A construction grammar approach to spatial prepositions in modern standard Arabic

The study adopts a construction grammar approach to examining the meaning of spatialprepositions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), critically examines traditional accounts ofthe semantic character and syntactic role of MSA prepositions and posits an alternativeapproach based on construction grammar theory and findings from interrogation ofcorpora. Arguments about the nature of prepositions and their role in meaningconstruction have long been afflicted by circularity and methodological opportunism. Thetheoretical premises of the study are crucially informed by the works of William Croft andRonald Langacker on aspects of construction grammar; George Lakoff, Ronald Langackerand Leonard Talmy on grammatical theory and lexical categories; George Lakoff, MarkJohnson and others on conceptual metaphor; and Gilles Fauconnier and others onconceptual blending. The study attempts not just to address the limitations of formalistapproaches, but also to develop a functionalist approach to the characterisation of MSAspatial prepositions, something largely unaddressed hitherto.The study incorporates extensive qualitative analysis and some quantitative data. Itincludes a critical discussion of lexically driven accounts of meaning, based on findingsfrom this data, and posits a non-reductionist construction-based account. It addresses thedistinction made between 'true' prepositions (^-*jj^ j^ 1 hurufal-jarr) and spatio-temporalcontextualisers: 'conditions of place and time' (j^-j^j u^ 1 ^= zarfa al-makan wa-alzamari).It also includes comparative analysis of MSA and British English (BE), throughthe interrogation of a multi-genre translational corpus, to examine issues of languagespecificityin the category 'preposition'.The study suggests that MSA prepositions can be understood as a category only throughtaxanomic resemblances of a radial character, that their meaning is both construction- andlanguage-specific and that they exhibit semantic diversity on a spectrum of schematicity,which is largely diachronic in formative character. The specificities of MSA prepositionscannot be adduced to universal syntactic categories and researchers need to eschewanalysis framed by the categories of English or other 'reference' languages. The studyfinally suggests future areas of investigation.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral (Level 8)

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Peate, J

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1405585

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1405585