The Syntactic Argumentation of the Word / le: š / in Jordanian Arabic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1305.16Keywords:
question formation, syntactic argumentation, Jordanian Arabic, syntactic functionsAbstract
This study aims at investigating the syntactic status of the word /le:š / in question formation in Jordanian Arabic (JA). It is argued that this word has two syntactic functions in JA questions. The first of which is that it works as interrogative operator, meaning ‘why’, which moved to the [Spec C] position in one type of wh-question. However, the second role of this word is found in other types of questions, wh-questions and yes-no questions. In these types of questions /le:š/ is realized as an interrogative complementiser formed within the C position and giving the interrogative force for the question. To this end, empirical evidence is given and discussed to distinguish between the two syntactic representations of this word especially in ambiguous cases of having two different types of questions sharing the same surface structure.
References
Fina, A. D. & Johnstone, B. (2015). Discourse analysis and narrative. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 152-167). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Glynn, D. & Sjölin, M. (2012). Cognitive-linguistic methods for literature: A usage-based approach to metanarration and metalepsis. In A. Kwiatkowska (Ed.), Texts and minds: Papers in cognitive poetics and rhetoric (pp. 85-102). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Harrison, C. (2017). Cognitive grammar in contemporary fiction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hogan, P. C. (2017). Simulation and the structure of emotional memory: Learning from Arthur Miller’s After the Fall In. M. Burke, & E. T. Troscianko (Eds.), Cognitive literary science: Dialogues between literature and cognition (pp. 113-133). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hyland, K. (2007). Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse. In T. A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse studies. (Vol.II, pp. 102-121). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Jeffries, L. (2008). The role of style in reader-involvement: Deictic shifting in contemporary poems. Journal of Literary Semantics, 37, 69-85.
Langacker, R. W. (1985). Observations and speculations on subjectivity. In J. Haiman (Ed.), Iconicity in syntax (pp. 109-150). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Langacker, R. W. (1991). Foundations of cognitive grammar Vol. II: Descriptive application. Stanford/California: Stanford University Press.
Langacker, R. W. (1997). A dynamic account of grammatical function. In J. Bybee, J. Haiman, & S. A. Thompson (Eds.), Essays on language function and language type (pp. 249-274). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Langacker, R. W. (2008). Cognitive grammar: A basic introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Langacker, R. W. (2013). Essentials of cognitive grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Langacker, R. W. (2014). Foreword. In C. Harrison, L. Nuttall, P. Stockwell, & Y. Wenjuan (Eds.), Cognitive grammar in literature (pp. xiii-xiv). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Lyons, J. (1995). Linguistic semantics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leech, G & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose (2nd edition). London: Pearson Education Limited.
Mithun, M. (2015). Discourse and grammar In In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 11-41). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Rembowska-Płuciennik, M. (2012). The narrative poetics of mindreading. In A. Kwiatkowska (Ed.), Texts and minds: Papers in cognitive poetics and rhetoric (pp. 57-70). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Rimmon-Kenan, S. (2005). Narrative fiction (2nd edition). London/New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Smith, M. S. (2017). Introducing language and cognition: A map of the mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stein, D. & S. Wright. (1995). Subjectivity and subjectivisation: Linguistic perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Verhagen, A. (2007). Construal and perspectivization. In D. Geeraerts & H. Cuyckens (Eds.), The oxford handbook of cognitive linguistics (pp. 48-81). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zunshine, L. (2015). From the social to the literary: Approaching Cao Xueqin’s The Story of the Stone from a cognitive perspective. In L. Zunshine (Ed.), The oxford handbook of cognitive literary studies (pp. 176-196). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
