The historical linguistics of the intrusive *-n in Arabic and West Semitic.

• Author: Owens, Jonathan
• Position: Essay

1. INTRODUCTION

I term the -n (realized variously as -in, -an, -inn, -ann, -unn, -anna) that occurs before object suffixes in many Semitic languages and varieties the "intrusive -n," or simply "-n." (1) The origin of this morpheme has been widely discussed among Semiticists in particular, and more recently among Arabicists (Holes 2011). Among Semiticists there are two broad explanations for its appearance. The more widespread approach, represented inter alia by Robert Hetzron (1969), David Testen (1993), and Rebecca Hasselbach (2006), is to interpret the intrusive -n as an inherited proto-Semitic verbal suffix with various, uninterrupted reflexes across the different varieties. An alternative perspective is offered by Jan Retso (1988: 92; also Barth 1907), who sees the -n as originating independently from common "deictic elements," a massive parallel independent development, as it were. The former approach tends to derive the morpheme from common verbal aspect-mode values, two functions of which are the Akkadian ventive (motion towards speaker) and the Classical Arabic so-called energicus (nun al-ta'kid in the Arabic tradition, also termed energetic or energic in the Western tradition). The latter approach, on the other hand, is sceptical of shared proto-functions, instead emphasizing the basically formal property of pronoun object marking.

In this article I will attempt to combine elements of each of the two perspectives. As in the first position, there is a common, shared origin to all occurrences of the -Vn in West Semitic. However, following Retso, the only functional unity that characterizes them is the grammaticalized function of marking a pronoun object suffix. As will be seen, the explanation advocated here basically confirms the analysis of Carlo Landberg (1909: 738). (2)

Partly for strategic reasons, and partly because of the breadth of material that would have to be treated in detail to work out a completely comprehensive development, I will concentrate on the West Semitic languages in general, and on Arabic in particular. To the extent that the West Semitic languages have the intrusive -n, they are remarkably similar to one another in grammar, while Arabic is of particular interest for two reasons. First, the -n is attested in a number of varieties of it, and at different chronological eras; and second, a close look at the general syntax of the -n in a major text of Classical Arabic will allow a detailed evaluation, and refutation, of the idea that the -n derives from a proto-verbal function.

I begin in section 2 with a summary of the situation in Arabic, first the dialects, then a corpus-based summary of the energic -n in Qur'anic Arabic. This will form the basis in sections 2.2 and 2.3 of the first of two reconstructions developed in this paper, namely, a reconstruction of the development of the energic as a grammatical category in Classical Arabic. In section 3 the data from other West Semitic languages are presented, and in section 4 an overall historical development is offered. In section 5 individual interpretive issues related to the proposed solution are addressed.

2. THE INTRUSIVE -N IN ARABIC

2.1. Arabic dialects

The properties of -n are quite uniform among contemporary Arabic dialects. In all Arabic dialects where it occurs--viz., Eastern Arabian dialects of former South Yemen, Oman, the Emirates, and Bahrain; those of eastern Syria, Khorasan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan; and Bagirmi Arabic in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, and western Chad--an intrusive -n is added onto the active participle only before an object suffix.

In Yemen (specifically, Dathina, in former South Yemen; cf. Landberg 1909: 720ff.) it occurs in all forms of the AP. The -n is geminate except before the -n initial suffixes -ni 'me' and -na 'us'. Gemination nearly always occurs before a vowel, although there are a few examples of -nn-ha (mayaahib-Inne-ha "he has accompanied her," as well as mithaddin-inn-ha "he carried her in the arms"; subjects are provided from context in the following examples):

(1) mehaalif-inn-ak "[he is] your ally" (allied-N-you-M)

muhaalif-iin-in-na "[they are] allied to us" (allied-MPL-N-us)

kaatib-et-inn-eh "[you (F)] have written it (M)"

kaatb-aat-inn-a "[they (F)] have written it (M)"

In Oman -in is added to any stem form (Reinhardt 1972: 139): (3)

(2) daarb-Inn-ek "he has hit you (M)"

daarb-ft-n-hum "she has hit them (M)"

daarb-fin-n-ek "they (M) have hit you (M)"

daarbaat-inn-is "they (F) have hit you (F)"

Here -n is added to the MPL directly, rather than as -in + pronoun suffix, as in Yemen.

In Bahrain (cf. Holes 1987: 109), -in is a feature of Shi'ite (Bahama) speakers. It is added only after a singular participle (M or F); -n is geminate before a vowel, single before a consonant: (4)

(3) xaatb-in-ha "he has become engaged to her"

xaatb-at-inn-ah "she has become engaged to him"

In the Syrian desert I. G. Wetzstein notes (1868: 192; no complete paradigms are given in this work) that forms with and without -n are used before object suffixes:

(4) saayf-ann-u "he saw him" (1868: 75)

For Khorasan Ulrich Seeger (2002: 635) does not give complete paradigms, but he shows the -n suffixed to the AP stem for MSG, and to the FSG suffix for the feminine singular. He gives only a geminate -nn, except for n- initial suffixes (as with Oman and Yemen), and he has u for the vowel.

(5) mint-unn-he "he has given her" (give-N-her)

aaxd-t-unn-a "I (F) took [married] him" (take-F-N-him)

In Uzbekistan and Afghanistan (5) the situation is slightly complicated by the fact that the active participle has itself become refunctionalized into a person-inflected form in which the historical pronoun objects assume the function of subject. However, this refunctionalized pronoun object is always suffixed to the -n in the first and second person subjects, (6) so that formally, even if not semantically, it parallels the other dialects. The -n suffixes directly to the MSG AP stem, neutralizing FSG and MPL suffixes. For Afghanistani Arabic Bruce Ingham (2006: 32) gives the following forms, some, it can be noted, with -an instead of -in, while the 1 and 2MPL forms are suffixed to the plural suffix -iin, rather than the intrusive -n.

(6) SG PL 1 kaatb-an-ni (7) kaatb-iin-na 2M kaatb-inn-ak kaatb-iin-ku 2F kaatb-an-ki kaatb-an-kin The -n is geminate before -V, single otherwise, a situation also noted by Wolfdietrich Fischer (1961) for Uzbekistan.

For Uzbekistan, Gent Zimmermann's (2009: 620) data agree broadly with (6), except that she clearly has the -n in all forms including the plurals--qard-in-kum "you (MPL) have sat down"--and always a single -n.

Finally, in Bagirmi Arabic, a dialect area roughly coterminous with the former Bagirmi empire that ruled the border area between western Chad, Cameroon, and Nigeria south of

Lake Chad, -n is added to the MSG stem, where, as with Uzbekistani Arabic, it neutralizes all other forms (Owens 1993: 2009).

(7) ana kaatb-in-ha "I have written it" vs. ana kaatib (M) "I have written"

inti kaatb-in-ha; inti kaatb-e "you (FSG) have written"

hum kaatb-in-ha; hum kaatb-iin "they (M) have written"

hinna kaatb-in-ha; hinna kaatb-aat "they (F) have written"

In addition, in all non-Bagirmi Nigerian Arabic dialects and in Shukriyya, in eastern Sudan (Reichmuth 1983), -an/-ann is added to the FPL -aat, as in Oman (see (2), above). The geminate variant occurs before a vowel, the single before a consonant.

(8) kaatb-aat-ann-u "they (F) have written it" (written-FPL-N-itM)

In these two dialects, the -an can probably be interpreted as a relic of the fuller system, as in (1) and (2), above.

2.1.1. Other -n/-nn's

In the eastern Arabian peninsula, southeastern United Arab Emirates, and the adjoining area of Oman, an -n can be suffixed between pronoun object and imperfect verb (Holes 2011). Clive Holes notes that such forms are common in this area: (8)

(9) yi-kaffi-n-na "it will be enough for us" (3M-enough-N-us)

n-sawwi-nn-a "we do it" (we-do-N-itM)

yi-Sill-inn-ah "he removes it" (3M-remove-N-itM)

The cognate status of these is discussed in section 5.4, below.

2.1.2. Complementizers

It is relevant, for reasons that emerge in sections 2.3 and 4, below, to briefly summarize another -n, this one occurring in a class of complementizers in Arabic, which in Classical Arabic are those ending in -nna (inna wa-akhawatuha), namely, inna 'that', anna 'that', and lakinna 'but'. These have a number of formal links to the energic, discussed in the next two sections. Like the energic they can be followed by a pronoun from the object series, (9) anna-ka 'that you'; they are neutrally followed by an accusative complement if nominal rather than pronominal; and anna itself marks an object complement.

(10) 'alim-tu anna zayd-an muntaliq-un learn-I that Zayd-ACC leave-NOM "I learned that Zayd is leaving" Furthermore, there is a "light" version of this morpheme (in, an, lakin) that in most varieties does not govern an accusative noun (Sibawayhi 1970, 1: 430).

The complementizer in continues to be used in many contemporary dialects, though not all (see 5.6, below). It has, however, various functions, only one of which is to mark a sentential verb complement (e.g., Germanos 2009, where it is a discourse marker, as well as marking complements). Retso (1988: 79) notes that a number of Landberg's texts have a particle win, often used with a suffix pronoun co-referential with the subject of the clause, which appears to demarcate short episode segments in narratives.

(11) winne-hom nezal-u min em-xalwah leoneen Cala shaab-hom ... u qaal-u inna tacan-na Oneen u elcalim alla inne-hom faat-u oo saad-hom

"and then the two descended to their companions ... and they said we stabbed two and God knows if they are dead or not" (Landberg 1905: 9) (10)

As can be seen here, inna occurs in the same texts marking a sentential complement after qaal, so that there appear to be multiple *-in-origin words in this dialect.

2.2. Classical...