1

UnlockingtheAjrmiyya

BeingaCommentaryintheEnglishLanguageonIbnAjrmsPrimer,andDrawing

ExtensivelyfromtheSupplimentof(a))b

By

Al-faqirilRabbihil-Ghan

KhalidWilliams

KhalidWilliams2011

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W

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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.