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A salience-based analysis of the Tunisian Arabic demonstrative hāk as used in oral narratives*

  • Amel Khalfaoui
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Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVII
This chapter is in the book Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVII

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of the Tunisian Arabic demonstrative hāk, which encodes the cognitive status FAMILIAR, in the sense of the Givenness Hierarchy of Gundel et al. (1993). Although this demonstrative is usually used for at most FAMILIAR, it is frequently used in folk tales for the statuses ACTIVATED and IN FOCUS. I propose that this is a strategy used by the narrator to impose more processing effort on the hearer in order increase the relative salience of the referent of hāk. However, the degree of relative salience to which these entities are promoted is not always the same, and has to do with the centrality of the referent of hāk in the story.

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of the Tunisian Arabic demonstrative hāk, which encodes the cognitive status FAMILIAR, in the sense of the Givenness Hierarchy of Gundel et al. (1993). Although this demonstrative is usually used for at most FAMILIAR, it is frequently used in folk tales for the statuses ACTIVATED and IN FOCUS. I propose that this is a strategy used by the narrator to impose more processing effort on the hearer in order increase the relative salience of the referent of hāk. However, the degree of relative salience to which these entities are promoted is not always the same, and has to do with the centrality of the referent of hāk in the story.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction xi
  5. Part I: Syntax and its interfaces
  6. Locative prepositional phrases and inalienable PLACE in Lebanese Arabic* 3
  7. On the syntax of exceptive constructions in Egyptian Arabic* 35
  8. Verbal and nominal plurals and the syntaxmorphology interface 59
  9. Exploring the syntax-phonology interface in Arabic 75
  10. A salience-based analysis of the Tunisian Arabic demonstrative hāk as used in oral narratives* 99
  11. Part II: Arabic Linguistic Variation
  12. Moroccan artists ‘blacklisted’ 123
  13. Lateral fricative ḍād in Tihāmat Qaḥtān 151
  14. Arabic ȷ̌ and the class of Sun Letters 171
  15. Quantifying lexical and pronunciation variation between three Arabic varieties* 187
  16. Part III: First Language Acquisition
  17. Compensatory lengthening 215
  18. Index 237
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.3.05kha

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction xi
  5. Part I: Syntax and its interfaces
  6. Locative prepositional phrases and inalienable PLACE in Lebanese Arabic* 3
  7. On the syntax of exceptive constructions in Egyptian Arabic* 35
  8. Verbal and nominal plurals and the syntaxmorphology interface 59
  9. Exploring the syntax-phonology interface in Arabic 75
  10. A salience-based analysis of the Tunisian Arabic demonstrative hāk as used in oral narratives* 99
  11. Part II: Arabic Linguistic Variation
  12. Moroccan artists ‘blacklisted’ 123
  13. Lateral fricative ḍād in Tihāmat Qaḥtān 151
  14. Arabic ȷ̌ and the class of Sun Letters 171
  15. Quantifying lexical and pronunciation variation between three Arabic varieties* 187
  16. Part III: First Language Acquisition
  17. Compensatory lengthening 215
  18. Index 237
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