Download - Unlocking the Ajrumiyya
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UnlockingtheAjrmiyya
BeingaCommentaryintheEnglishLanguageonIbnAjrmsPrimer,andDrawing
ExtensivelyfromtheSupplimentof(a))b
By
Al-faqirilRabbihil-Ghan
KhalidWilliams
KhalidWilliams2011
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TheDefinitionofSpeech
ThisistheclassicaldefinitionofwhatconstitutesspeechinArabic.Initslinguisticmeaning,
speech is wider, including as it does other means of communication such as gestures or
writing.
Asforitstechnicalusage,thegrammarianshavedefinedspeechasanythingthatsatisfiesthe
followingfourconditions:
1 Thatitbeenunciatedvocally()2 Thatitbecomposedofatleasttwowords()3 Thatitgiveanintelligiblemeaning()4 ThatitbeArabic;or,thatitbeintentional(thereisadifferenceofopinion,aswe
shallsee,Allahwilling.)()
Somethingsbeingsenunciatedmeansthatitisasoundcomposedofalphabeticletters,such
asoror.Thegrammariansdonotconsideranythingthatisnotenunciatedtobespeechforgrammaticalpurposes.
Asgrammaticallydefined, speechmustbecomposedof twoormorewords.Forexample,
is speech, because it is composed of two words, a verb and a noun. This includesphraseswhich includewords that are elided, suchas ,which is considered tobeeventhoughitappearstobeonlyoneword,becausethesubjectpronounisconcealed )( ,asisseenbyitsonlypossibleEnglishtranslation:Hewent.
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Speechmustgiveanintelligiblemeaning,wherebyifoneweretoceasespeaking,themeaning
wouldbeplaintothehearer,withouttheirneedingtowaitformore.Forexample,thephrase
is speech, because it gives a complete, intelligiblemeaning. If onewere to saysimply andthenstop,thiswouldnotbeconsideredspeech,eventhoughitiscomposedof two words, because it gives no complete meaning; the listener will no doubt be left
wonderingexactlywhere,orinwhat,Zaydmightbe.
Grammaticallyspeaking, speechmustbeArabic;thereisnosenseattemptingtoanalysea
work in the Persian language according the conventions and rules of the Arabic tongue.
Otherscholarshavestatedthatthemeaningoftheauthorswordsisthatinordertobeconsideredspeech,itmustbeutteredbyasentientbeingwithintention:thevocalizationsof
asleepingperson,andtheimitationofhumandiscourseperformedbyparrots,andsoon,are
notfitforgrammaticalanalysisaccordingtothisview.
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ThePartsofSpeech
:
ThisistheclassicaldefinitionoftheArabicpartsofspeech,asissaidtohavebeenoriginally
putforwardbyImmAlibnAbDlib.ModernArabicstudieshasatendencytoadvance
many other parts of speech, such as and, but these classifications are generallyderivedfromother languages,andwhilesometimesuseful,canoftenresult inconfusion. It
remainsthecasethatallArabicwordscanbeplacedinoneofthefollowingthreecategories:
1 TheNoun )( 2 TheVerb )( 3 TheParticle )(
Anounisawordthatembodiesameaninginandofitself,andisnotcontextualisedbytime.
Thewordembodiesaspecificmeaning,namelyalion,sothatifitisheard,themindwillconjureuptheappropriateimageaccordingtoitsunderstandingandexperience.Timehasno
bearing on the word, that is, there is no indication as to whether the reference is to the
present,thepast,orthefuture.
Nouns )( areofthreekinds:1
(i) :Thatwhichindicatesitsmeaningwithoutneedforcontext,suchas. 1TheEnglishgrammaticaltermssubstantive,demonstrativeetchaveintentionallybeenavoidedhere,
astheyarenotperfectequivalentsfortheArabicterms,andthereissomeoverlap.Bearinginmindthe
many difficulties that arose with the attempts by English grammarians to apply Latin rules and
preceptstoEnglish,alanguagewhichispatentlyneitherLatinnoraderivativeofit,itwouldseemwise
toavoidwhereverpossiblethetemptationtoapplytoomuchEnglishgrammaticalterminologytothe
Arabiclanguage.Inthecaseofsuchclear-cuttermsasnounfor,verbforandsoon,thisdangermaybehopedtobeaverted.
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(ii) :Thatwhichindicatesitsmeaningonlyinthecontextoffirst,secondorthirdperson,suchas,,,andsoon.
(iii) :Thatwhichisambiguousinmeaning,suchas,,andsoon.
A verb is a word that embodies ameaning in and of itself, and is contextualised by time,
whetherpast,present,orfuture.Thewordembodiesaspecificmeaningin itself,namelythatofreading,anditiscontextualisedbytime,inthiscasethepast.
Verbsarealsoofthreekinds:2
(i) :Thatwhichindicatesaneventoractionthattookplaceinthepast,andwascompletedbeforethetimeofspeaking,suchas,,and
(ii) : Thatwhich indicates an event or action that takes place at the timeofspeaking,orwhichwilltakeplaceafterit,suchas,,and
(iii) :Thatwhichwilltakeplaceafterthetimeofspeaking,suchas,,and
Particles arewordswhosemeaning does not become apparent until they are coupledwith
another part of speech. The particle may be described vaguely as having the meaningfrom, suggesting the concept of origin or beginning, yet its shades ofmeaning defy plain
definition or translation; itsmeaning is known only through context. Consideration of the
followingsentences,andtheroleofinthem,sufficestoillustratethis:
2ItmaybenotedthatthisdoesnotcorrespondwiththeEnglishconventionofgroupingverbsintopast,
present, futureand imperative.The future tense isabsent inArabic,beingas it is includedwith the
present. Itmay therefore be appropriate to groupArabic verbs according to the same classification
oftenaffordedbyEnglishspeakerstoJapaneseverbs:Past(),non-past( ),andimperative().
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Particlesarealsoofthreekinds:
(i) Thosewhichcanbeappliedtonounsonly,suchas,,,etc.(ii) Thosewhichcanbeappliedonlytoverbs,suchas,,,etc.(iii) Thosewhichcanbeappliedtobothnounsandverbs,suchas,,,etc.
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TheHallmarksoftheNoun
:
Nounsaredistinguishedfromverbsandparticlesbyseveralhallmarks.Theauthormentions
fourofthese:3
1 Thegenitivecase()2 Tanwin()3 Thedefinitearticle( )4 Genitiveparticles( )
Thegenitivecaseisparticulartonouns.4Nounsaresaidtobeinthegenitivecasewhentheir
caseendingiskasraoranyofitssubstitutes.Forexample,inthesentence ,thewordisinthegenitivecase.
Nounsaremadegenitiveeitherbyothernounsorbyparticles,notbyverbs(accordingtothe
mainstreamposition).Thedifferentwaysthisoccurswillbeseeninduecourse,Allahwilling.
3Thesearenottheonlyhallmarksofanoun.Anotherimportantoneis ,thatis,theabilitytobethesubjectofasentence,whetherverbalornominal.
4The termwas the termusedby theKufa schoolof grammarians. InBasra, the term waspreferred;thelattertermisnowthemorefrequentlyused.
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Tanwin5 isalsoparticular tonouns.6 Itmeans theadditionof theletternnattheendofa
word,representedorthographicallybyadoublingofthefinalvowel.Therearefourkindsof
tanwin:7
(i) :This isadded to theendofdeclinablenouns, reflectingtheir nature as true nouns, resembling neither verbs in their being
partially declinable, or particles in their being indeclinable. This
includesmostindefinitesingularnouns,suchasand,aswellasmanyindefiniteplurals,suchasand.
(ii) :This isaddedtotheendof indeclinablepropernamesinorder to distinguish between a well-known individual and someone
elsewhosharesthesamename.Forexample,thenameofthefamous
grammarianSbawayhiisindeclinable,andconsidereddefinite.Ifwe
wanttomakethisnameindefiniteinordertomentionsomeoneelse
withthisname(i.e.aSbawayhi,nottheSbawayhi),weaddtanwin,so
itbecomeswithtanwin.(iii) :Thisisaddedtotheparticleinsuchphrasesasand
inordertoreplaceasentencedefiningtheperiodoftimemeant.It is equivalent to the that in the phrase On that day, where the
that refers to some description of the day in question that
distinguishes it from all other days. When Allah says: ,8thetanwininreferstoeverythingthathascomebefore,describing the moment when the soul leaves the body. The tanwin
serves to avoid repeating a whole phrase that has just been
mentioned,orthatisunderstoodbycontext.
(iv) :thisisaddedtofemininesoundpluralsastheequivalentofthennthatisaddedtotheendofmasculinesoundplurals.Thatis,
5NunationseemsawhollyunnecessaryAnglicisation.
6OntheoccasionsintheQuranwhenvernsendintanwin(forexample96:15),thisisnottanwinbut
ratherthennofemphasis,whichhistoricallywasoccasionallywrittenwithadoubledvowel,although
itslexicalpurposediffersentirelyfromthatoftanwin.
7 These are not the only kinds of tanwin: al-Ahdal mentions a total of ten in his commentary on
(a))bsMutammimaal-Ajurmiyya;butmostscholarssufficethemselveswithmentionofthesefour,
astheothersaresubjecttoscholarlydifferenceastotheirapplicability.
856:84
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thetanwinontheword isequivalenttothennontheword.
Theadditionofthedefinitearticleisalsoparticulartonouns,e.g.,,,andsoon.
Only nouns are preceded by genitive particles, such as , where the word isprecededbythegenitiveparticle.
Thegenitiveparticlesare,,,,,,,, and.Theirmeaningsarewell-known,andvaryaccordingtotheircontext.
Afurtherthreeparticlesareusedasmeansofdeclaringoaths.Theseare,and.
isonlyusedbeforesubstantivenouns,e.g., ,or .Itcannotbeusedwithpronouns.Itisnotprecededbyaverb,sowecannotsay .
canbeusedwithboth substantives andpronouns,e.g. or . It canbeprecededby averb,e.g. ,or .
isonlyusedwiththename,e.g. .Itisnotprecededbyaverb.
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TheHallmarksoftheVerb
Verbsaredistinguishedfromnounsandparticlesbyseveralhallmarks.Theauthormentions
fourofthese:
1 2 3 4
Thisparticlecomesbeforebothandverbs.Whenitprecedesthe,itserveseithertosignifythecloseproximityofanevent,asin ,orelsetogiveemphasistoanevent thathas alreadyoccurred, as in .When itprecedes the, itsignifieseitheremphasis,asin ,orrarity,asin .9
Thesetwoparticlesgiveafuturesensetoaverbwhentheyprecedeit.Itissaidthattheuseofimpliesthattheeventwillhappenlaterthanisimpliedbytheuseof;otherscholarssaythatthereisnodifferencebetweenthetwoparticles.
9ItissaidthatwhenAllahorHisMessengeruse,italwayssignifiesemphasis.
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Anvowellesslettertaisaddedtotheendofaverbtoshowthatthesubjectisfeminine,andisuniquetoverbs.Forexample:,,,etc.
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TheHallmarksoftheParticle
Particlesaredistinguishedfromnounsandverbsby the fact that theydonotacceptanyof
theirrespectivehallmarks.Theycannotbeprefixedby;theycannotbesuffixedbytanwin;theycannotbeprecededbygenitiveparticles;theycannotbeprecededby or or;theydonotacceptthesuffix;theyhavenocase,whethergenitiveorotherwise.
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Irb
Irb10 means the process by which the ends of words are changed because of their
grammaticalfunction;thischangemayeitherbeexplicit(),orimplicit()whichistosay,thechangemaybeapparentontheendoftheword,oritmaybesomethingwecannot
seebecauseoftheparticularformoftheword,butmustunderstandtobetherenonetheless.
(NBBy ,wemustnotunderstandthattheworditselfactuallychanges;whatchanges is the vowel or letter at the end of the word, which does not affect the radicals
themselvesbutisaddedtothem,asweshallsee.Theworditselfneverchanges.)
Whydothesechangesoccur?Becauseofthegrammaticalfunctionoftheword( )literally, thismeans the agents that influence them.Thegrammatical case ofmostwordscanbeseenclearlybyhowtheyarepronounced(orwritten);thesecasesareassigned
tothewordsbasedonwhattheirpurposepurposepurposepurposeinthesentenceis.
Forexample,considerthesentence:
Inthissentence,is(thatis,inthecaseof)becauseitsgrammaticalfunctionisthatofsubjector.Whatistheagentorthatmakesitasubject?Theverb.
Nowifwesay:
10Inordinaryspeech,theverb/meanstomakeplain,toannounceclearly,toexpressopenly;initstechnicalsense,itmaybetranslatedasinflection.
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Theword nowhasadifferentending:afatQainsteadofaRamma.Thisisbecauseitisnowinthecaseof,becauseitistheobjectoftheverb,whichisthehere.
Andagain,ifwesay:
Thewordnowhasadifferentending:akasra.Thisisbecauseitisprefixedbya ,whichisthehere.
Noticethatinallthreecases,thewordremainsthesame:itsfinalletterisstill.Whathaschangedisthevowelaffixedtoitsend.Thisiswhatourauthormeansby .Andthischangeattheendofthewordiswhatourauthorcalls.
As we have seen, our author divides into two kinds when he says . Thismeanstherearetwoformsof:,and.
1 means explicit inflection or pronounced inflection; it describes thosesituationswhereinthegrammaticalcaseofthewordisclearlypronouncedatitsend,suchas
with the letter in the word, as we saw above. This is the normal situation formostArabicwords.
2 means implicit inflection or imagined inflection; it describes thosesituationswherethereissomethingtopreventthegrammaticalcaseofthewordfrombeen
clearlyshownatitsend.Therearethreethingswhichcancausethis:,,and.
(a)means11thatthelastletterofthewordisanalifmaqTraprecededbyafatQa,(thiskindofwordiscalled),suchasand.Thereisnowaytoputavowelontotheendofthisword,sincetheletteralifcannottakeavowel.Thuswehavenochoicebuttosay:
11Literallythewordmeanimpossibility.
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In each case, theendingof theword doesnot change;wemust simplyunderstand (orimagine) that thevowel showingthegrammatical case is there.12The same is thecase for
verbswhichendinalif,suchasand:
(b)means13 thatthelast letterofthewordisayprecededbyakasra(thiskindofwordiscalled),suchasor.ToputakasraoraRammaontotheendofsucha word would be possible, but the Arabs do not do it because it would be difficult and
unnaturaltopronounce.Thuswemustsay:
TheArabs,however,doputafatQaontheendofsuchwords,becausethisismorenaturalto
pronounce;thuswemaysay:
verbswhichendinwworyalsobelonginthiscategory. (c)means14thatanounissuffixedbyfirstpersonpossessivey(whichmeansmy),asin mybook.Becausethepossessiveisaffixeddirectlytotheendofthenoun,itisnotpossibletoputthevowelofthere,aswell.15Thuswesay:
12 We can still tell the grammatical case of each in our examples through the context, butsometimesitcanbemoredifficulttodothis.Consider:
.
DidtheboycometoMs,ordidMscometotheboy?
13Literallyitmeansuncomfortabledifficulty.
14Literallyitmeanscoincidence.
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Themotheristheobjectofthelove,butwemustdeducethisfromthecontext,sincethereis
nowheretoputthefatQawhichwouldotherwiseshowthewordtobe.
15Manybeginningstudentsmakethemistakeofputtingthevowelontheendofthey,asin:
.
Thismustbeavoided;whateverthemeritsofitslogic,itisnotArabic.
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ThePartsofInflection
: .
There are a total of four parts of inflection inArabic, concerning both nouns and vowels.
Theyare:
1 2 3 or 4
meanstoraiseortoberaised;technicallyspeakingitmeansaninflectionrepresentedbyaRamma,aww,analiforann.16Bothnounsandverbscanbe(thatis,inastateof).
means to set up straight or to be set up straight; technically speaking itmeans aninflection represented by a fatQa, an alif, akasra, a y, and the omission of ann.17 Both
nounsandverbscanbe.
meanstobelow;technicallyspeaking,itmeansaninflectionrepresentedbyakasra,ayorafatQ.18Onlynounscanbe . 16TheseareoftentermedRammaanditsdeputies.
17FatQaanditsdeputies.
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meanstocut;technicallyspeaking,itmeansaninflectionrepresentedbyasukn,orbyomissionofaletter.19Onlyverbscanbe.
Thustherearethreekindsofinflections:
(1)Onecommontonounsandverbs( and)(2)Onepeculiartonouns()(3)Onepeculiartoverbs()
Anoteon
Althoughourauthorexplainswhatis,hedoesnottouchon.Whileappliestothosewordswhoseendingschangedependingontheirgrammaticalfunction,describesthose words whose endings never change, regardless of their grammatical function. literallymeans tobuild, and thesewords are built inonewayonly. occurs innouns,verbsandparticles.
Nouns
Somenounsare builton20sukn (that is, theyalwaysendwithsukn), suchas and .OthersarebuiltonfatQa,suchasand.OthersarebuiltonRamma,suchasand.Finally,othersarebuiltonkasra,suchasand.
Verbs
18Kasraanditsdeputies.
19Suknanditsdeputy.20
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AllverbsarebuiltonfatQa,unlesstheyaresuffixedbythepluralww,suchasoranyvowelledsubjectpronoun,suchasor.
Allparticlesarebuilt;theirendsneverchangeforanyreasonpertainingtoinflection.21
21Thoughtheymaychangeforotherreasons,pertainingmostlytopronunciation.