Book contents
8 - Analysis of Chapter Two
from III - Analysis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
Summary
This is a Chapter on the ʔimālah ‘Inclination’ of ʔalif [A]: A Great Number of Arabs Incline It.
8.0 In this chapter, Sībawayh pauses to make a statement about the state of ʔimālah ‘inclination’ among the speakers. He makes the point that there is variation, when he says:
Know that not everyone who inclines the ʔalifāt [A]s agrees with the other Arabs who incline. Rather, each member of the group may differ from his colleague so that someone yansʕub ‘erects’ what his colleague yumiylu ‘inclines’, and yumiylu ‘inclines’ some others that his colleague yansʕub ‘erects’. Similarly, whoever, in whose dialect the nasʕb ‘erection’ plays a part may not agree with the others who erect. Rather, his case and the case of his colleague are the same case as that of the first two with respect to the kasr ‘break [i]’. If you were to see an Arab of that persuasion do not fault him as though he mixed his dialect, rather, this is their style. (II, P. 283, L. 1–6)
This chapter continues to indicate the contexts where ʔimālah ‘inclination’ takes place, using the same triggers as in the previous chapter but in more refined contexts and with more expected variations. There is an extended discussion of the feminine marker, the hāʔ [h] and its potential and actual hiddenness in pronunciation. The hiddenness of the hāʔ [h] creates shorter sequences and consequently more immediate contexts for ʔimālah ‘inclination’ when there is a kasrah [i] before the ʔalif [A].
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- Information
- Sibawayh on ?imalah (Inclination)Text Translation Notes and Analysis, pp. 126 - 130Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2007