22
heikki palva
also dī, used like an interjection before the imperative, Jastrow 1978:311-312). This indicates that it is, or has been, a more or less restricted local feature. Since the form and function in JB and CB are identical with MB, the possibility that it in MB is a feature borrowed from JB or CB cannot be definitely excluded. However, as dialect shifts as a rule tend to move in the direction of the prestigious variant, this development is unlikely. Therefore the plausible conclusion is that in MB this is a trait inherited from medieval MB qǝltu. 2.5. Marking the Definite Direct Object of a Verb with an Anticipatory Pronominal Suffix + a Proclitic lExamples: bāʿa lil-bēt ‘he sold the house’, ma-aḥibba l-hāḏa ‘I don’t like him’ (Feghali 1928:362-363; Blanc 1964:128; Malaika 1963:63; Erwin 1963:332; Abu-Haidar 2006a:230-231). Significantly, this construction appears in JB and CB as well. It is also worth noticing that MB makes more often use of the unmarked construction while in CB the marked construction occurs more commonly (Abu-Haidar 1991: 116); most frequent it is in JB, according to Blanc, actually the normal one (Blanc’s emphasis, 1964:129). In sedentary Arabic dialects spoken in the Mashriq this syntactic feature is an obvious Aramaic substrate device (e.g., Feghali 1928:362-363). In view of the language situation in the Syrian–Mesopotamian area during the last pre-Islamic and the first Islamic centuries it is not unexpected that this feature also occurs in Maltese and Cypriot Arabic, spoken by Christians, as well as in the insular Arabic dialects in Central Asia, spoken by Muslims (Borg 1981:35-62; Borg 1985:138; Blanc 1964:130; Blau 1961:215; Fischer 1961:262-263). As an Aramaic substrate device its more frequent occurrence in JB and CB is rather natural, but there is no reason to suppose that it would have been adopted by MB speakers from the non-prestigious JB or CB. Therefore, in MB it must be regarded as a trait inherited from the medieval MB of the qǝltu type. 2.6. Use of a Prefixed Indetermination Marker, a Variant of Which in MB, JB and CB is fad(d) Examples: hayy čānat fadd fikra mumtāza ‘that was an excellent idea’ (Erwin 1963:355); walad zēn / fadwálad zēn ‘a good boy’; cf. ‘some’, ‘one’: fadyōm ‘one day’, faššī ‘something’ (Blanc 1964:118, 126; Malaika 1963:69; Erwin 1963:355-358).