Abstract
This research paper proposes that a vocative can be a potential source of coordination, thus it adds to the literature on the grammaticalization of coordinators. Evidence to this proposal is taken from Jordanian Arabic (JA) wherein the vocative particle ja: developed a disjunctive (coordination) function. The synchronic evidence to the evolution of the disjunctive ja: is that this function is conveyed by this particle in some but not all Arabic varieties, whereas the vocative function is the common cross-dialectal function of ja:. Further, this study suggests that the factors that licensed the development of this function (i.e., the disjunctive ja:) in JA are (i) the common semantic feature between the vocative and disjunctive ja:, namely proximity, (ii) the shared function of warning and (iii) the syntactic distribution of ja: in initial position of the two conjuncts of the bisyndetic disjunctive construction. With regard to the properties of this evolution, it is demonstrated in this paper that the development of the coordinating ja: is a case of secondary grammaticalization featured by expansion in functionality and increase in syntactic contingence of the hosting structure.
Highlights
Coordinating constructions contain at least two conjuncts.1 They typically branch into syndetic and asyndetic coordinating constructions (Haspelmath 2004, 2007)
This study demonstrates that the secondary grammaticalization of ja: is a case of expansion in functionality paired with increase in contingence on the surrounding syntactic structure
It has been demonstrated that the vocative particle ja: has acquired a disjunctive function in a bisyndetic emphatic construction in Jordanian Arabic (JA)
Summary
Coordinating constructions contain at least two conjuncts. They typically branch into syndetic and asyndetic coordinating constructions (Haspelmath 2004, 2007). The typical vocative particle ja: in Arabic acquired a new grammatical function in JA It serves as a disjunctive coordinator in the positive bisyndetic coordinating construction ja: X ja: Y ‘either X or Y’ in JA, as exemplified in (2), and it is somehow equivalent to the. We suggest that the vocative particle ja: is the source of the grammaticalized coordinating ja:, as the disjunctive function of ja: is found in some but not all Arabic varieties, unlike its vocative function On this ground, this study adds to the relevant literature of grammaticalization by proposing that a vocative particle is another source of coordinators, next to the categories reported in other studies on various languages, such as adverbs and prepositions.
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