The DOI matches its Crossref record.
The Development of the Semitic Definite Article: A Syntactic Approach
Abstract
This paper aims at explaining the development of the Semitic definite article through an examination of its attested syntactical features. The paper will try to show that the original function of the definite article was not to mark definiteness, that it was first attached to the attribute, not the noun, and that only later was it transferred to the noun and interpreted as an article.
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In the citing paper
“As Pat-El (2009: §4.2, 38 -40) convincingly argues, the definite article *hal , 14 which in most Islamic-era dialects of Arabic is realized as (a)l-, was originally prefixed to the attribute following the noun.”
From gahwat al-murra: the N + DEF-ADJ syntagm and the *at>ah shift in Arabic (2020) · cites this paper as Pat-El 2009
In the citing paper
“However, even though the use of * han / hal as an article was likely not a feature of proto-Arabic, Arabic nonetheless likely did inherit its function as a marker of adnominal attributes, as Pat-El (2009; 2017) has argued.”
From gahwat al-murra: the N + DEF-ADJ syntagm and the *at>ah shift in Arabic (2020) · cites this paper as Pat-El 2009
In the citing paper
“As mentioned above, the definite article is not reconstructible to proto-Semitic, nor to proto-West Semitic; rather, the definite article, based on * han / hal , likely developed independently, though with contact leading to a consistent distribution across the Central Semitic languages (Pat-El 2009; Huehnergard and Rubin 2011: §7.4).”
From gahwat al-murra: the N + DEF-ADJ syntagm and the *at>ah shift in Arabic (2020) · cites this paper as Pat-El 2009
In the citing paper
“I agree that the syntagm under discussion is a retention of that more archaic pattern of nominal attribution, and have further argued here that, based on parallels in other Central Semitic languages, and a direct parallel in Arabic, that the ubiquitous realization of the feminine ending as -at represents a position in which the word-final shift of *at > -ah was blocked.”
From gahwat al-murra: the N + DEF-ADJ syntagm and the *at>ah shift in Arabic (2020) · cites this paper as Pat-El 2009
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
gahwat al-murra: the N + DEF-ADJ syntagm and the *at>ah shift in Arabic
Stokes, P. W. (2020) · Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies · doi:10.1017/s0041977x19001125 · Cited by 1
Metadata
- Authors
- Pat-El, N.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pat-El, N.
- ORCID
- Pat-El, N.
- Venue
- Journal of Semitic Studies
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2009-03-01
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-50
- ISSN
- 0022-4480 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-8556
- OpenAlex
- W2152277359
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Semitic Studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and language evolution
- Keywords
- definiteness, syntactic development, historical syntax, Semitic languages
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