Arabic idioms
Subtitle: a corpus based study
By: Ashraf Abdou
Series: Routledge Arabic linguistics series
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY
Language: eng; ara
Number of pages: 168
ISBN-13: 9780415603409; 9780203808788
Subjects: Idioms; Spoken Arabic; Discourse analysis; Arabic language
Description: Idioms represent a fascinating linguistic phenomenon that has captured the attention of many linguists for decades. This corpus-based study of idioms in Modern Standard Arabic sheds light on their intricate nature, establishes the major patterns of their linguistic behaviour, and provides explanations for these patterns. Adopting a descriptive framework, the study addresses two main issues with regard to the discursive behaviour of idioms: the discursive functions that they perform and the ways in which they contribute to the cohesion of their texts. Examining primary data with regard to the semantic, discursive, lexical and grammatical properties of Arabic idioms, the author touches on the ubiquity of these expressions in language use, the wide range of functions they perform in discourse, the problems they often cause in domains such as foreign language learning and translation, and their typical divergence from the normal rules of grammar and semantic compositionality. -- Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.