Manner Adverbials in English And Arabic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes2000.3.1.13Keywords:
Arabic-English StudiesAbstract
The broad objective of this paper is to compare, albeit briefly and informally, manner adverbials in English and Arabic. Manner adverbials in the two languages will be compared according to the following parameters: (i) Realizations, (ii) Status (in clause structure), and (iii) Co occurrence Restrictions. The grammatical framework adopted in this paper draws heavily on Quirk, et. a!. (1972): A Grammar of Contemporary English. In particular, we adopt the authors' method of representing clause structure functionally; i.e. by means of the functions of the immediate constituents of the clause. Thus, following Quirk, et. a!. (1972), we recognize the following functions: (i) Subject (S), (ii) Verb (V), (iii) Object (0), (iv) Complement (C), and (v) Adverbial (ADV). Finally, in the course ofthis paper we shall borrow some of the examples cited in Quirk, et. al. (1972). Before we proceed to compare manner adverbials in English and Arabic, it is expedient to draw attention to the fact that Arab grammarians (both traditional and contemporary) do not make a distinction between the function 'adverbial' and the category 'adverb' (as a word class). Secondly, they do not view the function adverbial as a grammatical function that has different realizations. This is due to the fact that, in their endeavour to classify language categories formally, in particular according to inflections, they group together elements/categories that are only superficially similar but functionally difterent. Another consequence of their reliance on inflections as a criterion for classification was their inability to group together the different realizations which a certain function (e.g. adverbial) may have (see Section 3 below). However, in the course of this paper we shall avail ourselves of the insights of well-known Arab grammarians, notably, Sibawayhi, · lbn-Malik, Ibn-Hashim, Hassaan (1979), and Al Makhzoumi (1966) (see References for details). We shall also make use of some of the examples they cite. .
