scholarly journals The Arabic Origins of "Basque and Finnish Pronouns": A Radical Linguistic Theory Approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Zaidan Ali Jassem

This paper investigates the Arabic origins of Basque and Finnish pronouns mainly and Basque verbs to be/have secondarily from a Radical Linguistic Theory perspective, a slightly revised version of Lexical Root Theory. The data consists of personal and demonstrative pronouns in Finnish and Basque in the main and verbs to be/have in the latter. The results show that Finnish and Basque pronouns have true Arabic cognates, with the same or similar forms and meanings. Their formal differences, however, result from natural and plausible causes and different courses of linguistic change. For example, Basque ni 'I', Finnish mina/mä ‘I', and Arabic ana (ani, inni) 'I' are identical cognates, in the second of which /m/ split from /n/; Finnish sina/Te'you' come from Arabic anta/-ta 'you' via reversal and turning /t/ into /s/; similarly, Basque zu 'you' is derived from Arabic -ta/-ka (iaka) 'you (nom./acc.) where /k/ became /z/, which compares very easily with Old English ge 'you' and German Sie 'you'; Finnish reflexive itse 'self' is from Arabic dhaat(i) 'myself' via reordering and replacing /dh/ by /s/. Third person pronouns in both languages are originally demonstrative pronouns, which is similar to what happens in English and Indo-European languages and Chinese as well, all of which come from Arabic dha/ti 'this'. Similarly, all Basque verbs to be/havehave true and identical Arabic (and English, German, Latin) cognates. As a consequence, the results indicate, contrary to Comparative Method claims, that Arabic, Basque and Finnish are genetically related, leading to the postulation of a single, perfect, sudden world language, which may be called Radical or Root Language, from which all human languages descended. The Radical Language could not have died out at all but has instead survived into modern languages, having been preserved almost intact in Arabic. They, therefore, prove the adequacy of the radical linguistic or lexical root theory according to which Arabic, Basque, and Finnish are genetically related besides English, German, French, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Mandarin Chinese which have already been found to be dialects of the same language with Arabic being their origin all because of its phonetic capacity or complexity, huge lexical variety and multiplicity, and linguistic permanence or sustainability.

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Zaidan Ali Jassem

This paper traces the Arabic origins or cognates of the “definite articles” in English and Indo-European languages from a radical linguistic (or lexical root) theory perspective. The data comprises the definite articles in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Latin, Greek, Macedonian, Russian, Polish, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Persian, and Arabic. The results clearly indicate that five different types of such articles emerged in the data, all of which have true Arabic cognates with the same or similar forms and meanings, whose differences are due to natural and plausible causes and different routes of linguistic change, especially lexical, semantic, or morphological shift. Therefore, the results support the adequacy of the radical linguistic theory according to which, unlike the Family Tree Model or Comparative Method, Arabic, English, German, French, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit not only belong to the same language family, renamed Eurabian or Urban family, but also are dialects of the same language, with Arabic being their origin all because only it shares the whole cognates with them all and because it has a huge phonetic, morphological, grammatical, and lexical variety. They also manifest fundamental flaws and grave drawbacks which plague English and Indo-European lexicography for ignoring Arabic as an ultimate ancestor and progenitor not only in the treatment of the topic at hand but in all others in general. On a more general level, they also show that there is a radical language from which all human languages stemmed and which has been preserved almost intact in Arabic, thus being the most conservative and productive language


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
Zaidan Ali Jassem

This paper traces the Arabic origins of "plural markers" in world languages from a radical linguistic (or lexical root) theory perspective. The data comprises the main plural markers like cats/oxen in 60 world languages from 14 major and minor families- viz., Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Dravidian, Turkic, Mayan, Altaic (Japonic), Niger-Congo, Bantu, Uto-Aztec, Tai-Kadai, Uralic, and Basque, which constitute 60% of world languages and whose speakers make up 96% of world population. The results clearly show that plural markers, which are limited to a few markers in all languages comprised of �s/-as/-at, -en, -im, -a/-e/-i/-o/-u, and �, have true Arabic cognates with the same or similar forms and meanings, whose differences are due to natural and plausible causes and different routes of linguistic change. Therefore, the results reject the traditional classification of the Comparative Method and/or Family Tree Model of such languages into separate, unrelated families, supporting instead the adequacy of the radical linguistic theory according to which all world languages are related to one another, which eventually stemmed from a radical or root language which has been preserved almost intact in Arabic as the most conservative and productive language. In fact, Arabic can be safely said to be the radical language itself for, besides other linguistic features, sharing the plural cognates in this case with all the other languages alone.Keywords: Plurality, language families and relationships, radical world language, radical linguistic theory


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Zaidan Ali Jassem

This paper examines the Arabic origins of some common place names in English, German, French, Latin, Greek, Russian, and Sanskrit from a consonantal radical or lexical root theory perspective. The data consists of the names of around 60 key cities like Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Chester, Derby, Essex, Exeter, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Oxford, Queensville, York, etc. The results clearly show that all such names have true Arabic cognates, with the same or similar forms and meanings whose different forms, however, are all found to be due to natural and plausible causes and different courses of linguistic change. Furthermore, they show that place names play an important role in both near and distant genetic relationships. As a consequence, the results indicate, contrary to Comparative Method and Family-Tree Model claims (e.g. Campbell 2013; Harper 2012-18),� that Arabic, English, and all Indo-European languages� belong to the same language, let alone the same family. Therefore, they prove the adequacy of the consonantal radical theory in relating English, German, French, Latin, and Greek to Arabic as their origin all because, unlike any other language in the group, it shares cognates with all of them in addition to its huge linguistic repertoire phonetically, phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, and semantically.Keywords: Place names, Arabic, English, German, French, Russian, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, historical linguistics, consonantal radical/lexical root theory


2019 ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Allan Metcalf

Chapter 8 interrupts the narrative to explain the importance of the further development of “Guy” to “guy” or “guys.” It tells about the second-person personal pronouns of English from Old English times, a thousand years ago, to the present. These are words we regularly use in speech and writing: first-person singular “I” and plural “we,” third person “he, she, it” and “they,” and then the second person, which happens to have undergone major changes in the past few centuries. Originally the second-person singular was “thou,” the plural “you.” But then, like several other European languages, the second-person plural was seen as more polite than “thou,” so “you” became second-person singular too. That was fine, except now a listener couldn’t tell whether a speaker was referring just to the listener or to the whole group. So with “you” solidly entrenched as second-person singular, a substitute had to be found for second-person plural. One possibility was “y’all,” still preferred in the American South, but that can be used for the singular too. Eventually, while the vacancy remained empty two centuries later, a successful substitution emerged, none other than the “guys” most of use as second-person plural today.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
CYNTHIA L. ALLEN

Present-day English is unlike Old English in not using singular demonstrative pronouns with anaphoric reference to human beings. This article adds to the contributions of Cole (2017) and Los & van Kemenade (2018) in our understanding of the factors determining the choice between personal and demonstrative pronouns in Old English by documenting the hitherto unexamined use of these pronouns as heads of relative clauses. It also traces how the singular demonstrative pronouns referring to humans retreated as heads of relative clauses in Early Middle English. A corpus-based study shows that third-person personal pronouns were unusual as heads of relative clauses in Old English and normally referred to specific individuals, while demonstratives were the pronouns of choice for generic reference but could also refer to specific individuals. The increased use of personal pronouns for generic reference is well underway in Early Middle English. While the retreat of the singular demonstrative pronouns to refer to humans in Early Middle English seems to have some connection with the reduced marking of feature distinctions in that period, a simple explanation in terms of loss of gender is untenable.


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 140-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon McCready ◽  
Denise Reid

Student musicians frequently need to take breaks from playing their instruments because of physical playing-related injuries, yet little is known about their experiences with these occupational disruptions. We conducted a qualitative study that explored student musicians' lived experiences with unplanned disruptions stemming from engagement in their major occupation of playing an instrument. In-depth interviews with seven student musicians who attended either a special arts high school or a university were conducted. Consistent with a grounded theory approach to qualitative research, the constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis was implemented. A major finding related to the theme of “being and becoming,” where student musicians expressed a strong sense of belonging to a group of other like musicians who they learned from, relied on for support, and created music with. Another theme was motivation to excel, where students expressed a strong desire and motivation to improve and master their instrument. Occupational tensions and pressures emerged as another theme. Students were aware of the need to practice and the need to care for their bodies. A constant negotiation was required in which students struggled to find a good balance between the need to practice and to respect their bodies while maintaining an identity of a musician. These findings are discussed in relation to how health care providers and educators need to understand the demands and stresses associated with playing an instrument so that they can better support these young musicians.


2020 ◽  
pp. 174462952090520
Author(s):  
Savra Anne Frounfelker ◽  
Anne Bartone

Individuals assessed as having an intellectual disability often spend a significant amount of time in day treatment/day habilitation programs after they graduate from school. The quality of these programs varies widely and is not federally legislated. The purpose of the current study is both to explore factors that lead to higher satisfaction for participants in these programs and to better understand what participants want in a program. Using a grounded theory approach, researchers interviewed 25 participants, staff, and family members in focus group settings to collect qualitative data. Interviews focused on what worked and what could be improved at a program located in Western New York. Using the constant comparative method, themes emerged from the data that pointed to the importance of dignity and choice in a day program to facilitate empowerment, higher levels of satisfaction and self-confidence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 676-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Sinta Kristanti ◽  
Christantie Effendy ◽  
Adi Utarini ◽  
Myrra Vernooij-Dassen ◽  
Yvonne Engels

Background: Strong family bonds are part of the Indonesian culture. Family members of patients with cancer are intensively involved in caring, also in hospitals. This is considered “normal”: a societal and religious obligation. The values underpinning this might influence families’ perception of it. Aim: To explore and model experiences of family caregivers of patients with cancer in Indonesia in performing caregiving tasks. Design: A grounded theory approach was applied. The constant comparative method was used for data analysis and a paradigm scheme was employed for developing a theoretical model. Setting/participants: The study was conducted in three hospitals in Indonesia. The participants were family caregivers of patients with cancer. Results: A total of 24 family caregivers participated. “Belief in caregiving” appeared to be the core phenomenon. This reflects the caregivers’ conviction that providing care is an important value, which becomes the will power and source of their strength. It is a combination of spiritual and religious, value and motivation to care, and is influenced by contextual factors. It influences actions: coping mechanisms, sharing tasks, and making sacrifices. Social support influences the process of the core phenomenon and the actions of the caregivers. Both positive and negative experiences were identified. Conclusion: We developed a model of family caregivers’ experiences from a country where caregiving is deeply rooted in religion and culture. The model might also be useful in other cultural contexts. Our model shows that the spiritual domain, not only for the patient but also for the family caregivers, should be structurally addressed by professional caregivers.


2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Palomar ◽  
Antonio Ferrández ◽  
Lidia Moreno ◽  
Patricio Martínez-Barco ◽  
Jesús Peral ◽  
...  

This paper presents an algorithm for identifying noun phrase antecedents of third person personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and omitted pronouns (zero pronouns) in unrestricted Spanish texts. We define a list of constraints and preferences for different types of pronominal expressions, and we document in detail the importance of each kind of knowledge (lexical, morphological, syntactic, and statistical) in anaphora resolution for Spanish. The paper also provides a definition for syntactic conditions on Spanish NP-pronoun noncoreference using partial parsing. The algorithm has been evaluated on a corpus of 1,677 pronouns and achieved a success rate of 76.8%. We have also implemented four competitive algorithms and tested their performance in a blind evaluation on the same test corpus. This new approach could easily be extended to other languages such as English, Portuguese, Italian, or Japanese.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-133
Author(s):  
Elly van Gelderen

Abstract The articles in this volume contribute to our understanding of Northumbrian Old English of the 10th century, of the nature of external influence, and of the authorship of the glosses. This introduction provides a background to these three areas. Most of the introduction and contributions examine the Lindisfarne Glosses with some discussion of the Rushworth and Durham Glosses. Section 2 shows that the Lindisfarne glossator often adds a (first and second person) pronoun where the Latin has none but allows third person null subjects. Therefore, although the Latin original has obvious influence, Old English grammar comes through. Section 3 reviews the loss of third person -th verbal inflection in favor of -s, especially in Matthew. This reduction may be relevant to the role of external (Scandinavian and British Celtic) influence and is also interesting when the language of the Lindisfarne and Durham Glosses is compared. In Section 4, the use of overt pronouns, relatives, and demonstratives shows an early use of th-pronouns, casting doubt on a Norse origin of they. Section 5 looks at negation mainly from a northern versus southern perspective and Section 6 sums up. Section 7 previews the other contributions and their major themes, namely possible external (Latin, Norse, or British Celtic) influence, the linguistic differences among glossators, the spacing of ‘prefixes’ as evidence for grammaticalization, and the role of doublets.


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