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Copyright

Catherine Taine-Cheikh;

Published On

2025-01-31

Page Range

pp. 135–174

Language

  • English

Print Length

40 pages

Interpreting the Traces: On the Grammaticalisation of ˀaṯar

  • Catherine Taine-Cheikh (author)
Chapter of: Arabic in Context: Essays on Language, Dialects, and Culture in Honour of Martin R. Zammit(pp. 135–174)
This chapter examines the grammaticalisation of the Arabic lexeme ˀaṯar (‘trace’), its cognates in Semitic languages, and its evolution into various grammatical forms and meanings across Arabic dialects. The study begins with a semantic and grammatical overview of ˀaṯar in literary Arabic and its cognates in related Semitic languages, drawing on comprehensive lexicographical resources and comparative studies. The analysis highlights how ˀaṯar’s primary meaning (‘trace’ or ‘imprint’) expanded into diverse semantic and morphosyntactic usages.

Focusing on the Ḥassāniyya dialect of Mauritania, the chapter details the emergence of a pseudo-verb derived from ˀaṯar to express doubt, inference, or modal possibility. This phenomenon is contextualized within a broader cultural and linguistic framework, where interpreting physical traces is vital in a nomadic pastoralist society. Comparative analysis with other Arabic dialects reveals similar grammaticalisation processes, including the development of adverbial forms (e.g., ˀaṯāri ‘it seems’) and evidential markers in Middle Eastern and Gulf varieties, while noting regional differences in meaning and usage.

The study identifies evidentiality (noncommitment to information) as an important feature of ˀaṯar-derived expressions across dialects, reflecting its original semantic field of inference and indirect knowledge. This linguistic evolution exemplifies the interaction of cultural practices and grammaticalisation processes in Arabic. By tracing the transformation of ˀaṯar, the chapter contributes to understanding how semantic and functional shifts shape the lexicon and syntax of Arabic dialects.

Contributors

Catherine Taine-Cheikh

(author)

Catherine Taine-Cheikh is Emeritus Research Director at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS-France). Before joining the CNRS in 1996, she worked as a researcher at the Mauritanian Institute for Scientific Research (IMRS-Mauritania) for 16 years between 1978 and 1994.  She had published two dictionaries on Hassaniya Arabic (Mauritanian) and two dictionaries on Zenaga Berber (Mauritanian) and had written more than 140 articles or book chapters on the Arabic and Berber languages and culture of Western Sahara. Her areas of interest include: general, comparative and typological linguistics, language contact and change, anthropological linguistics, Arabic and Berber languages.  In 2006, she obtained the accreditation to supervise research (HDR) from the Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III University, entitled “Saharan and Berber Arabic. Dynamics of languages and language practices", and in 1978, from the René Descartes-Paris V University, entitled "Middle Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs". He obtained his doctorate in linguistics.