a single block of time,
continuous flow of time, or repetitive occurrence), , the nature of tenses, and aspects in languages, types and
the use of tenses and aspects as well. The simple present tense of English is similar to Arabic one in
meaning and functioning, but the Arabic system copies the tense of the verb in the sentences, perfective
form refers to the fact that the action has some sort of impact upon the present or putting emphasis on the
action, futurity is time not tense because its system does not make any change in the formation of verb.
The second part of the paper is about causative verbs take place in all languages, however, within the body
of this joint term paper we are tackling them within two languages : English and Arabic language.for sure
there are certain differences due to the fact that we are dealing with two distinct languages each of a
different language family. grammatically speaking, four main supporting verbs are used in English to
perform the function of causative verbs : have, make, let, get.however there are many other verbs used as
causatives. If we deal with them from a semantic perspective we would have certain concepts such as the
embedded situation, the Inchoative/ Causative verb pairs. In such concepts we are dealing with two elements
the causer and the caused situation. Concerning Arabic language, causative verbs are resulted by the process
of gemination, and are derived from simple verbs and adjectives.
The third part of this paper modals and the researcher extended her research about modals by explaining the
types of English modals and their semantic meaning. She also mentioned the two semantic categories of
English modals and these are "Epistemic" and "Denotic". Finally she shed the light on the differences
between English and Arabic modals.
The fourth part of this paper is devoted to discussing the transitivity verbs, from both syntactic and semantic
point of view. The paper is arranged to deal first with general syntactic classification of transitivity and
general difference concepts of transitivity between Arabic and English.
First approach maintained in the paper is to define the forms and patterns of transitivity in both Arabic and
English and then, the paper expands its perspective by discussing ergative or liable verbs ( the verbs that can
be both transitive or intransitive ) with more attention paid to the patterns and semantic denotations, since
this kind of verbs represent both aspects of the paper.
These semantics aspect are also shown in relation to semantic type system. Finally another type of
transitivity is introduces, i.e. gradient transitivity, and it is shown how transitivity can be measured through
specific parameters to denote the scale of transitivity.
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Al Mustansiriyah University
College of Arts
Department Of Translation
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The verb system of a language expresses semantic distinctions such as tense and aspect. Tense is of two
parts (Present), (Past), while futurity is not a tense but it is a time, because there is no change in the form of
the verb, when futurity is applied.
In this section we shed light on the meanings and uses of tenses in English and Arabic languages.
Meaning of English tenses with their Arabic counterparts:
English has two types of simple tenses: simple present and simple past, whereas futurity or future time is
expressed by various constructions. English language has two aspects: perfective and progressive. Tenses
and aspects combine together to form complex tenses as follows:
Present perfective.
Present perfective progressive.
Past perfective.
Past perfective progressive.
Present progressive.
Past progressive.
Future progressive.
(SeeKhalil, 2010:197f198)
1.0 Tense
1.1.The simple present
Use:
-Signal words:
Always, every, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually.
Examples:
1. The earth goes around the sun. (E)/ Fact.
/Tadoor al-ard hawala ashamis/(Arabic Transliteration(AT)).
.
2. We visit Egypt every year. / Habitual action.
/Nazoor misr kula sanatii/
.
(http//www.ego4v.com/en/cram-up/grammar/tenses)
Similarities and differences between the English simple present and the Arabic indicative:
The English simple present and the Arabic indicative or imperfective are similar in function and
meaning. They own situational function and indicate simultaneously with the moment of speaking. The
use of former is similar to the latter except for the fact that the Arabic use copies the timing of the main
verb, whereas English requires "sequencing of tenses" as in the following example:
3. I saw him as he was eating.
/Raetahu wahowa yak'ul/.
.
1.2.The simple past
Use:
Signal words:
Yesterday, the other day, last Friday.
(Leech et al, 1989:374)
Examples:
4. They visited France last year. /.Action took place for one time in the past.
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/Sayanzil AL-matar/
.
1.3.3. Present progressive
Example:
13. The match is starting at 7:30 tomorrow.
/Satabida almubaratu asa'a asabia walnisf gadan/
.
(Khalil, 2010, 205 f 206)
1.3.4. The simple present: the simple present could refer to futurity in the conditional sentences.
Example:
14. What will you say if I resign?
/Ma satakul Inn astakalit/
.
1.3.5. Be to + infinitive, it may be used to refer to planned future action.
Example:
15. Salma is to be married soon. (E)
/ Satatazawj Salma kareeban/ (AT)
.
1.3.6. Be about to + infinitive,it expresses imminent action i.e, and action that will be taken in the
immediate future.
Example:
16. The plane is about to leave. (E)
/Tushak ataira Ann Takla'a/ (AT).
.
2.0Aspect
Aspect is defined as a category employed in grammatical description of verbs, along with tense and
mood, it refers primarily to the way grammar marks the duration or type of temporal activity
denoted by the verb.
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(Crystal, 2003:36)
2.1.Present perfective
Use:
(http://www.easyenglishlearning.org/grammar/aspect)
Signal words:
Already, ever, just, not yet, so far, till now, up to now.
Examples:
2.1.1.Anterior time
17.I have known him for years.
/A'arfahu mindo sineen/
.
2.1.2.Recency
18. Have you heard the news? The president has resigned.
/Hal istama'ata ila alakbar? Lakad istakala ara'ees/
.
2.1.3. Resultant
19. My mother has recovered from illness. (E)/
/Lakad shufeyat walidati mn maridiha/ (AT)
.
Note: the present perfective is in touch with any of three above-mentioned implications: anterior,
recency, and resultant.
(Quirk et al, 1985:193)
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2.1.4.Activity that is still underway, the present perfective could highlight a period of time that
started in the past but not yet over.
Example:
20. My family has lived here since 19th century.
/Taeesh a'alatii huna mindo alkarn attasia ashar/
.
2.1.5. A very recently completed action.
Example:
21. They have just left.
/Lakad gaadru lltaw/
.
2.1.6.Activity at unspecified time before now.
Example:
22. Have you ever been to London
/hal zurta landan yauman ma/
.
2.2.Past perfective
Use:
Signal words:
Already, just, never, not yet, one until that day.
(http://www.ego.ego4v.com/en/cram-up/grammar/Aspect/)
Examples:
23. Before she left Jerusalem, Fatin had sold her house.
/Kabla safriha ila ALQuds kanat Fatin qad ba'at baytaha/
.
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2.4.Present progressive
This aspect indicates an action in progress at a given time. It denotes "temporariness". In this
function, it contrasts with the simple present which indicates "permanency".
(Quirk et al, 1985: 197)
Examples:
27. Ali sings well. (Permanent attribute)
/Ugani Aliun jaedan/
.
28. Ali is singing well. (Temporary attribute)
/Ugani Aliun jaedan/
.
29. She is living in U.S. now/ temporary activity.
/Taskun fii America ala'an/
.
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Signal words:
When, while, as long as.
(Quirk et al, 1985: 198)
Examples:
31. He was watching T.V. at 9AM this morning.
/Kana ushahid attilfaaz asa'a ataasia sabaha hada alyaum/
.
32. He was coughing all night long.
/Kana yasa'al tawala allayel/
.
(Khalil, 2010: 216)
1.9 Future progressive:
It is employed to concentrate on activities that are in progress at a specific time in the future.
(Encarta Encyclopedia, 2009)
Example:
33. This time tomorrow I'll be watching the match.
/Fii mithl hada alwakit gadan sa'akon ushahid almubarati/
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Signal words:
All day, for four years, since 1993, how long? , the whole week.
(Quirk et al, 1985: 210 f 211)
Examples:
34. We have been living here for six months.
/Naskun huna mindu sitatit ashur/
.
35. I have been cleaning the house for several days.
/Unadifa albayet mindu idat ayam/
.
2.7Past perfective progressive
Use:
Signal words:
For, since, the whole day, all day.
Example:
36. He had been working carefully.
/Kana qad amala bihadir/
.
(Ibid, 1985: 213)
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Al Mustansiriyah University
College of Arts
Department Of Translation
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1.1 Definition
"Causative verbs show that somebody is indirectly responsible for an action. The subject doesn't perform the
action itself, but causes someone/something else to do it instead."
1.1.1 Have
Have can be used as a causative to give someone the responsibility to do something.
It occurs in the forms:
Subject + have + someone + verb word
(P.149)
1.1.2 Get
Get can be used as a causative to convince someone to do something or to trick someone to do something.
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(P.149)
1.1.3 Make
1.1.4 Let
Let can be used as a causative to allow someone to do something.
It occurs in the forms:
Subject + let + someone + verb word
(P.149)
"I've forced them into confessing that they're sad, grey, lost, forgotten, dead and damned forever."
(Dylan Thomas, letter to Bert Trick, July 1935)
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"I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over,
and I've seen the Promised Land."
(Dr. Martin Luther King)
"That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold."
(William Shakespeare, Macbeth)
www.grammar.about.com
Retrived on 1st of Feb 2012
Agent
Action verb
Object
had
her brother
do
her homework.
the suspect
stop
his car.
We
had
our window.
Object
Action verb
We
had
our door
fixed.
John
had
her hair
cut.
Stephen had
www.grammar.about.com
Retrived on 1st of Feb 2012
1.4. Semantic perspective of Causative Verbs
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Semantically, causative verbs have a minimum of two arguments: one denoting the causer and one denoting
the caused state or event. The latter is often called the embedded situation.
The meaning expressed by a causative sentence is a situation caused by whatever the subject noun phrase
refers to and the caused situation is described by the embedded clause.
Examples of causative sentences:
* The children got the kite to fly.
(the children) is the causer, (got) is the causative verb, (kite to fly) is the embedded situation.
The same holds true concerning:
* I had the students read this article.
* Bad weather forces us to cancel the picnic.
(Griffiths,2006:61F)
An inchoative/causative verb pairs is defined semantically as a pair of verbs which express the same basic
situation and differ only in that the causative verb meaning includes an agent participant who causes the
situation, whereas the inchoative verb meaning excludes a causing agent and presents the situation as
occurring spontaneously. a typical example is:
* The stick broke. (inchoative)
* The girl broke the stick. (Causative)
Inchoative verbs are generally intransitive and causative verbs are transitive, but inchoative/causative
opposition is more restricted than the intransitive/transitive opposition.
The inchoative member of an inchoative/causative verb is semantically similar to the passive of the
causative (The stick was broken), but it crucially differs from it in that the agent is not just unexpressed; but
the situation occurs without an agent
spontaneously. this does not mean that there cannot be an agent in the objective situation.
For example:
* The snowwoman melted. ( inchoative)
* The sun melted the snowwoman. (causative)
(Comrie and Polinsky,1993:90)
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- A verb like kill is said to be causative in that it conflates two event descriptions:
1- An event in which something dies
2- An event in which something caused event
In other words, Kill can be paraphrased as (cause something to die) and it requires one more argument than
the verb die, because it requires something to take the semantic role of (causer).
lexical causative verbs like kill or rise (cause to rise) incorporate the causative meaning without special
morphological marking.
In some languages, productive causative morphemes can be used to turn non-causative verbs into causatives.
English and other languages also make use of causative constructions with support verbs like make, as in
(the film made him cry). The (causer) semantic role is usually represented as the highest role in role
hierarchies.
(Murphy and koskela,2010:28)
Many Arabic dialects have developed a new verbal category of intensive forms, featuring medial
gemination. These intensive verbs are morphologically similar to, but syntactically different from, causative
verbs.
Verbs whose semantic features involve intensity or frequency assume the shape of the second measure
which is similar to causative verbs, as in converting measure 1 (intransitive) into measure 2 (transitive) like:
sakat (become silent) to sakkat (silence someone) and libis (put on) to labbas (dress someone).
(Mughazy,2007:38)
Many causatives are derived from simple verbs. if the simple verb means "X happens" then its causative
means "Y makes, lets or has X happen". For example:
* nazel (to descend, go down) = nazzal (to take down, bring down)
* Nam (to go to sleep) = nayyam (to put to sleep)
* wasel (to arrive) = wassal (to take someone somewhere)
Other causatives are derived from Adjectives as in:
* awi (strong) = awwa (to strengthen)
* xafif (light) = xaffaf (to lighten)
* sahih (correct) = sahhah (to correct)
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(Cowell,2005:240,242)
(Levin,1998:211)
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Al Mustansiriyah University
College of Arts
Department Of Translation
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can
could
may
might
must
shall
should
will
would
The following sections provide the most common semantic and pragmatic meanings and uses of the nine
modal auxiliary verbs in English.
Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that express modality in English. The nine English modalscan, could,
may, might, must, shall, should, will, and wouldeach have multiple meanings depending on use and
context.
(Palmer, 1990: 27)
2.1 Epistemic modality: it refers to as relating to utterances which involve judgments having to do with
possibility or likelihood. It is also referring to the knowledge of the speaker and it can be expressed as (e.g.
"to the best of my knowledge suha went to the airport")
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2.3 Denotic modality: it shows how to use language to express desires, wants, commands, obligation,
undertaking and permissions. It tends to share a great deal with per formatives. 'By uttering a modal' says
Palmer, "a speaker may actually give permission (May, Can) and make a promise or threat (shall) or lay an
obligation (Must)". And since it is not possible to desire, give permission, promise, threaten, or lay
obligation in the past; denotic modality, like per formatives , is compatible only with non past events.
Palmer, 1990:58
To shift to the past, add (kaan) before the phrase. To shift to the future, add (sayakuun) beforehand.
For negation, add (laysa) before it.
Examples:
( hal yajib munaaqaat qaDaaya mitl al-kaarita linsaaniyya fii burma fii majlis al-amn?)
Should issues like the humanitarian disaster in Burma be discussed in the Security Council?
( " " fiilm iiraani 3an itiyaal as-saadaat min almutawaqqa3 an yatiir aDab al-miSriyyiin)
An Iranian movie about Sadat's assassination is expected to anger Egyptians (lit. excite Egyptians' anger).
( haadihi l-mukila min almumkin an tataHawwil ila Zaahira ida lam tuwDi3 liha Huluul munaasiba wa-jidriyya)
This problem may turn into a phenomenon if appropriate and radical solutions for it are not found.
( min aT-Tabii3i an yafraH al-muwaaTin,
ayya muwaaTin, laday ru'yatu jeian ariiban yansaHib min arDu)
It's natural for a citizen, any citizen, to rejoice at the sight of a foreign army withdrawing from his land.
(ida lam nastaTi3 tajaawuz al-inqisaamaat daaxil al-mujtama3 al-filasTiini fa-sayakuun min aS-Sa3b
jiddan taHqiiq taqaddum fi mawDuu3eiyy azza wa-3amaliyyat as-salaam fil-waqt nafsu)
If we can't overcome the divisions within Palestinian society, then it will be very difficult to achieve
progress in the issues of Gaza and the peace process at the same time.
(An article retrieved from the websitehttp://www.arabic.desert-sky.net)
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3-Some English modals have past forms, e.g. can/could, may/might, will/would. The past forms may be
used to refer to the present or future time but, with probability gradience for example, the use of "might"
rather than "may" shows possibility
I may/might leave tomorrow
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Al Mustansiriyah University
College of Arts
Department Of Translation
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Verbs may be intransitive or transitive. An intransitive verb is one that does not take an object to complete
its meaning such as walk, sleep, run, sit, stand. A transitive verb is one that may take a direct object, indirect
object, object of preposition or complement to complete its meaning. Some transitive verbs may also be
transitive without an expressed object though they may be really transitive in meaning, e.g. she is cooking, I
am writing, he reads, they are eating.
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fa9ula
Sharafa
fa9ila
zaraqa
tata99ala
tafaraqa
tafa9ala
taqatala
?ifta9ala
?jtama9a
?if9alla
?hmara
?infa9ala
?nqasama
?in9allala
?dhmahala
tafa9lal
takahraba
fa99ala?
kasara
f9ala
?jlasa
fa9ala?
haraba
istaf9ala
?stashara
(AlJarf, 2003 : 15 )
An intransitive verb can be transformed into transitive in seven ways which can be classified into two
divisions
1- By addition which can be represented in four methods
a- By adding the prefix ( ?a ) ------ > ?f9al ( )
b- By adding the infix ( / a: / alf ) ------ > fa9ala ( ) which denotes association
c- Doubling the middle consonant ( fa99ala ) ( )
d- Adding the prefix ( ?st ) which denote demand ------ > ?staf9ala ( )
e.g )
(3)
? st9antu bilaah
2- Intransitivity other than addition and this could be seen in two types
a- Embedment or entailment when a verb entails the meaning of another verb, and represented in
three ways :
a1- Intransitivity with preposition that entails the meaning of another verb e.g.
(4)
meaning ( join to )
a2- taking over the meaning of the intransitive .e.g. means to prevent
a3- by short vowel marks of the middle letter e.g. kasia ---- . kassa
b- Denoting comparasion ( af9alu ? )kramutu zaida
c- Dropping the preposition to denote elaboration. e.g. 5-
A transitive verb can be transformed to an intransitive verb by adding the prefix ?in as in <-- ; by
adding the prefix ta --> ; by deleting the above prefixes and infixes ( : , 1987 : 34ff ).
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So, the verb which selects one argument ( as a subject ) is called intransitive verb. There are two distinct
kinds of intransitive verbs. The first is called unergative verbs, which take a true subject, e.g. The boy died.
The second is called ergative ( and / or accusative ) verbs, which does not take a true subject ( the subject is
base generated in object position ), e.g. The door opened.
water boils.
The water is boiled.
So, the verb yaghlii (boil-present) selects two arguments;alwalad-u which is the external argument, it has a
nominative case markand an agentive theta-role, alma?-a (the water), on the other hand, is theinternal
argument that has an accusative case mark and a patient theta-role.The internal argument of this sentence (
alma?-a ) The same thing goes for the English verb ( sell ) ( Al-Khawalda, 1990 : 5f ).
Intransitive verbs in Arabic are similar to the English intransitive verbs,
as in these examples:
(9) a- naama alwalad-u
b- wasala alwalad-u
c-safaraalwalad-u
Thus, the main important difference is that another argument can be added in the case of ergative verbs,
while we cannot do that in the case of intransitive verbs:
(10) a- almaa?-u yaghlii Water boils.
b- alwald-u yaghlii alma?-a The boy boils (is boiling)the water.
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dira:sat-a
al-luat-i
al-arabiyyat-i
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In languages where most verbs are labile, lability arguably can play the role of a causative marker.
Therefore, prototypically patientive monovalent verbs, which typically combine with causative markers, are
labile and can be used in transitive or intransitive constructions. For exam- ple, in English verbs with
patientive arguments often are labile (like break), while many verbs of other types are not.
3. Verbs with semantically close meanings. In languages where the class of labile verbs is not very large,
lability can appear when two meanings a situation with one argument and with two arguments have
some common semantic component.
For instance, transitive verbs in pairs like go/lead, run/drive, make run involve socia- tive causation :
the subject does P and by this makes the object do P, e.g. lead X = go with X and make X go. The
transitive and intransitive meanings thus have the common component the subject goes.
Another type of verb which becomes labile in many languages are verbs derived from nouns. In this case the
transitive and intransitive uses also have a common semantic component, namely, the original noun as
semantic argument.
4. LABILITY OF DERIVED VERBS. The Arabic data show that derived verbs, formed by the markers of
valency derivations, easily become labile. For example, lability is very typical for verbs of the third
pattern with the meaning of reciprocity or symmetrical action: qa:rabacome nearer/draw nearer, ma:tala
compare/be alike, sa:wa: level/become equal and so on.
This tendency can be explained by the fact that the main semantic component which is added to the meaning
of verbs by this derivation is that of symmetrical action; causativity is less important and less intrinsic, so it
can vary from one use to another, leading to lability of such verbs.
2.2. Types of semantic correlation between the two meanings of ergative verbs
There are other types as well. The types of lability are:
2.2.1. Causative lability.
The same verb means both P and cause P. One must be clear, however, about which type of causation is
meant. For example, in Classical Greek P and associative causation of P often are designated by the same
labile verb, while in Arabic symmetrical action and its causation tend to be expressed by the same verb.
2.2.2. Reflexive lability.
The reflex- ive type (the same verb expresses the meanings X P Y, where X is the subject and Y is the object, and X P X, where X is both subject and object) is found in English (The mother washes the baby/John
washes washes his face)
2.2.3. Reciprocal lability.
The same verb means X P Y and X and Y P each other. This type of lability is not wide- spread in the
languages of the world. We can see it in English (meet: I met her/We meet in the street meet each other)
and Arabic (tala:qa X meets with Y/X and Y meet):
Arabic:
(15a) ta-tala:qa :
al-juhu:d-u
al-Huku:miyyat-u
wa
The efforts of the Government and the people are converging (lit. meet).
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al-sabt-i
This type of lability usually occurs when the action expressed by the verb is semantically reciprocal in both
meanings: if X meets Y, then also Y meets X.
2.2.4. Passive (conversive) lability.
Passive lability is the case when the same verb can designate the same situation P using different
participants as subjects: cf. Bulgarian xaresam A likes B/B attracts A and Arabic tahaddadathreaten/be
under a threat:
(16a) al-dawlat-u
al-arabiyy-at-u
ta-tahaddadu-hu
al-waTan-iyy-u
ya-tahaddadu
3. Cognate object
There is also the case of cognate object construction, where the head noun of the object is the event or state
of nominalization of the verb.
( 17 ) s?uqaatulu qitaalanI will fight a fight ( 18 ) yafhamu l-darsa fahm-an
jaidan He understood it well
where the first sentence is transitive in its formal construction, but it is intransitive on the semantic level.
The second sentence is morphosyntactically realized as with two direct objects, yet it semantically has twoplace relation. Thus, it could be said that there is no relation between semantic and formal transitivity.
(Battat , 2004 : 56)
From these general observations, we see that form and meaning cannot be considered apart From the point
of view of the principle of compositionality, the meaning of a sentence should not only be derived from the
meaning of its components, but it should also include the implicit, partial semantics associated with the
syntactic construction ( Wikipedia ).
from an agent to a patient. That is the relation of two ( pr more ) place from the point of view of predicate
logic. Transitive verbs from the prospect of type theory, denote a function from entities to a function from
entities to truth values ( < e, < e , t >> ) . (Hoseini , 2011 : 4ff )
Yet , it is not a one-to-one relation , i.e. the existence of ( direct ) object may or may not indicate whether the
verb is transitive or intransitive.
( 19 ) The beast killed a sheep.
( 20 ) Last night, the beast killed again .
While we can see a one-to-one relation between form and meaning in the first sentence, the second sentence,
formally intransitive due to the absence of a direct object, despite the face that on the semantic level, the
construction has to be considered transitive ( in order to perform the act of killing, there has to be a
participant involved that was a live before the action ). This is sometimes, referred to as indefinite object
deletion .
Parameter
High
Low
A.
Participants
2 or more, A and O
B.
action
non-action
C.
Aspect telic
atelic
non- atelic
D.
Punctuality
punctual
non-punctual
E.
Volitionality
volitional
non-volitional
F.
Affirmation
affirmative
negative
G.
Mode
realis
irrealis
H.
Agency
A high in potency
A low in potency
I.
Affectedness of O
O totally affected
O not affected
J.
Individuation of O
O highly individuated
O non-individuated
Thus, transitivity involves much more than only the presence of an object to the verb.
Yet, in respect of these parameters with two participants may rate lower on the transitivity scale than a
clause with a single participant.
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( 21 ) - Susan left.
( 22 ) John likes books
The first sentence is seen to be highly rated or marked for transitivity having four parameters represented :
Kinesis : action
Aspect : telic
Punctuality : punctual
Volitionality : volitional
While the second sentence only represent the parameter of
Participant : two
This shows that intransitive clauses can rate higher for transitivity than transitive ones. So another condition
was set that the rating should be carried only within the class of two-participant clauses, so as to distinguish
degrees of transitivity . (Greene , 2007 : 25ff )
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Conclusion
Arabic imperfective aspect has two counterparts in English: simple present, and present progressive like
/yaktub- / he writes or he is writing.
The Arabic /Kana- /+ imperfect form has three equivalents:
Example:
/Kana yakyub/= he wrote, he was writing and he used to write.
The English perfective is often rendered into Arabic by the employment of this formula: /qad+the perfect/
Example:
I have bought a car.
/laqad Ishtraytu sayaratan/
.
The English perfective progressive is transferred into Arabic in of the following methods:
A.
B.
C.
D.
Imperfect indicative
/Mazala( )+ imperfect indicative/
Active participle.
/Mazala()+ active participle.
The English present progressive can be rewndered into Arabic by the use of the indicative of any verb or
active participle of activity verbs:
Examples:
Indicative: /Yakyub-/= "He is writing"
Active participle: /hwa na'am- /= "He is sleeping"
Unlike Arabic, English has a sequence of tense rule that stipulates tense harmony in sentences with more
than a clause. Indirect speech.
The optative use of the English subjunctive is changed into Arabic by the perfect tense.e.g. /Samahaka
Allah- /=" May Allah forgive you", whereas the performative verbs always occur in the simple
present construction, but in Arabic language, it may occur in the imperfect or in the perfect tense.There are
certain important notions to be taken into consideration, first of all causative verbs occur in English in a
passive and active structure, not to mention that English language makes use of supporting verbs such as
have, get, make and let as causative verbs. In addition semantics deals with causative verbs in terms of
aspects like the embedded situation which refers to the caused situation and the Inchoative/Causative verb
pairs which refer to two situations one includes an agent while the other excludes it as if occurring
spontaneously.In Arabic causative verbs are developed by means of medial gemination or adding a prefix,
usually they are derived from verbs or adjectives.
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As for modality, there are two categories regarding modality from the semantic perspective and these are:
"Denotic" and "Epistemic" the latter signal a speaker's judgments and it is about the way the real world and
how it is shown in the language while the former namely "Denotic" is about how people should behave in
the real world. I also have come across the Arabic modals and what I have found is that Arabic modals is a
kind of translation of the English modals and there is no exact equivalent from Arabic to the English ones.
Finally, The main and simplest difference between transitive and intransitive verbs is whether the verb needs
an object to complete the meaning or the subject would be sufficient to do so.
Transitivity is sometimes seen as just a matter of number of arguments, the verb may select, i.e. the verb that
selects one argument is called to be intransitive while the verb that selects two arguments or more is referred
to as a transitive verb . Yet, many factors are combined to determine the degree of the verb transitivity as
suggested by the notion of gradient transitivity for example.
In Arabic, unlike English, there are specific patterns or forms of the verbs that denote their transitivity and
intransitive verbs can be transformed into transitive ones ( or vice versa ) by employing certain
morphological inflections.
Some verbs; ergative or liable verb can be in both positions of transitive and intransitive, with of course
different semantic implications.
Finally, certain parameters such as voloitionality and participants should be applied to figure out the degree
of transitivity, consequently would have another notion of transitivity which is gradient transitivity.
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References
-AlJarf, Reima( 2003 ). Inflections For Translation Students . King Saud University English And
Arabic. King Saud University.
- Al-Khawalda, Mohammad ( 1990 ) Arabic Versus English Ergative Verbs. Damascus University
Journal, Vol.27 No.3.
- Battat. I.M. Salem .( 2004 ) , Markedness Theory as it Relates to Word Orderin Translationbetween
English and Arabic , An-Najah National University.
-BRENNAN, VIRGINIA. (1993). Root and Epistemic Modal Auxiliary Verbs. Ph.D. thesis, UMass,
Amherst.
-Britannica Encyclopedia (2011) free encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation.
-Comrie,Bernard & Polinsky,Maria (1993). Causatives and Transitivity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
B.V.
- Doron, Johan .( 1995 ) The Semantics Of Transitivity Alternations, The Hebrew University Of
Jerusalem.
-Cowell,Mark W. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic. Georgetwon: Georgetown
University Press.
-Crystal, David. (2003). A Dictionary of Linguistics andPhonetics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
- Greene, Stephan Charles .( 2007 ) Lexical Semantics, Transitivity, And The Identification Of Implicit
Sentiment. University Of Maryland Press.
-Encarta Encyclopedia (2009) free encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation.
-Griffiths,Patrick (2006). AnIntroduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
-Howe,Douglas Henry & Burton,Terry (2008). English Today2. Penerbit Quadra.
- Hoseini, Maryam .( 2011 ) Modeling The Arabic Language Through Verb Based Ontology .
International Journal Of Academic Research Vol. 3. No. 3. May, 2011, Ii Part.
-Khalil K. Aziz. (2010). A Contrastive Grammar of English and Arabic .Jordan Book Center.
-Letuchij, Alexandr ( 1993 ) . LabilityOf Verbs And Its Relations To Verb Meaning And Argument
Structure . Russian State Humanistic University Press
-Levin,Aryeh (1998). Thought and Dialectology. Jerusalem: Academon Press Ltd.
-Leech, Geoffery/CruickShank,Benita/ Ivanic,Roz
. (2001).English Grammar&Usage,England:Pearson Education Limited.
-Mughazy,Mustafa A. (2007). Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins B.V.
-Murphy,Lynne M. & Koskela,Anu (2010). Key Terms in Semantics. Wiltshire: Continuum
International Publishing Group.
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:
. ( ) . -
Websites:
http://www.ego4v/en/cram-up/grammar/tense
http://www.easyenglishlearning.org/grammar/aspect
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.grammar.about.com
http://www.arabic.desert-sky.net
http://www.ta5atub.com/t2652-topic
http://www.wikipedia.com .retrieved on 1st of February 2012
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