Academic literature on the topic 'Arabic language – Possessives'

This study highlights some notable typological features of ancient and modern Semitic languages. It sheds light on a number of shared intragenetic similarities and parallels within Semitic in the processes and outcomes of grammaticalization. Specifically, it examines the emergence and evolution of prepositionals from certain body-part terms; the shift from synthetic towards more analytic possessive strategies; and independent personal pronouns becoming inherently bound agreement markers as prefixes and suffixes on the imperfective and perfective verb stems, respectively. Moreover, with supporting evidence from corpus data, this study argues for the primacy of third-person pronouns, which assume expanded grammatical functions as copulas, expletives, and discourse-related functions. Finally, this study draws attention to the sociolinguistic factors, such as native speakers’ attitudinal stance, which directly impinge on language change within the diglossic nature of Arabic, and calls for consideration of sociolinguistic factors in the study of language evolution by grammaticalization.

In the tenth century, Byzantium still had substantial possessions in southern Italy: the Catepanate kept its own private law and its Latin language and rite, while the theme of Calabria was thoroughly Hellenized. They developed a strong sense of independence, due to bad government and the failure of the Empire to defend them against Arab raids, except by paying tribute. In the eleventh century, written sources and archaeology reveal a multiplication of fortified settlements and refuges, built by public and religious authorities, and also by the aristocracy, but the increased presence of professional military units increased local dissension. The only large estates belonged to a few Calabrian bishoprics. The main difference between the two provinces lay in the syncopated chronology of their evolution. The Apulian economy grew in the tenth century, with the development of the ports on the Adriatic and the Mediterranean oil trade, which enriched notables, at a time when Calabria was being devastated by the Arabs. After a fortification campaign and some fiscal and military measures provided by Byzantium, the Calabrian economy prospered, exporting wheat, raw silk, iron, and gold. The Arabs moved their attacks north, targeting Apulia, which was in the grip of civil war: in each city the anti-Byzantine faction revolted with the support of Lombards and local conterati troops. In Calabria, administration and defence fragmented and were taken over, in the case of towns, by virtually autonomous kastra, and, in the countryside, by the aristocracy.