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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 47:2 (2023) ► pp.243–290

Spatial prepositions min and ʕan in Traditional Negev Arabic

| Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| Tel Aviv University

The Arabic prepositions min and ʕan in their prototypical spatial use relate to the Source domain, translating as ‘(away) from’. In many contemporary dialects ʕan is absent or limited to secondary, non-spatial meanings. In Traditional Negev Arabic, however, both prepositions are used complementarily. The proto-scene of ablative min is a Figure (F) exiting from a 3-dimensional Ground (G)-source, with ‘containment’ and ‘boundary-crossing’ typical components of the scene. The preposition ʕan prototypically fulfils a separative function, denoting separation from a Source with no relevance to dimensions, and has developed secondary modal functions. Both also have perlative functions and may appear in static scenes. Only min heads prepositional complexes, where it typically restores the nominal origin of the following element as a bounded region. So ‘min behind the house’ may denote ‘in the back zone of the house’; these complexes characterize multiple axes, when F crosses G’s path.

Keywords: spatial prepositions, Source domain, Figure-Ground relations, proto-scene, semantic maps, ablative, perlative, partitive, allative, separative, boundary-crossing, multiple axis scenes, Traditional Negev Arabic, Classical Arabic, relexification
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Prepositions and proto-scenes
  • 2.Research on Classical Arabic prepositions
    • a.Primary/Secondary
    • b.Concrete/Abstract
    • c.Source/Goal/Path
  • 3.Source preposition min
    • 3.1 min in research literature
    • 3.2 min in our proto-scene model
    • 3.3Compounding min
  • 4.Source preposition ʕan
    • 4.1The preposition ʕan in grammarians’ descriptions
    • 4.2The preposition ʕan in our proto-scene model
    • 4.3The compound min ʕan
  • 5.Overlap, differentiation and dialectal development
    • 5.1Overlap and differentiation
    • 5.2The prepositions min and ʕan in Modern Arabic dialects and in dialectal research
  • 6.The present study
    • 6.1Preliminary dialectal survey
    • 6.2Traditional Negev Arabic and its spatial language
    • 6.3Methodological background
    • 6.4Corpus
    • 6.5Experimental methodology
    • 6.6The stimuli
      • Series α
      • Series β
      • Series γ
    • 6.7Further stimuli: The Tick Test Series
    • 6.8Spontaneous discourse data
    • 6.9The informants
    • 6.10Presentation of findings
      • a.Corpus (C) examples
      • b.Experimental (E) examples
      • c.Spontaneous (S) discourse examples
  • 7.The preposition min: Simplex and compounding
    • 7.1Proto-scene: Boundary-crossing
      • 7.1.1Simplex boundary-crossing min
      • 7.1.2Compounding boundary-crossing min
      • 7.1.3Does the wadi have a ‘heart’?
      • 7.1.4Boundary-crossing min ʕind
    • 7.2Ablative min for Source
      • 7.2.1Simplex ablative min
      • 7.2.2Compound ablative min ʕind
      • 7.2.3Simplex and compound allative prepositions
    • 7.3Perlative min for Path
      • 7.3.1Simplex perlative min for boundary-crossing
      • 7.3.2Simplex perlative min for passing by, along or across
      • 7.3.3Compounding perlative min ʕind
      • 7.3.4The prepositions giddām, wara and janb in simplex and compound Path phrases
    • 7.4Stative min for location
      • 7.4.1Stative min-adverbials
      • 7.4.2Stative min-compounds
    • 7.5Adverbial min-chains
      • 7.5.1 F min G w ADV
      • 7.5.2 F ʕind G min ADV
    • 7.6Summary of spatial min
  • 8.Findings for ʕin
    • 8.1Proto-scene: Distancing ʕin
    • 8.2Distancing ʕin followed by a min-phrase
    • 8.3Perlative ʕin
    • 8.4Stative ʕin
    • 8.5Modal ʕin
  • 9.The adverbial ‘there’ with min and ʕin
  • 10.Summary, conclusions, and further research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 7 June 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.20053.hen
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