A Variationist Study of Non-Verbal Negation in the Lebanese Arabic of Zgharta

Abstract

This dissertation examines language variation and change in Zgharta, a city in the north of Lebanon, by focusing on the syntactic variable of non-verbal negation. Non-verbal entities in Zgharta Arabic are negated by one of three particles: mā, the negative copula, or mush. Negator mā and the negative copula are the variants used in traditional Zgharta Arabic, whereas mush is the prestigious variant being introduced to Zgharta through contact with the dialect of the capital Beirut. Using sociolinguistic interview data from 36 speakers of the Zgharta speech community, divided along the lines of sex, age, and socioeconomic status, this study quantitatively explores linguistic and social factors conditioning the use of the three variants, in order to investigate a possible change in progress caused by dialect contact. Quantification was based on 961 tokens, applied to the statistical package Rbrul.The study examined the two linguistic factors ‘following environment’ and ‘subject type’. The results of the regression analysis have shown both factors to be highly significant in affecting the variable, according to the following patterns: (1) negator mā is mostly favored before ‘adjectives or adverbs followed by a verb’ and in ‘topicless’ sentences; (2) the negative copula occurs mostly before ‘nouns, pronouns, adjectives, participles, and prepositions, and in sentences whose subjects are ‘ambiguous’; and (3) the incoming negator mush is highly favored before ‘clauses’ and in ‘topicless’ sentences. In terms of the effect of social factors (‘age’, ‘socioeconomic status’, and ‘sex’), regression analysis has revealed that young and middle-aged, middle-class speakers are leading a change in progress towards an increased usage of the Beirut variant mush in Zgharta Arabic, while old, working-class members tend to favor the more local non-verbal negation system (i.e. negators mā and the negative copula). As for the factor group ‘sex’, it was overall reported as statistically insignificant, but cross-tabulating ‘sex’ with ‘age’ has shown that, among middle-aged Zghartawis, females are ahead of males in their use of mush, whereas the opposite is true among the oldest group. It is suggested that Zghartawi speakers design their language in order to project traits that match their social status and satisfy their communicative needs. As far as the young generation and the middle classes of Zgharta are concerned, their social characteristics place them in a good position to lean towards the traits indexed by the standard negator mush, such as ‘high social status’, ‘modern’ and ‘open to other cultures’. On the other hand, old and working-class members tend to project traits that are more old-fashioned, tough, and in line with the traditional social values of Zgharta. These traits are reflected in speech through the avoidance of the standard variant mush and the adherence to the local negation system. By applying the methodological and conceptual tools of variationist sociolinguistics, this dissertation makes multifaceted contributions. First, this study is the first to reveal a linguistic change in progress in Lebanon, an area whose sociolinguistic configurations remain underexplored. Secondly, this study provides an in-depth analysis of the complexities of the negation system in Arabic through detailed qualitative and quantitative accounts. Finally, this dissertation enhances our understanding of the role of diglossia, dialect contact, and urbanization of local dialects in the Arabic-speaking world, contributing to the general field of Arabic sociolinguistics.