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Morphology and Gender in Arabic and Amazigh
Edited by : Moha Ennaji and Fatima Sadiqi
2011 / Issue 28

Moha Ennaji & Fatima Sadiqi
Introduction

Khalsa Al Aghbari
Fixed Vocalism in the Broken Plurals of Muscat Arabic

Moha Ennaji
The Construct State in Arabic and Berber

Taoufik El Ayachi
Subject Clitics in Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Tamazight

Khadija Sekka 
Gender Differences in Speech Act Realizations:
Congratulating in Tashelhit as a Case Study

Mahmoud El Salman and Thomas Roche 
Change in the Language of Tirawi Wedding Songs

 
 
Fixed Vocalism in the Broken Plurals of Muscat Arabic

Khalsa Al Aghbari

Abstract

    Khalsa Al Aghbari discusses fixed vocalism in the broken plurals of Muscat Arabic, using the tenets of Optimality Theory. She outlines that the vowels contained in the broken plurals of Muscat Arabic fall into two distinct types of fixed vocalism: morphological and phonological. The first type is manifested by the invariant vowel [a] which fills all the vowel slots of the first foot (CV.CV:) or (CCV:) at the left edge of the broken plurals. The phonological fixed vocalism relates to the variable vowels in the final short syllable of these forms. The quality of the vowel in the last syllable is highly dependent on the place features of the consonant that follows it.
 
 
The Construct State in Arabic and Berber
Moha Ennaji

Abstract

    The second article by Moha Ennaji presents a morpho-syntactic analysis of the construct state in Arabic and Amazigh. It argues that construct states are derived by means of No-raising to Do in parallel with Vo-raising to Io in IPs in conformity with the Head Movement Constraint. This claim implies that Do contains an abstract AGR in SA and an overt and abstract one in MA and B. At any rate, AGR triggers Genitive Case under Spec-Head Agreement. These agreement facts suggest that DPs in these languages contain an AGR node that may be either morphological or abstract. 

 
 

Subject Clitics in Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Tamazight
Taoufik El Ayachi

Abstract

     Taoufik El-Ayachi’s article is an analysis of subject clitics within the framework of the Minimalist Program and its subsequent theory of Derivation by Phase (cf. Chomsky, 1999) and related studies. The article proposes a different perspective on agreement-like elements in TB and possibly in some pro-drop languages such as Modern Standard Arabic and Moroccan Arabic (hereafter MSA and MA, respectively). 

 
 
Gender Differences in Speech Act Realizations:
Congratulating in Tashelhit as a Case Study
Khadija Sekka

Abstract

    Khadija Sekkal’s article focuses on the differences between male and female language among Amazigh communities in the South of Morocco. She shows that men tend to be economical and direct in their use of polite formulas, while women make use of a larger number of words because of their social character. In addition, men and women are influenced by other sociolinguistic variables such as age and education. This is clearly seen with young and educated women who use the language of men, and illiterate men who would use the expressions used by the majority of women.

 
 
Change in the Language of Tirawi Wedding Songs
Mahmoud El Salman and Thomas Roche

Abstract

    The article by Mahmoud El Salman and Thomas Roche discuss the Tirawi language of wedding songs and poems in Palestine. The study indicates that the wedding songs and poems which are now sung and recited on similar occasions by the Tirat community witness to a radical change in the performed identity of the Tirawian community. Themes and images relating to agricultural life and unrequited romantic love were common in the songs before 1948, whereas contemporary songs of the Tirawi are centered around loss, armed struggle, and religious discourses.