Habituality Markers in Jordanian Arabic

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigates the grammatical encoding of habituality within Jordanian Arabic. This linguistic phenomenon is expressed through specific markers for different tenses in the dialect. Methods: Our research employs a qualitative, theory-driven methodology rooted in truth-conditional semantics instead of a corpus-based approach. We base our findings on constructed utterances that are placed within specific contexts. Results: In the present tense, habituality is expressed using the copular verb bi-ku:n 'Pres-be'. The copula occurs within nominal sentences, serving as a marker that indicates the habitual nature of the action. The obligatory presence of the copula exclusively enforces a habitual interpretation. Conversely, the obligatory absence of the copula allows for two interpretations: episodic and habitual. Event plurality in the past tense, however, is constructed using the past auxiliary ka:n 'used to'. These constructions are known as periphrastic forms or retrospective habituals (Boneh and Doron, 2008). Conclusions: The periphrastic forms in Jordanian Arabic behave similarly to the perfective aspect, yet they are interpreted imperfectively. These periphrastic habituals are formed using both stage-level and individual-level predicates. However, the periphrastic forms incorporating stage-level predicates without an adverbial adjunct are ambiguous between a habitual and a non-habitual reading. The context serves to differentiate between the two readings.