The Auxiliary Verb in Contemporary Jordanian Arabic: A Historical Descriptive Study

Abstract

Objectives: The present study proceeds from the idea that many of the contemporary Arabic phenomena that modern linguists experience are linguistic phenomena that existed in classical Arabic or ancient Semitic languages. This study, therefore, has argued that the hypothesis stating Arabic is different from Indo-European languages in not considering the auxiliary verb in its structure is inaccurate. Furthermore, the idea that syntactic structure contains auxiliary verbs as a native construction transmitted to Arabic through translation is hasty. Methods: The study set itself an approach to prove this theory by describing the auxiliary verb in contemporary Arabic, focused on the Jordanian dialect and more specifically on the two auxiliary verbs ﻛﺎﻥ 'was' and ﻗﻌﺪ 'sit.' It also provided evidence from classical Arabic as Quran, poetry, and Semitic languages. Conclusions: The study concluded that the two auxiliary verbs ﻛﺎﻥ 'was' and ﻗﻌﺪ 'sit' have their roots in classical Arabic and Semitic languages.