Abstract
This paper presents arguments for a re-analysis of the b-prefix in Gulf Arabic dialects. Similar to several other dialects, Gulf Arabic possesses a b-prefix that is inserted before the p-stem (prefix form) of the verb. However, the Gulf Arabic b-prefix differs substantially from the one encountered in other Arabic dialects. According to most previous studies, the Gulf Arabic b-prefix encodes future tense or intentive mood or a combination of these. Based on a thorough survey of the use of this particle in modern speech, I suggest that it is used in Gulf Arabic today as a generalized marker of the irrealis mood rather than being limited to function as a future/intentive marker. Futurity is one - but not the only or necessarily the most important one – of its connotations. Meanwhile, another marker, rāḥ, emerges as an obvious future marker in some parts of the dialectal area.
Highlights
The corollory of the above suggests that Gulf Arabic b-prefix, which is used to quite some extent for futures, conditionals and habitual past, has much in common with markers of irrealis in some other languages
This study was undertaken to examine the use of the b-prefix in order to establish whether or not this is a tense- and/or a marker of the intentive mood as has been assumed
Other possible uses of the b-prefix were explored in order to find out what this prefix is used for if it is not a marker of future tense or intentive mood
Summary
This paper presents arguments for a re-analysis of the b-prefix in Gulf Arabic dialects. According to most previous studies, the Gulf Arabic b-prefix encodes future tense or intentive mood or a combination of these. PRE-PAPER According to most previous studies, the Gulf Arabic b-prefix is used to encode future tense or intentive mood or a combination of these. In both older and more recent research on Gulf Arabic the b-prefix is presented as a marker of future tense.19 Johnstone considers it to have future meaning with a sense of volition in Kuwaiti, Bahraini and Qatari dialects. A few informants from Oman and the UAE are of Bedouin origin but have been settled for a generation or more This particle was mentioned by Johnstone 1967, 143,152 as a marker of (future) intent in the dialects of Bahrain and Kuwait. Grammatical structure of the sentence does, in other words, not seem to play an important role in the use of these markers, nor does any straightforward indicative/subjunctive mood distinction appear to be at hand
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