A historical relationship has long been suspected between the Northwest Semitic existential particles like Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁ and Biblical Aramaic אִיתַי , negative existentials like Syriac layt ... Show moreA historical relationship has long been suspected between the Northwest Semitic existential particles like Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁ and Biblical Aramaic אִיתַי , negative existentials like Syriac layt and Akkadian laššu, the Arabic negative copula laysa, and the East Semitic verbs i-ša-wu “to exist” (Eblaite) and išû “to have” (Akkadian). But due to various formal and semantic problems, no Proto-Semitic reconstruction from which all these words can regularly be derived has yet been put forward. This article argues that the Akkadian sense of “to have” is typologically the oldest and reconstructs a Proto-Semitic grammaticalization of *yiyθaw “it has” to *yθaw “there is/are”. Also in Proto-Semitic, a negative counterpart was formed through contraction with the negative adverb “not”, yielding *layθaw and *laθθaw. Show less
After World War I, Iraq was established as an Arab kingdom under British tutelage. The official state ideology of Arab nationalism provided room for Christians and Jews, and Iraq’s first king was... Show moreAfter World War I, Iraq was established as an Arab kingdom under British tutelage. The official state ideology of Arab nationalism provided room for Christians and Jews, and Iraq’s first king was known for his tolerant rhetoric towards non-Muslims. At the same time, events such as the Simele massacre of 1933 against Assyrians and the Farhud of 1941 against Jews show that the ideal did not always materialize. Despite having a shared religious heritage and Classical Syriac as a common ecclesial language, the Syriac Christians belonged to different denominations and there were large differences in languages that were used outside the church, causing different attitudes towards society. One group, mainly consisting of Chaldean Catholics, made a radical positive choice for Arabic and supported Arab nationalism. Another group, mainly connected to the Church of the East, saw themselves as Assyrian and stressed their use of Neo-Aramaic for informal and formal purposes. Other positions included that of secular Christians who stressed their Arab identity and argued against the influence of religion in society. The dissertation shows that while Arab nationalism provided room for Christians, this ideology was at the same time strongly restrictive for Christians who sought to stress their own culture. Show less
This dissertation provides a grammatical description of Ghomara Berber, a Berber language spoken in North-Western Morocco by about 10.000 people. The grammar consists of a description of the... Show moreThis dissertation provides a grammatical description of Ghomara Berber, a Berber language spoken in North-Western Morocco by about 10.000 people. The grammar consists of a description of the phonology, the morphology and the syntax. In the appendices a number of texts and a wordlist are included. Ghomara Berber has been thoroughly influenced by Arabic resulting in parallel systems. In the phonology the consonants, the vowels, assimilations and labialisation are treated. Ghomara Berber has a number of spirantised consonants. In the morphology the parallel systems are most evident. The Berber and Arabic systems are treated separately in most chapters. Arabic diminutive patterns have been borrowed and applied to native Berber-morphology nouns extending the already existing diminutive formation. Many Arabic verbs can only be conjugated using Arabic morphology. Different from many Berber languages, the adjective forms a word class of its own. Arabic active and passive participles are taken over unchanged in Ghomara Berber. In the syntax the interaction between the Arabic and Berber in the relative clause and in mood and aspect presents interesting cases of language contact. This study is of interest to specialists of Berber, Arabic and Afro-Asiatic languages. It provides many interesting language contact phenomena. Show less
What is the cost of visual complexity? This dissertation sets out to determine the effect of the complexity of word formation on the legibility of Arabic and the role that vocalization plays in... Show moreWhat is the cost of visual complexity? This dissertation sets out to determine the effect of the complexity of word formation on the legibility of Arabic and the role that vocalization plays in reading. This is carried out via a holistic approach to legibility research that combines the visual culture with eye movement in reading and legibility studies. To do this it looks at the transition of Arabic manuscript letterforms into typographic ones, the anatomy of the Arabic script, and the predominant typographic styles in use today. It presents the design process of the specially designed Afandem typeface family, a review of eye movement findings, and a new definition of legibility that is rooted in the models of eye movement. The experiment used eye tracking to test 72 subjects in Beirut to determine the effect of the complexity and vocalization on reading measures. The results show that the increased complexity of word formation has a negative effect on the legibility of Arabic typefaces and that the short vowels add a cost to word processing even though they bring with them extra clarity that results in a reduced number of regressions. These results are discussed within the scope of the Arab world today, its cultural and educational setup, and avenues for further research are explored. Show less
