1st Edition
Thematic Structure and Para-Syntax: Arabic as a Case Study
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Signs, syntax, para-syntax, theme and rheme
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Signs
2.3 Grammar (morphology and syntax) as sign-level analysis
2.4 Syntax and para-syntax
Chapter 3: Issues in defining ‘theme’
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Theme as starting point of the utterance
Chapter 4: Recursion
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Recursion
Chapter 5: Summary of arguments so far
Chapter 6: Traditional Arabic grammar analysis of Arabic clause structure
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Traditional Arabic grammar analysis of Arabic clause structure
Chapter 7: Peri/Thema-Nuc/Rhema analysis of Standard Arabic
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Application of Peri/Thema-Nuc/Rhema analysis to Standard Arabic
7.3 Comparison with Baker’s (2011) analysis of Standard Arabic
7.4 Nuc/Rhema-markers and Peri/Thema-markers in Standard Arabic
7.5 A comparison with Arabic dialects and other languages
Chapter 8: Phrase-structural para-syntax in Arabic: beyond theme and rheme
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Initiality as non-thematic discourse marker in Arabic
8.3 Initiality as non-thematic discourse marker: Standard Arabic compared to other languages
Chapter 9: Phrase-structural para-syntactic notions vs. (real) semantic notions
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The necessity of separating phrase-structural para-syntactic from (real) semantic notions
Chapter 10: Distinguishing syntax from para-syntax
10.1 Introduction
10.2 The necessity of distinguishing syntax from para-syntax in Standard Arabic
Chapter 11: Conclusions
Technical Appendix: Endnotes
References
Index
Biography
James Dickins is Professor of Arabic at the University of Leeds.
