Serial verbs in Arabic : or on how to use language typology

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  • アラビア語の動詞連続 : 言語類型論的視点の外国語教育への応用試論
  • アラビアゴ　ノ　ドウシ　レンゾク　ゲンゴ　ルイケイ　ロン　テキ　シテン　ノ　ガイコクゴ　キョウイク　ヘノ　オウヨウ　シロン
  • アラビアゴ ノ ドウシ レンゾク : ゲンゴ ルイケイロンテキ シテン ノ ガイコクゴ キョウイク エ ノ オウヨウ シロン

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Abstract

Linguists generally share the view that linguistics is a descriptive science of language in clear contrast to prescriptive pedagogy of languages, while on the other side of the same coin, non-linguist teachers of languages share the view that linguistics is a piece of junk that neglects practicality. These views, perhaps originally made to distinguish themselves from each other as independent academic fields, have led to unproductive mutual indifference. This article is a frank attempt to reconcile the two fields for a better relationship, by arguing how to introduce a linguistic way of thinking (in this article, a typological notion) to language teaching so that both linguists and learners can benefit from the same result. “Serial verb construction (SVC)” is a common term for a syntactic phenomenon widely found in a number of languages of the world, such as West African languages, Atlantic creoles, and continental Southeast Asian languages. According to one of the broadest definitions of it, given by Dixon (2013), a SVC has more than two independent verbs which share at least one argument but are connected without a conjunction. While this definition meets a variety of constructions in (Written) Arabic, this term has been alien to the field of Arabic teaching—and in turn Arabic has been absent in the typological studies on SVCs. Based on previous reference grammars and textbooks of Arabic, this study tentatively argues that, in Arabic, various functions of SVCs may include: (i) sequence of actions, (ii) circumstantial qualification, (iii) purpose qualification, (iv) propositional attitude complementation, (v) direct experience complementation, (vi) utterance complementation, (vii) tense and aspect expressions, and (viii) causative expressions. This definition and categorization of the SVCs in Arabic not only enable learners an easier understanding of the polyfunctionality of the syntactic construction but also enriches linguistic data on SVCs including unique features hitherto less-known to the typological studies on SVCs.

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