Lucas, Christopher (2007) 'Jespersen's Cycle in Arabic and Berber.' Transactions of the Philological Society, 105 (3). pp. 398-431.
Abstract
Many varieties of Arabic and Berber have undergone a process of syntactic change known as Jespersen’s Cycle (JC). In JC a postverbal item is reanalysed as part of a discontinuous marker of negation together with the original preverbal negator. In some cases the original preverbal negator is then lost. This paper investigates the synchronic and historical data relevant to JC in the varieties in question, arguing that the innovation of the postverbal negator began in Arabic and later spread to Berber through contact. The various syntactic reanalyses involved in the Arabic JC are sketched, and the implications of the Arabic and Berber data for better-known instances of JC in European languages are discussed.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| SOAS Departments & Centres: | Departments and Subunits > School of Languages, Cultures & Linguistics > Department of Linguistics Legacy Departments > Faculty of Languages and Cultures > Department of Linguistics |
| ISSN: | 00791636 |
| DOI (Digital Object Identifier): | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-968X.2007.00189.x |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2011 10:25 |
| URI: | https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/11159 |
Altmetric Data
Statistics
Accesses by country - last 12 months | Accesses by referrer - last 12 months |
Repository staff only
 |
Edit Item |