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The Classical Arabic Jussive Forms and

their Reflexes in the Modern Arabic Dialects '

By Peter Abboud, Austin, Texas

Classical Arabic and all modem Arabic dialects show a clear perfect-

imperfect distinction in their verb forms; the latter, in both forms of

Arabic, differs from the former in that it has, in addition to a stem,

suffixes as well as prefixes, while the former has sufiixes only. In the

imperfect. Classical Arabic has two stems for certain types of verbs,

while the modem dialects, with at least one known exception, have only

one stem for the imperfect for all verb t3^e8, which also serves as the

stem of the imperative. The exception is the group of dialects spoken

today in the Najd of Saudi Arabia (henceforth referred to collectively as

Najdi Arabic) , which exhibit imperative stems which are different from

those of the imperfect and have thus maintained ancient features that

are remarkably similar to Classical Arabic. This paper will examine

these stems in terms of their stmcture and synchronic derivation, first

for Classical Arabic, then for the modern Arabic dialects and for Najdi;

in addition it will attempt to discuss their historical development.

1. Classical Arabic

The Arab grammarians distinguish three modes for the imperfect:

al-mar€i' 'the indicative', al-mans•b 'the subjunctive', and al-majz•m

'the jussive'. The forms, which in each case consist of a prefix, a stem,

and may end in a suffix, may be divided into two groups. (1) The

members ofthe paradigm that always have a suffix are: (i) the f p. (2nd

and 3rd persons), whose suffix is/-na/ in all three modes; and (ii) the

d. (m. and f , 2nd and 3rd persons), the m.p. (2nd and 3rd persons), and

the 2 f.s., whose sufiixes consist ofa long vowel, /‚, •, i,/^ respectively,

' An abridged version of part of this paper was read at the 118th annual

meeting ofthe American Oriental Society, held in Toronto, Canada, in 1978. I

am indebted to Ernest McCarus ofthe University of Michigan for reading the paper and for many valuable comments.

^ Some of these vowels may, of course, assimilate to a preceding vowel in the

case of the final-weak verbs. For details see W. Wright: A grammar of the

Arabic Language-^. Cambridge 1967, 1 88 ff. and Henri Fleisch: Traite de philoƒ

logie arabe. Beirut 1956, I 118-139.



Arabic Jussive Forms 99

and in the indicative only, of an /n/ and short vowel of inverse height.

(2) The other members i.e., the 3 m.s., 3 f s., 2 m.s., and I (s. and p.),

have a sufiix in the indicative and subjunctive, which is the short vowel

/u, a/, respectively, but have no suffixes in the jussive.

For the strong and initial-weak verb, there is only one stem in the

paradigms of all three modes. For the hollow and final- weak verbs,' two

stems exist for the second group above, one when there is a suffix, i.e.,

in the indicative and subjunctive, and the other when there is no sufiix,

i.e., in the jussive. These are illustrated in the following examples,

which give the 2 m.d., 2 f p., and 2 m.s., for each verb in that order.

Indicative Subjunctive Jussive

taktubani taktub‚ taktub‚ 'write'

taktubna taktubna taktubna

taktubu taktuba taktub

tamudd‚ni tamudd‚ tamudd‚ ' stretc

tamdudna tamdudna tamdudna

tamuddu tamudda tamuddV/tamdud"

taz•r‚ni taz•r‚ taz•r‚ ' visit'

tazuma tazuma tazuma

taz•ru taz•ra tazur

tamil‚ni tamll‚ tamil‚ 'bend'

tamilna tamilna tamilna

tamilu tamila tamil

' The doubled verbs, i.e., verbs whose second and third radicals are identical,

are not strictly relevant to the discussion that follows and will not be discussed

in this paper. As is well-known, in Classical Arabic they have two stems: an

uncontracted stem (i.e., where a vowel appears between the two identical consoƒ

nants) which occurs with a consonant-initial suffix, as in /yamdudna/'they (f p.)

stretch', and a contracted stem (i.e., where there is no vowel between the two

consonants), which occurs with a vowel-initial suffix, as in /yamuddu/ 'he

stretches'. (Also, see footnote 16 below). All Arabic dialects reported use the

contracted stem in verb forms (exceptions are made in the case of VC2VC2 and

C2C2VC2) ; when a consonant-initial suffix is added (as in the 1st a nd 2nd person

forms of the perfect) , instead of using the non-contracted stem, they all have a

long vowel increment attached to the contracted stem, as in /maddena/ 'we

stretched'.

'' For V, see footnote 16 b elow.

7*



100 Peter Abboud

Indicative Subjunctive Jussive

taijuw‚ni tarjuw‚ tarjuw‚ 'hope'

tarj•na tarj•na tarj•na

tarj•' tarjuwa tarju

tarmiy‚ni tarmiy‚ tarmiy‚ 'throw'

tarmina tarmina tarmina

tarmi tarmiya tarmi

tansay‚ni tansay‚ tansay‚ 'forget'

tansayna tansayna tansayna

tans‚ tans‚ tansa

As is well known, the imperative stem is identical to that of the

jussive, and so does not require separate treatment.

1.1 It will be noted that the difference in the stems, where it exists,

basically involves short vs. long vowels, i.e., contracted vs. full stems.

Interesting questions arise immediately. Why is this so? Assuming one

starts with the full stem, how does one obtain the contracted one from it,

i.e., are there phonological rules that can explain why the long vowels in

the non-jussive shorten in the jussive?* To put it more concretely, howdoes one explain 1 and 2 below:

A B

1. taz•ru tazur

tamilu tamil

tan‚mu tanam

2. tarj• tarju

tarmi tarmi

tans‚ tansa

In the case of 1 (i.e., the hollow verbs), it can be seen that when no

suffix is added to the stem, a long vowel is left in closed syllable. An

important rule of Classical Arabic prose is immediately responsible for

^ In the case of final-weak verbs the stems of the indicative and the subjuncƒ

tive are identical; the assimilation processes referred to in footnote 2 and others

lead to the actual forms: /tarj•, tarmi, tans‚/.

' It is interesting to note that Wbight uses phonological criteria to explain

the contracted form ofthe hollow verbs, Wright I 82B, but when it comes to

the final-weak verbs, he says, "the significance of the form produces the

abbreviation". Ibid. I 90C.




forms 1 (B): with a few clearly defined exceptions,' a long vowel in a

closed syllable must be shortened (this is henceforth referred to as the

shortening rule).

The rule is widely attested in the language, both word-finally-and

elsewhere. It applies in the following cases, among others:

(1) the f p. forms of hollow verbs in the imperfect. Thus:

tazuma 'you (f.p.) visit' not ""taziima cf. taz•m, taz•r•na

(2) the energetic forms of verbs ending in the suffixes /-„, i/ ofthe m.p.

and 2fs. respectively. Thus:

Non-energetic

tafliam•(na)

taniami(na)

tarj• (na)

tarji(na)

tansaw(na)

tansay(na)

Ist energetic 2nd energetic

'you (m.p.) understand

'you (f s.) understand

'you (m.p.) hope'

'you (f s.) hope'

'you (m.p.) forget'

'you (f s.) forget'

tafhamuima

talhaminna

taijunna

tarjinna

tansawurma

tansajrinna

tafhamun

talhamin

taijun

tarjin

tansawun

tansayin

It should be noted, however, that the suffix /‚/ of the dual and the /‚/

of the energetic form of the f p. do not shorten, which will make them

exceptions to the shortening rule, and in neither case is there a 2nd

energetic. Thus:

Non-energetic

tafham‚(ni)

tarjuw‚(ni)

tafhamna

tarj•na

'you (d.) understand

'you (d.) hope'

'you (fp.) understand'

'you (fp.) hope'

1st energetic

tafham‚imi

tarjuw‚nni

tafhamn‚ni•

tarj•n‚nni

the (3) f s. form ofthe perfect final-weak verbs ofthe type CaCaC. Thus:

raj at

ramat

'she hoped'

'she threw'

not ""rajat

not ""ramat

cf raja

cf ram‚

The mle would not reject the form ""rajata of the 3 f d., but, as is well-

known, the d. takes its point of departure from the s. form to give the

' Basically, a syllable ofthe type CVC is allowed in (1) pause forms, as in

/muslim•n/ 'Moslems', the pause form of/ muslim•na/, and /k‚f/ 'k', the pause

form of /k‚fun/, and (2) those stems where the long vowel is followed by a

doubled consonant, as in /h‚mmat/ 'important' (f s.). For a fuUer discussion,

seelbn Ya'ish: Sharh al-Mufa^sal. Cairo: al-Tib‚'a al-Muniriyan.d., IX 120, and

al-'Astar‚b‚dhi: Sharh Sh‚fiyat Ibn al-If‚jib. Beirut: D‚r al-Kutub al-'Ilmiya

1975, Part I, II 210ff!



102 Peter Abboud

correct form /rajat‚/, though the form with the long vowel is known to

have occurred in some of the ancient dialects.*

(4) the nunated forms of nouns and participles whose roots are final-

weak. Thus:

hudan

jaw‚rin

r‚min

'a guided path'

'slave girls'

'throwing' (m.s.

not '…'hudan

not '…'jaw‚rin

not ""r‚min

cf al-hud‚

cf al-jawari

cf. al-r‚mi

The application of this shortening rule thus clearly explains the

contracted stems of hollows verbs. Those of final-weak verbs are much

more difficult to account for. The cases (3) and (4) of the shortening

rule, given immediately above, suggest that the shortening of final long

vowels in final-weak roots occurs as a result ofthe addition of a sufiix of

the shape -VC to the stem. To account for the actual forms, one would

then presume a glide deletion rule, followed by vowel assimilation

(where applicable) and shortening.' Thus, to take two examples,

/ramat/ and /hudan/, the derivations would be as follows:

ramay + at

rama -I- at

ramat

huday -I- un

huda -I- un

hudaan

hudan

glide deletion

vowel assimilation

shortening

The only such suffix that can conceivably be added directly to the

stem of verbs is that of the energetic (the object pronouns, which could

also be added, are all consonant-initial) . It is natural then to look to the

energetic for an explanation. '" Here are examples illustrating the 2 m.s.

in both forms of the energetic of final-weak verbs:

non-energetic

tarj•

tarmi

tans‚

'yo (m.s.) hope'

'you (m.s.) throw'

'you (m.s.) forget'

1st energetic 2nd energetic

tarjuwanna tarjuwan

tarmiyanna tarmiyan

tansayanna tansayan

' See Wright I 89A, and Carl Brockelmann: Grundriss der vergleichenden

Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen. Berlin 1908 and 1913, p. 619.

' For a more detailed discussion, see Michael K. Brame: Arabic Phonology:

Implications for Phonological Theory and Historical Semitic. Unpublished

Dissertation, M.l.T. 1970.It is beyond the scope of this paper to explain how the energetic forms

themselves are to be derived. The question that is answered in the argument

that follows is: can the energetic forms, however derived, explain the contracted

stems of final-weak verbs?




Note that as they stand these energetic forms are not iimnediately

conducive to shortening the vowel. Also, according to the regular

phonological rules, a sequence /aya/ as in /tansayanna/ is not permisƒ

sible and should normally lead to *tansanna by glide deletion, cf

/ram‚/ (derived presumably from *ramaya)." If this deletion rule

somehow is forced to operate here, however, then the shortening of the

resultant long vowel, triggered by the shortening rule, and a rule

deleting the /n/ ofthe second energetic, would give the required form of

the jussive. Thus, the derivation would be as follows:

tansayan

tansaan glide deletion

tansan shortening

tansa n-deletion

Paradoxically, though, we have exactly the reverse problem in the

energetic forms ofthe two other verbs. Here the sequences /uwa, iya/

are perfectly acceptable, cf /lan yarjuwa/ 'he will never hope', /lan

yarmiya/'he will never throw'. To get the desired jussive forms, we

would have to posit a special ad-hoc rule to require progressive assimiƒ

lation of the vowels in this environment only, allow glide deletion to

generate long vowels, shorten them by the vowel shorting rule, and then

delete the /-n/. Thus, the derivation would be as follows:

taijuwan tarmiyan

tarjuan tarmian glide deletion

tarjuun tarmiin vowel assimilation

tarjun tarmin shortening

tarju tarmi n-deletion

Even if we were to find a way around this difficulty, we still get for the

2 m.s. forms like ""tarjun, ""tarmin which are identical with the 2 m.p.

and 2 f s. forms, respectively. Obviously, somehow, we must ensure this

does not happen; otherwise how will we ascertain that after the deletion

of the /-n/, we get a short vowel in one case, a long one in the other?

Several points about this suggestion for obtaining the jussive forms of

finaf-weak verbs by starting from the energetic have to be made. First,

the cases (3) and (4) of the shortening rule deal with a suffix that is

obligatory, i.e., a regular indefinite noun must have tanwin, and a verb

" Wright I 88 fT.; other sequences that are not permissible, such as /-awu-,

-ayi-/, do occur in the m.p. and 2 f.s. ofthe energetic of final-weak verbs. It may

well be the case that the energetic preserves older forms of the language where

such sequences were not reduced.



104 Peter Abboud

must have a subject marker. The energetic, on the other hand, is, in

historical Classical Arabic, mostly optional, and in some contexts very

rarely used. In trying to explain a structure synchronically, what valid

justification is there for positing an underljdng form which is at best a

stylistic variant of the surface form? Secondly, though the energetic

often overlaps with the jussive in its functions, (the energetic is used in

commands, prohibitions etc.) , it is also used where the indicative is indiƒ

cated, (i.e., where no particle or S3mtactic construction suggests an

occurrence ofthe jussive) . That is to say that though the energetic forms

are the same, the syntactic context may indicate jussive or indicative."

What justification is there, then, for suggesting that the energetic

underlies solely the jussive? Thirdly, there is no independent motivation

for dropping the /n/ of the energetic to get the jussive. In actual pracƒ

tise, this /n/ ofthe second energetic is deleted either when followed by

a word having an initial CC-, or in pause. '" Even if we were to generalize

the pause form so as to use it as the context form, we would not get the

requisite result, since the pausal forms of /tarjuwan, tarmiyan,

tansayan/ are /tarjuw‚, tarmiy‚, tansay‚/. Finally, even if the enerƒ

getic form were to be used to explain the shortening ofthe vowel in final-

weak verbs, it would not explain it in hollow verbs, since the energetic of

these has long vowels. Thus:

1st energ. 2nd, energ.

yaz•ru 'he visits' yaz•ranna yaz•ran

To explain the form /yazur/, we would have to assume that the

shortening rule applies twice, once at the word level (to shorten the

vowel of final-weak verbs), then following the deletion of the /n/ or

/-an/, a second time at the word level (to shorten the vowel of the

hollow verbs). Thus:

tarjuwan taz•ran

tarjuan glide deletion

tarjuun vowel assimilation

On the uses of the energetic, obligatorily (following the particle /la/ of

oath), very rarely (e.g., after /lam/), or optionally, see Sibawayhi: al-Kit‚b. Ed.

Hartwig Derenbourg. Paris 1881 and 1889 H 152iT.; Ibn Ya'ish IX 37ff.;

and also Wright II 41-43.

This being the case, the energetic is then not a separate (fourth) mood, as

stated in traditional westem grammars. The energetic suffixes are clearly usedwith other moods to indicate the semantic feature [emphasis], though the stateƒ

ment usually found in grammars that the energetic fo rm s are derived from the

jussive forms, might obscure this point.

Sibawayhi ll 1 57-158; Ibn Ya'ish IX 43-45.




tarjun

tarju tazur

tazur

shortening

energetic suffix deletion

shortening

In view of all of this and of the problems with derivation given in the

previous section, it seems clear that positing the energetic as the underƒ

lying form for the derivation of the jussive is fraught with serious diffiƒ

culties and is hard to justify.

There are hypotheses for suffixes other than the energetic that can be

suggested: (1) A neat way to circumvent the difficulty vsdth vowel -t-

glide + vowel sequences discussed above is to assume that the vowel

(V) ofthe posited suffix (-VC) is high, or better still, homophonous with

the stem vowel." (In the case of/u/, it would amount to adding a conƒ

sonantal suffix after the indicative marker rather than directly to the

stem. We need to do that, anyway, for the forms with final vowels) . This

will work for final-weak verbs, but we will still have the difficulty with

hollow verbs discussed in the last point above. (2) A second hj^othesis

is to assume that a consonantal suffiix is added to the stem. This will

give the desired shortening in hollow verbs (the shortening rule would

have to be extended to apply to doubly closed long syllables as well),

will work for verbs like /tarj•, tarmi/, but will create a problem for the

generation of the proper form for verbs like /tans‚/, whose stem

/-nsay-/ usually preserves the glide when followed by a consonant, as in

/tansayna/ 'you (fp.) forget'. (3) Finally, we may propose a solution

that incorporates both of these hypotheses: a vowel-initial or a consoƒ

nantal suffix, depending on the particular verb or verb form."

None of these solutions is really viable in a synchronic treatment of

Classical Arabic, because the suggested suffixes are purely hypothetical

and because, even if they were not, we must still find natural non-ad hoc

solutions to the serious derivation problems alluded to earlier, includingthe deletion of the consonant of the proposed suffix.

" Wright suggests that the vowel of the jussive "seems originally to have

been i" (I 60D) and alludes to such usage by the poets (II 385D, 386). See

Sibawayhi II 329-330. A vowel alone, however, would not provide the environƒ

ment for shortening. For a case of homophony, see the following footnote.

In this regard it is interesting to observe the behavior of doubled verbs. In

the jussive without suffixes, either the contracted or the n on-contracted stem

may be used, suggesting both types of suffixes. As is well known, with the

contracted stems a vowel is added, which may be /a/ or /i/ for all doubledverbs, and may, in addition, be /u/ for verbs whose stem vowel is /u/.

Sibawayhi suggests that some dialects use a vowel that is homophonous with

the stem vowel, except when the object pronoun ofthe 3 f s. /h‚/ is used. (See

Sibawayhi II 163).



106 Peter Abboud

To summarize: though a suffix†that ofthe energetic or some other-

may indicate a way for accounting for the shortening of the long vowel

of final-weak verbs, there is no justification or validity for it in historical

Classical Arabic in our present state of knowledge; such a suffix must be

assigned, if at all, to some earlier state. For Classical Arabic as we know

it, we are then resigned to a morphological/syntactic formulation for

the shortening of these vowels for final-weak verbs. On the other hand,

the shortening of the long vowel in hollow verbs follows naturally from

the shortening rule.

1.2 A second question, related to the above discussion, arises. How

did the contracted stems of final-weak verbs develop historically?

Taking our cue from the shortening rule of Arabic, we would assume

that contraction took place as a result of an early, less constrained, but

similar rule. Two facts have now to be explained. (1) The stems of both

jussive and non-jussive verbs end in -VG (where G is a glide), but only

those ofthe former shorten in Classical Arabic. To explain this, consider

the following forms of a strong verb and those of final-weak verbs

obtained by analogy with the strong verb. (The -I- marker sets off the

stem from prefixes and suffixes).

Stem Indicative Subjunctive Jussive

-ktub- ya-l-ktub+u ya-t-ktub-l-a ya-l-ktub

-rmiy- *ya-l-rmiy-l-u ya-t-rmiy-l-a ya-t-rmiy

-rjuw- *ya-(-rjuw-l-u ya-l-rjuw-l-a ya-t-rjuw

-nsay- *ya+nsay-(-u *ya-l-nsay-l-a *ya-t-nsay

It will be seen that the non-jussive stem is followed by a vowel, the

jussive is not. By assuming these to be the earlier forms of Classical

Arabic," we can then explain how the jussive forms alone, after

developing into forms with long vowels, are then shortened by the

shortening rule.

(2) In Classical Arabic the contracted and the full stems occur both in

context and in pause. Since forms drop their inflectional suffixes in

pause (by a rule that will be referred to henceforth as the pause apoco-

pation rule) but not in context, this second fact can be explained by

assuming that historically the shortening rule came first and shortened

final long vowels (presumably it applied in two stages: in pause, to

" Credence is lent to the validity of these forms both as earlier historical

fonns and as underlying synchronic forms by the fact that, as was pointed out

earlier, sequences such as /-aya-, -awu-/, occur in energetic forms in Arabie.

Evidence from Comparative Semitic can a lso be adduced for the historical forms

(See Brockelmann 618ff.).




begin with, and then in context) and that only at a later stage did the

pause apocopation phenomenon develop.'*

As is well known, a similar shortening rule applied to a final long

closed syllable, so we might assume that the same processes were at

work in final-weak and hollow verbs. The forms of a final-weak and a

hollow verb at the end of each of these two stages are presented in the

following table.

Stage 1 Stage 2

context pause context pause

Indicative ya-t-rmiy-)-u ya-(-rmiy-l-u ya-Hrmiy-l-u ya-l-rmiy-l-u

Subjunctive ya-l-rmiy-)-a ya-t-rmiy-l-a ya-l-rmiy-l-a ya-t-rmiy-l-a

Jussive ya-l-rmi-l-" ya-l-rmi-l- ya-l-rmi-l- ya-l-rmi-l-

Indicative ya-1-z•rfu ya-1-z•r-l-u ya-1-z•r-l-u ya-1-z•r-l-u

Subjunctive ya-t-z•r-t-a ya-1-z•r-t-a ya+z•r-l-a ya-t-z•r-l-a

Jussive ya-t-z•r-t- ya-l-zur-t- ya-fzur-l- ya-l-zur-t-.

As a result, at the end of Stage 2, we have the following shortening rule:

V -> V / - (C) #

where # is word-end marker. The rule states that a long vowel in an

open or a closed syllable shortens when followed by a word boundary.

Following Stage 2, two sets of rules set in: pausation (i.e., the deveƒ

lopment of special forms, distinct from context fonns, and used exclusiƒ

vely when there is a cessation of speech) and the various glide

processes. Of the different pausation rules, by far the most important

Harris Birkeland: Allarabische Pausalformen. Oslo 1940, pp. 79, 80,

102-104, argues that the shortening is to be viewed in the general historical

context of the shortening (and apocopation) of the long vowels of pronoun

suffixes such as /-hum•, -h•, -hi, -k‚, ki/, etc., and the enclitic /m‚/ (See

Sibawayhi II 318-320; Ibn Ya'ish IX 86-87), a stage which reflects a generalWest-Semitic phenomenon. Pause apocopation, on the other hand, is strictlyArabic.

" Here and with /yarj•/, / -iy, -uw/ produce long vowel in a natural way. In

the case of /yans‚/, we h ave to assume an earlier rule ay -> ‚. We could circumƒ

vent this problem, if we adopted the suggestion that the jussive is marked by the

vowel /i/ (See footnote 11), which, following vowel assimilation and glide

deletion would give us the correct forms. We would then have to assume that

there was an early rule deleting final /i/, but not /a/ and /u/. In a private

communication McCarus indicated that if the heavy cluster stress assignment

rule has any validity in Arabic, and it does, then he finds it necessary to posit

such a vowel in order to account for the stress on some jussive fonns in Arabic

poetry, though this might create a problem with the ordering and reapplication

ofthe stress rule. It is also interesting to note the rendering of some final /-‚/ at

pause as /-ay/ (See Sibawayhi II 314).




The following table now gives the actual forms of Classical Arabic for

a final-weak and a hollow verb, in eontext and in pause.

context Pause

Indicative yarmi yarmi

Subjunctive yarmiya yarmi

Jussive yarmi j^armih

Indicative yaz•ru yaz•r

Subjunctive yaz•ra yaz•r

Jussive yazur yazur

2. The Modern Arabic Dialects

As indicated above, the vast majority of dialects have only one stem for

the imperfect, which is the same for the imperative, i.e., they have no

jussive-non-jussive stem distinction. Thus to take Cairo Arabic as an

example (the first column in each case gives the imperfect, the second

the imperative):

2 m.s. 2 f s.

tiktib iktib tiktibi iktibi 'write'

timidd midd timiddi middi 'stretch'tiz•r z•r tiz•ri z•ri 'visit'

timil mil timili mili 'turn'

tin‚m n‚m tin‚mi n‚mi 'sleep'

tirmi irmi tirmi irmi 'throw'

tins a ins a tinsi insi 'forget'

The p. forms differ from the f s. above only in having /u/ instead ofthe

final /i/.

As for the suffixes of the imperfect, the situation in the Arabic dialects

is as follows: (1) Most urban dialects have lost the fp. as a distinct

marker and thus have gender distinction in the s. only; for those that

have maintained the f p. marker, mainly the bedouin and some rural

dialects, the suffix is vowel-initial /-an/ or /-in/, unlike Classical

Arabic. (2) The vowels /•, i/, which usually shorten when word-final,

are the markers ofthe 2nd and 3rd persons p. (m.p. for the dialects that

have maintained the fp.) and of the 2 fs., respectively. In some

dialects, again mainly the bedouin dialects but also Baghdadi, this

As indicated above, final short vowels that are not inflectional are not

dropped in pause, but have an /h/ added to them. In many cases, as Birkeƒ

land, op. cit., pp. 36 and 45, points out, this happens with vowels that were

historically long.



110 Pbtbr Abboud

feet; and (III) the suffixes ofthe imperative are the same as those ofthe

vowel is followed by an /-n/ in the imperfect, which is maintained

wherever the imperfect form is used. This /-n/ is dropped in the imperaƒ

tive. (3) The other persons, i.e., the 3 m.s., 3 f s., 2 m.s., and 1 (s. and p.)^' have no suffixes at all in the imperfect or (in the case ofthe 2 m.s.)

the imperative.

One dialect group seems to have an imperative stem different from the

corresponding imperfect. In Damascus Arabic, for example, the m.s.

imperative form of strong Form I verbs has a long vowel, whereas the

2 m.s. imperfect has a short one.^' Thus:

Imperfect Imperative

m.s. m.s. f.s.

taktob 'write' ktob ktabi

tamsek 'hold' msek msaki

tsftah 'open' ft‚h ftahi

It is to be noted that the long vowel of the imperative shortens as soon

as a suffix of any kind is added. This is seen in the f s. example given

above and also when object pronouns are added to the m.s. as in,

ktob but ktaba 'write it (f )

msek msakon 'hold them'

ft‚h ftaho 'open it (m.)

It is clear from these examples that the long vowels are formed

secondarily, most probably in order to avoid an unusual monosyllable

CCVC.

To summarize: in the vast majority of modem Arabic dialects (I) the

imperfect forms do not show a mode distinction, either in their stem or

in their suffixes^'; (II) the imperative has the same stem as the imper-

" The dialects spoken in North Africa and as far east as Alexandria, Egypt,

use the plural marker /u/ for the lp.

The phenomenon extends in some Lebanese dialects to the final-weak

verbs. See Mabk W. Cowell: A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic. Georgeƒ

town: Univ. Pr. 1964, pp. 198-199.

Though the mode distinction is not formally marked, the syntactic context

in which the imperfect is used very often signals the meanings of the various

modes. Thus, the use of the /bi-/ or /ha-/ prefixes in the dialects that have

them, indicates indicative, while the mandatory absence of the use indicates

subjunctive or jussive. Thus, again taking examples from Cairo Arabic: biykallimu 'He speaks/is speaking to him' (indicative)

'aawiz yikallimu 'He wants to speak to him' (subjunctive)

not ""aawiz biykallimu

ma ykallimu 'Let him speak to him, then!' (jussive)

cf. ma biykallimu 'He indeed speaks/is speaking to ium' (indicative)




imperfect, except for the /-Vn/ suffixes, which lose the /n/ in the

imperative in the dialects that have it.

What must have happened in the dialects historically (assuming they

once had a full-contracted stem distinction) is the following. Pauseforms were first generalized and used in context. Since a large number

of verbs in pause show no formal mode distinction, such distinction for

these verbs ceased to exist. This ultimately was extended by analogy to

the verbs where such a distinction existed even in pause, i.e., to the

final-weak and hollow verbs, so that now there was one form the imperƒ

fect and hence for the imperative. The indicative-subjunctive stem is the

one that survived, since it is by far the most common. The only vestige

ofthe older mode system is in the preservation in the bedouin dialects of

the /n/ in the suffixes of the imperfect with long vowels, but not in the

imperative.

3. Najdi Arabic

Consider the following example from Najdi (the first column in each

case gives the imperfect, the second, the imperative):

2 m.s. 2 f S./2 m.p. 2 f P-

taktib i ktib taktbin/•n iktbi/u taktbin iktbin 'write'

timidd midd timiddin/•n middi/ u timiddin middin 'stretch

tiz•r zir^* tiz•rin/•n z•ri/u tiz•rin z•rin 'visit'

timil mil timilin/•n mili/ u timllin milin 'tum'

tarmi irm tannin/ •n irmi/u tarmin irmin 'throw'

tansa ins tansen/‡n insay/w tansan insan 'forget'

It is clear from the above that, as in Classical Arabic, Najdi has, for the

hollow and final-weak verbs, two forms in the 2 m.s. For all the other

forms, the imperl'ect and imperative are identical^' and must follow

In Najdi, there is no front-back distinction in the high short vowel. This

vowel, indicated by /i/ in this paper, is colored by adjacent consonants and its

quality may slide the whole gamut from front to back, depending upon thoseconsonants.

" There are a few verbs that in certain areas of the Najd are aberrant. (1) The

verbs /n‚m/ 'sleep', /x‚f/ 'be afraid', have /yan‚m/, /yax‚f/ for their imperƒ

fect, as expected, but /nim, mmi, nimu, nimin/ and /xif, x•fi, x•fu, x•fin/ for

their imperative. (2) The verbs /('a)kal/ 'eat', /Ca)xa‡/ 'take', have

/y‚kil/, /y‚xid/, for their imperfect, as expected, but /kil, k•li, k•lu, k•lin/ and/xi‡, x•‡i, x•‡u, x•flin/, for their imperative. (As indicated in the previous footƒ

note, Najdi generally has no front-back distinction for the high short vowel; the

/„/ in /k•li/, however, might indicate that the neutralization in some cases is

not complete). The other hamza-initial verbs are more regular. Thus, for

/'amar/ 'command', we have /y‚mir/ in the imperfect, /imir/ in the imperative.



i

112 Peter Abboud

similar derivations.'" However, the f.s. and m.p. imperative forms have

no /n/ in their suffixes, so their final long vowels /i, „/ are shortened by

the well-attested shortening rule; the diphthongs /ay, aw/ are mainƒ

tained in the imperative, being in final position, but go to /e, 0/ whenfollowed by the /n/ in the imperfect by another well-known rule."

3.1 A consideration of these forms leads to a number of questions.

First, is there a need or justification for setting up a jussive for Najdi?

The answer must be in the negative because of the following two facts

which, as can be seen, do not obtain in Classical Arabic. (1) There is no

instance where the contracted stem of the imperative is used with the

prefixes of the imperfect (thus there is never a form like *yarm or

*tazur); with these prefixes it is always the uncontracted form that

occurs. (2) Whenever the imperfect, i.e., the form with the prefixes is

used, the /n/ of the m.p. and the 2 f s. suffixes always appears (thus

there is never a form like *yarmu, *yaz•ru); only in the imperative is it

lost. The prohibition forms, for example, of the verbs given above are:

2 m.s. 2 f S./2 m.p.

l‚ tiz•r l‚ tiz•rin/•n 'do not visit'

l‚ timil l‚ timilin/•n 'do not tum'

l‚ tan‚m l‚ tan‚min/•n 'do not sleep'

l‚ tarmi l‚ tarmin/•n 'do not throw'

l‚ tansa l‚ tansen/‡n 'do not forget'

These same forms are used in the negation of the non-past, i.e., /l‚

tiz•r/ means both 'do not visit' as well as 'you do not visit, are not

visiting' .

It is clear then that Najdi agrees with the majority of modem Arabic

dialects, with respect to point I above, (i.e., the imperfect stems do not

show a mode distinction), and III, (i.e., the imperfect suffixes of theimperative are the same as those of the imperfect without the /n/, with

the exception noted in footnote 31); that is, it agrees with them in that

there is an imperfect-imperative, and not a jussive-non-jussive distincƒ

tion. Where it differs from them is in the fact that in the 2 m.s. it has two

'ˆ A discussion of the underlying forms and the various processes of derivaƒ

tion of final-weak verbs is beyond the scope of this paper.

" In one subdialect of Central Najdi, that of Majma'a, to the northwest of Riyadh, the suffixes in the imperative for all final-weak and hollow verbs in the

f s., m.p., and f p. are / -ay, -aw, -an/, respectively, no matter what the stem is of

the imperfect; those of the imperfect are the regular /-in, -•n, -in/. Here of

course the derivations of the imperfect and the imperative sufiixes will bedifferent.




forms for the hollow and final-weak verbs, one for the imperfect (with

prefixes), and the other for the imperative (with no such prefixes).

Before we discuss these forms, a few further clarifications about them

are in order. (1) The contracted forms of hollow and final-weak verbs

are found not only in the simple verb but in the derived pattems as well.

(2) The vowel ofthe hollow verb is a high short one and as such elides in

open syllable (i.e., when a vowel-initial suffix is added). Thus:

m.s. f s.

Sif 'see' Sfih 'see him' cf Siifi s•fih

(3) There is no vowel at all in the final-weak verbs, even when suffixes

are added. Thus:

m.s. fs.

irm 'throw' irmih 'throw him' cf irmi irmih

irmah 'throw her' irmiyah

ins 'forget' insih 'forget him' insay inseh

insah 'forget her' insiyah

3.2 S econdfy , how do we explain the m.s. imperative of final-weak

and hollow verbs? How are these to be related, if at all, to the correƒ

sponding imperfect forms? More specificaffy, how are the forms in B

related to those of A below?

A B

1. taz•r zir

tamil mil

2. tarmi irm

tansa ins

As for the hollow verbs, there is no mle in Najdi that will shorten long

vowels in closed syllables as in Classical Arabic. Nor can we invoke the principle of preferred syllable stmcture, since the m.s. imperative of

hollow verbs seems to defy that principle, seeing that the syllable CVC

is far more common than CVC in monosyllabic words. Here, therefore,

we seem to need a unique shortening mle.

For the final-weak verbs, there are no other cases in Najdi of a final

(short or long) vowel deletion. If we are to assume similar derivation for

both imperfect and imperative forms, then here again we have to have

unique syntactically constrained mle for deleting the vowel.

A consideration of the imperative paradigm strongly suggests a diffeƒ

rent mechanism, however. For a very large number of verbs, the categoƒ

ries ofthe imperative, i.e., m.s., f s., m.p., and f p., are distinguished on

the basis of the oppositions: zero, i, u, in, respectively. We can directly

8 ZDMG 132/1




which give /al-q‚d/ as the pause forms." Such pausal examples

also occur in some readings of the Qur'‚n;'"

(2) the pause form ofthe 1 s. suffixed pronoun." It is very interesting to

note that it is precisely this apocopated form of the 1 s. suffix that

has survived as the object pronoun in Northern Najdi, cf , /OribAN/

'he beat me';'*

(3) pause forms of isolated examples of verbs in poetry and in some

readings of the Qur'‚n."

The basic assumptions of this hypothesis, then, are that long vowels

were first dropped in pause, and that later the pause form of the

imperative was used in context.

There are a number of difficulties vrith these assumptions. First, all

the cases cited for the apocopation of long vowels are examples of final

/-i, „/, never final /-‚/. In other words, /tarmi, irm/ might be

accounted for in this way, but not /tans‚, ins/. Secondly, with a very

few exceptions in poetry and in some readings of the Qur'‚n, the phenoƒ

menon of long vowel apocopation applied mostly to non-verbs and

consistently only in case (1) above. Thus, if this hypothesis for explaiƒ

ning the imperative forms of final-weak verbs is accepted, then we have

to make further assumptions, i.e., that the process started vrith non-

verbs, spread to verbs like /tarmi/, and then by analogy, applied to /

tans‚/. Finally, it is difficult to explain why long vowel apocopation

applied to the imperative only, why it was the imperative alone that

appeared apocopated in context, and why there are no reflexes in Najdi

of an apocopated imperfect. It is to be noted that all the Najdi dialects

that I have worked on so far show no evidence for the vowelless form of

fmal-weak nouns, such as /q‚(J/ above. They all have the form vrith the

vowel.

For these reasons, this hypothesis is rejected, in favor of thefollovring:

(B) The second hypothesis is suggested by evidence from ancient

dialects. Sibawayhi indicated that there are two ways to handle the

suffixless jussive forms in pause: the first, already referred to in footƒ

note 18, is by the addition of M' al-sakt, e.g., /'irmih, 'irjuh, 'insah/; the

second is by the deletion ofthe short vowel, e.g., /'irm, 'urj, 'ins/. He

" Sibawayhi II 315 (line llff.).

'" Sibawayhi II 316 (lines 9, 10); Ibn Ya'i‚, IX, 78." Sibawayhi II 316 (line 14fT.); Ibn Ya'i‚, IX 83ff.

" See my article The Verh in NoHhem Najdi Arabic. In: BSOAS 42 (1979),467-599.

" Sibawayhi II 316 (lines 9, 10).

8'



116 Peter Abboud

does not specify where the latter treatment is to be found; he simply

asserts that 'some Arabs' may say these forms in pause, but that this

treatment is less common 'aqallu al-luyatayni?^ He further adds that

certain Arabs say /'id'ih/ (from /da'awtu, 'ad'•/) instead of /'id'uh/

on the assumption that the ' ayn is vowelless, and hence a kasra is added

to break the consonant cluster 'because two quiescents do not meet'

Wannahu la, yaltaqi s‚kin‚ni. It seems clear that for these Arabs, the

contracted stem had by the time of Sibawayhi come to be used

regularly, even in context. To Sibawayhi, this was bad usage, luya

radf a and yalat?''

The evidence from these ancient dialects, then, suggests the following

historical developments. In the lirst stage, the imperative in context

and pause had a short vowel, and the imperfect a long one. This is of

course the stage of Classical Arabic as described by the grammarians,

but for those 'less common' dialects of Sibawayhi, this stage occurred

prior to the grammarians' time. Next came the dropping of the final

short vowels, any short vowels, first in pause and then on to context.

Note that this development is a generalization ofthe pause apocopation

rule given earlier: for Classical Arabic inflectional final vowels only

were deleted, but here all final short vowels are deleted. The 'less

common' dialects of Sibawayhi had reached this second stage by his

time (at least for final-weak verbs), whereas one assumes that the

dialects that conformed better to Classical Arabic usage reached it in

post-Classical times. Some aspects at least of the second stage were

already attested in the luya radt'a of Sibawayhi.

This stage, the generalization of pause forms, triggered the collapse of

case distinctions in nouns (it must be remembered, however, that in

addition there was a process of analogical extension; for wherever

pause forms showed case distinctions, such as with nouns, the finalform that was generalized was the one which represented the largest

number of categories) .'"' It was also responsible for the imperative forms

of Najdi. The disappearance of formal mode distinctions was the result

'" Sibawayhi II .302 (lines 9, 1 0). This is also repeated in Ibn Ya'ish IX 45 and

77-78, which also adds examples of imperfect jussive forms.

The rejection of the form with h‚' may well be due to the fact that it is

ambiguous in that /irmih/, for example, is the pause form of both /'irmi/ 'throw'

(m.s.) and /'irmihi/ 'throw (m.s.) it (m.s.)'. It has survived in Najdi with the

latter meaning.

" Sibawayhi II 302 (lines 17-20).

'"' See Febguson's review of Harris Birkeland's Growth and Structure of

the Egyptian Arahic Dialect in: Language 30 (1954), 564.




of a process of analogical extension, whereby the indicative-subjunctive

forms were generalized into an imperfect with no mode distinction. In

most dialects, the imperative forms followed from the imperfect. In

Najdi, the indicative forms were generalized into an imperfect with no

mode distinction, but the imperative maintained the earlier jussive

forms.

The apocopation of final short vowels in pause and context was

followed by the shortening of the final long vowels (in pause and in

context), which had to occur after apocopation, not before, as otherƒ

wise, this rule would have dropped the vowels of both the imperfect and

imperative.'" There is no evidence to show whether the shortening rule

occurred in stages or simultaneously in pause and context.

As for hollow verbs, the Najdi dialects obviously maintain the older

situation intact. Again here, the contracted stem must have developed

at the stage when long closed syllables were not allowed in context, i.e.,

before the deletion of final short vowels in context (as it was in pause),

which made it possible for long closed syllables to occur freely everyƒ

where and cancelled the earlier rule of shortening long vowels in final

closed syllables.

The outline of historical development given above is obviously inƒ

complete in that it deals with the verb only; for a complete picture, the

developments in the noun must be taken into consideration. It is also

very sketchy since the major stages were obviously arrived at through a

number of intermediate stages which are not always clear. One must not

assume, either, that dialects in the Najd today have all reached the

same historical stages or are unifonn; startling features reflecting a

number of independent developments are undoubtedly present and

need to be brought to light.

3.4 By way of overall perspective, two interesting observations can

be made. First, at least as far as the features discussed in this paper are

concemed, in the Najdi dialects of today we clearly see not only the

'" This follows closely, for the verb, the stages 2-5 that Birkeland, op. cit.

pp. 104-106, working from a different perspective, posits for historical developƒ

ments within Arabic, which he traces in ancient as well as modern dialects. His

statement about the existence of uncontracted forms (only?) of weak verbs in

Central Arabia "In Zentralarabien erscheinen noch heute langvokalige Formen

dieser Verba" (p. 81), is clearly wrong, if he intends his statement in the

previous paragraph to apply to Central Arabia: "Danach fielen die Apokope-

formen auch im Imperativ, der ja dem Imperfectum folgt". He nowhere indicates

he is aware of the existence of apocopated fonns of weak verbs today, which is

surprising since some of his sources for Central Arabia do mention it, albeit just

in passing; had he known it, it clearly would have given support for his thesis.



118 Peter Abboud, Arabic Jussive Forms

preservation of ancient features but also the results of processes that

were already at work when Classical Arabic was recorded, studied and

codified. These dialects, with respect to not only the features discussed

here but other features as well, such as passivization by internal vocalicchange, are the descendants of the dialects on which Classical Arabic

was based and of other dialects which did not conform to the norms of

Classical Arabic. Secondly, it is interesting to note the crucial role

played by juncture phenomena, namely the rise of a pause feature and

its spread to context. This was seen in the development of the

contracted stems of the jussive, which also attested in West-Semitic

and then in the apocopation of final short vowels. In Classical Arabic

such apocopation remained restricted mainly to inflectional vowels and

to pause only, but in the dialects the process was generalized and

spread to context, as is widely attested in the Arabic dialects of today.



The Original Language of the Karpura-manjan

By Richard Salomon, Seattle, WA

I. Introduction: The Problem of the Language

1. R‚jasekhara' s Karpura-manjan (henceforth KM), written in the

late 9th or early 10th century A.D., is one ofthe most important works

of Prakrit literature. It is the first drama known to have been composed

entirely in Prakrit, and the only such one of any consequence.

Moreover, its essential importance is enhanced by the edition and

translation with glossary and extensive notes by Sten Konow and C.

R. Lanman. ' This edition has served as an introductory Prakrit text for

generations of American Indologists (and, I believe, for others as well),

and it is therefore all the more regrettable that, as will be shown below,

it presents a highly distorted view of the Prakrit dialects. Subsequent

editions, most notably that of Manomohan Ghosh, ^ have been improƒ

vements, but none is entirely satisfactory.

2. Specifically, the long-standing question of which of the several

Prakrit dialects the KM was composed in has never been conclusively

answered. Despite the acknowledged literary and linguistic importance

of the text, one may read, in various studies of Indian or Middle Indo-

Aryan literature, that the KM was written in Sauraseni,' in Sauraseni

and Mah‚r‚stri," or in Avanti Prakrit.' Other writers decline to take a

' R‚ja-9ekhara's Karp•ra-manjari. Ed. Sten Konow and tr. CharlesRockwell Lanman. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. 1901. (Harvard Oriental

Series. 4.); Repr. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1963.

^ R‚ja‰ekhara's Karp•ramanjari. A Prakrit Play. Calcutta: The World Pr.

Private Ltd. 1972. Other recent editions are those of R. P. Poddar: An Introƒ

duction to Karp•ramanjari. Vaishali: Research Inst, of Prakrit, Jainology, and

Ahimsa 1974. (Prakrit Jain Institute Research Publication Series. 2.) with

Ghosh's text; and R‚mkum‚r ‰ch‚rya's Karp•ramanjari. Varanasi: Chowkƒ

hamba Vidy‚bhavan, 1963. (Vidy‚bhavan Sanskrit Granthamala. 12.)

' ViSvAN‰TH Bandyop‚dhy‚y: Poll o Pr‚krt S‚hityer Itih‚s. Kalik‚t‚:

S‚rasvat Laibreri [B.S.] 1379, p. 179.

" Sy‚m‚ Varm‚: Ac‚rya R‚jasekhara [Hindi] . Bhopal: Madhya Prade‚ Hindi

Granth Akademi 1971, p. 139.

^ Surendranath Majumdar Sastri: Avanti Pr‚krit of the Karp•ramanjari.

In: Indian Antiquary 50 (1921), pp. 8 0-2.

abboud--classical jussive forms in modern dialects--zdmg1982

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