Relative Clauses in Arabic: Syntactic Structure Analyzed

The Syntactic Structure of the Relative Clauses in Arabic
Author(s): Yehudit Dror

Source: Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik, No. 64 (2016), pp. 69-86
Published by: Harrassowitz Verlag
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitarabling.64.0069
Accessed: 11-10-2017 10:17 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Harrassowitz Verlag is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik
This content downloaded from 130.235.136.27 on Wed, 11 Oct 2017 10:17:55 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
The Syntactic Structure
of the Relative Clauses in Arabic
Yehudit Dror*
Abstract
Arabic, like other languages, has various types of subordinate clauses. This
paper focuses on one type — the relative clauses. Every subordinate clause
is introduced by speci
c conjunctions, while the subordinate clause has its
unique syntactic structure; for example, the particles Hinna and its sisters are
followed by the subject in the accusative and not in the nominative case.
This paper aims to provide a detailed description of the syntactic structure
of the relative clause and its syntactic elements, based on the descriptions of
traditional Arab grammarians and Western grammarians. Thus, the paper is
divided into
ve sections in accordance with the issues discussed in the
grammatical descriptions:
1 The conjunctive nouns

2 The function of the conjunctive/relative clause
3 The pronoun referring to the quali
ed noun (al-FHid)
4 What can function as ,ila
5 The position of syntactic elements in the conjunctive/relative clause
Key words
Conjunctive nouns, relative clauses, resumptive pronoun, syntactic function,
position of syntactic elements
1 Conjunctive clause (
ila) preceded by a conjunctive noun
Relative clauses are called by the traditional Arab grammarians ,ila “a con-
junctive clause” and they are usually preceded by maw,3lt or HasmH ,:,ila
* Dr. Yehudit Dror, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of

Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
70 Y. Dror
“conjunctive nouns”.1 The conjunctive nouns are alla (sing. masc.), allat
(sing. fem.), allani (masc. dual nom.) allaayni (masc. du. acc./gen.),
allatni (fem. dual nom.), allatayni (fem. dual/ acc./gen.), allana (masc.
pl.), allt, allH and allawt (fem. pl.), man, m and Hayy.2 ANBR" notes
that in some old Arabic dialects the conjunctive nouns alla and allat have
each four additional forms: alla and allat (with yH at the end), allaiyy
and allatiyy (with strengthened yH), allai and allati (without yH), alla and
allat (with a quiescent letter, without yH). As for the
rst two letters of
these nouns, Halif and lm, they are added to the conjunctive noun without
producing any eect (zHidatni “appendix”), and they cannot be considered
as a de
nite article because conjunctive nouns are de
ned by the relative
clause. This argument might be reinforced by the fact that no de
nite article
is suxed to man and m. If a de
nite article had been attached to the con-
junctive nouns, then they would have been de
ned twice,
rst by the de
-
nite article and secondly by the relative clause. However, as a rule, no noun
in Arabic can be de
ned twice.3 In contrast to ANBR", ASTRB " claims
that the conjunctive nouns are de
nite because of their status (l:maw,3ltu
maFrifu waFan). By ‘status’ he means that the speaker can use the conjunc-
tive nouns only when the speaker/hearer is already familiar with the infor-
1 The translations of these terms are taken from WRIGHT and will be used in this
paper. See: WRIGHT, W., A Grammar of the Arabic Language. 3rd revised edition
by W. ROBERTSON SMITH and M.J. GOEJE. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, part III, 317. The traditional Arab grammarians distinguish between noun
(Hism) and particle (arf) functioning as maw,3l. We will focus in this paper only
on the nouns. As for the particles, SUY51" mentions
ve particles: Han, kay,
Hanna, law and m. See: SUY51", all d-Dn (1989): Kitb ham‘ l-hawmi‘. Beirut:
MuKassasat r>risla, vol. 1, 279–281.Cf. AZ-ZA" Ab3 l-Qsim IAbd
ar>Ramn Ibn Isq (1957): al-umal. Paris: Ma/baIat Kalanks, 338 and IBN
IAQ"L, Muammad Ibn IAbd Allh (1984): .ar Ibn FAql li-Halyyat Ibn Mlik.
Cairo: MuKassasat l-mutr li-n-na(r wa-t-tawzI, 73.
2 IBN INN", Ab3 l-Fat IU.mn (1985): al-LumaF f l-FArabiyya. Beirut: Ilam
l>kutub, 75. Cf. IBN YAI"+ Muwaaq d-Dn (1985): .ar l-mufa,,al. Beirut: Ilam
l>kutub, vol. 2, 395; SUY51", hamF l-hawmiF, vol. 1, 283–287; MUGHAZY, M.
(2009): Relative Clause. In: VERSTEEGH, K. (ed.): Encyclopedia of Arabic Lan-
guage and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, vol. 4, 61; FISCHER, W. (2002): Grammatik des
klassischen Arabisch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 427.
3 AL-ANBR", Ab3 l-Barakt IAbd r-Ramn (1997): Asrr l-FArabiyya. Beirut: Dr
l>kutub l-Iilmiyya, 379–380. Cf. IBN IAQ"L 1984: 75; AL-U+M5N" IAl Ibn
Muammad (n. d.): .ar l-U+m3n Fal Halyyat Ibn Mlik. Beirut: Dr l>kitb
l>Iarabiyy ), vol. 1, 27.
Relative Clauses in Arabic 71
mation which is mentioned in the conjunctive clause (see section Two), and
de
nite nouns are characterized by being known to the speaker/hearer. For
this reason ASTRB " rejects the argument that the conjunctive nouns are
de
ned through the conjunctive clause, although he is aware that the gram-
marians refute his explanation based on the fact that inde
nite nouns can
also be followed by a conjunctive clause, which makes these nouns de
nite
(taFarrafati n-nakiratu), e.g., Han raulun arabtahu “a man whom you hit
came to me”.4
In contrast to the above-mentioned nouns, man and m are unchange-
able, i.e., they do not change in accordance with the number and gender of
both the implicit pronoun in the verb and the predicate that follows man,
(for example) man qma zaydun “the one who stood up is Zayd”, man qm
z:zaydni “the two who stood up are the two Zayds”, man qm3 z:zayd3na
“those who stood up are the Zayds” and man qmat hindun “the one who
stood up is Hind.”5 It is also possible to
nd cases in which the verb stays in
the singular and does not agree with its predicate as, for example, man
qma hindun “the one who stood up is Hind”, man qma l:hindtu “those
who stood up are Hinds (women called Hind)”, man qma l:hindni “those
who stood up are the two women called Hinds” or Q 33:31 wa-man yaqnut
minkunna li-llhi wa-ras3lih “and whosoever of you (fem. masc.) is obedient
to Allah and His Messenger.”6 The particles man and m are undeclinable
(mabniyy), while the conjunctive nouns are declinable (muFrab).7 According
to ANBR", this stems from the fact that when the conjunctive noun to-
gether with the conjunctive clause have the status of one word, i.e., they
can be replaced by one word, as, for example, lla qma = l-qHim, the con-
junctive noun becomes a part of the word. Thus, just as a part of any word
is indeclinable so the conjunctive noun is indeclinable.8 Another reason
mentioned by ANBR" is that like prepositions (which are usually indeclin-
able), the conjunctive nouns have no speci
c meaning when they stand
4 AL-ASTRB ", Ra d-Dn Muammad Ibn l-asan (1998): .ar kyat Ibn
l:ib. Beirut: Dr l-kutub l-Iilmiyya, vol. 3, 90.
5 For this reason U+M5N" calls this type mu+tarak “the shared conjunctive noun”
or na,, which literally means “text”, but it indicates that the conjunctive nouns
are inected in accordance with the noun that follows it. See: U+M5N" (n. d.):
vol. 1, 27.
6 ZA" 1957: 343. Cf. IBN IAQ"L 1984: 79; SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 289.
7 ZA" 1957: 344.
8 We may exemplify it through the word kalima. kali is a part of the word kalima,
therefore this part is unchangeable.
72 Y. Dror
alone, and therefore they need completion.9 The conjunctive noun Hayy,
however, is declinable because it is considered a noun and nouns are declin-
able, as for example Hayy in nominative: yuFibun Hayyuhum huwa qHimun “I
like he who is standing up”, and in accusative: raHaytu Hayyahum huwa
qHimun “I saw he who stood up” or in genitive: marartu bi-Hayyihim huwa
qHimun “I passed he who stood up”.10 In other words Hayy does not follow
the rules that apply to the conjunctive nouns, but follows the rules of nouns
other than the conjunctive nouns.11
In addition to the conjunctive noun m, which is used after a non>human
noun, and man, which follows a human noun, IBN IAQ"L mentions that in
the dialect of 1ayyK the noun 3 was also used as a conjunctive noun follow-
ing a human noun, while this noun was uninected; for example, it is said:
Han 3 qma, wa-3 qmat, wa-3 qm, wa-3 qmat, wa-3 qm3 wa:3
qumna “came to me the one who (sing. masc.) stood up, or the one who
(sing. fem.) stood up, the two who (dual. masc.) stood up, the two who
(dual fem.) stood up, those who (pl. masc.) stood up and those who (pl.
fem.) stood up.” However, this noun can also agree with the verb that fol-
lows it or, more precisely, with the pronoun implied in the verb, as, for ex-
ample, Han tu qmat the one who (sing. fem.) stood up came to me.”
Furthermore, 3 can be also inected in accordance with its grammatical
function in the clause and to agree with the pronoun implied in the verb
which follows it, as for example raHaytu qma “I saw the one who stood
up”, the Halif is suxed because the noun functions as the direct object, or
marartu bi: qma “I passed the one who stood up”, the yH is suxed be-
cause it follows a preposition, or raHaytu aw qm3 “I saw those who stood
up”, where the conjunctive noun is in the plural and accusative because it
functions as the direct object.12 is uninected when it is used right after
the interrogative particles m and man, as in ma Findaka “what is (the
9 For example, when we say f “in” it has a general meaning, but when we add a
noun, as (for example) f d-dri “in the house” the indication of the preposition
becomes clear, it indicates a speci
c place. Cf. ASTARB " 1998 vol. 3: 89.
10 The examples are taken form IBN IAQ"L (see p. 82), who mentions that when the
pronoun, which is considered by him to be ,adr ,-,ila “the front part of the
clause”, is omitted Hayy is not inected, as for example raHaytu Hayyuhum qHimun
or marartu bi-Hayyuhum qHimun. Cf. U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 77.
11 ANBR" 1997: 384. Cf. RECKENDORF, H. (1921): Arabische Syntax. Heidelberg:
Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, 430–431.
12 IBN IAQ"L 1984: 78. Cf. U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 70; SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 289.
thing) that is by you?” man Findaka “who is (the person) that is by you?”
These sentences are analyzed as follows:13
man Haka
Interrogative particle, Conjunctive noun, Conjunctive clause
subject (mubtadaH) predicate of man (abar (,ilatu l-maw,3li)
man) contains subject +
predicate
The conjunctive nouns have various syntactic functions; thus, in the clause,
lla qma zaydun “the one who stood up is zayd”, lla occupies the posi-
tion of a subject, or as ZA" explains:
lla ruFa bi-l-ibtidHi wa-qma ,ilatuhu wa-fFilu qma mumarun fhi

wa:huwa l:FHidu Fal lla wa-bihi ,aa l-kalmu wa-zaydun abaru lla
“(The conjunctive noun) lla is in the nominative case because of the
HibtidH (i.e., the HibtidH governs the conjunctive noun) and the verb ‘stood
up’ functions as the clause that clari
es lla. [The verb functions as the pre-
dicate], while its subject is an implicit pronoun (in the verb qma) and [this
implicit pronoun also functions as] the resumptive pronoun which refers to
lla, and by this implicit pronoun the whole sentence becomes comprehen-
sible, and Zayd is the predicate of lla [which functions as mubtadaH].”
In the following sentence, lla occupies the function of a direct object:
Ha:raHayta lla Ha3hu Hab3ka “Did you see the one whose brother is your fa-
ther?”14 An additional example is lla Hab3hu mun1aliqun zaydun “the one
whose father is leaving is Zayd”. lla functions in this case as a subject
(mubtadaH), while Hab3hu mun1aliqun functions as the subject and the predi-
cate of the conjunctive clause (mubtadaHun wa-abarun ,ilati llai). As for
13 IBN IAQ"L 1984: 79. Cf. U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 73.
14 AL-MUBARRAD, Ab3 l-IAbbs Muammad Ibn Yazd (n. d.): al-Muqtaab. Beirut,
vol. 3, 130. Cf. BROCKELMANN, C. (1965): Arabische Grammatik. Leipzig: Veb
Verlag Enzyklopädia, 186–187, 192. Among his examples is: Ha:Hasudu li:man
alqta 1nan? “Should I worship whoever you created out of clay?” According to
BROCKELMANN man is in the genitive case. The FHid in this case can be omitted
because it should have been suxed to the verb (alqtahu). (see Section Three);
FISCHER 2002: 191.
74 Y. Dror
Zayd, it serves as the predicate of lla.15 Thus this structure may be schema-
tized as follows:
Mubarrad also refers to the analysis of unusual sentences which are self>con-
structed, i.e., it seems that they are not taken from a speci
c source, as, for
example:
lla lla f drihi zaydun Ha3ka “the one who, who Zayd is in his house,
is your brother.”
It is analyzed as follows:
lla = HibtidH (i.e., in the nominative case)

lla = mubtadaH (subject) of the conjunctive clause
f drihi = the statement includes two pronouns: 1. The pronoun in the
nominative case, which is implicit in the deleted verb Histaqarra (lla f
drihi yastaqirru zaydun). 2. The pronoun in the genitive case, which is
suxed to the noun dr. The
rst pronoun refers to the second lla,
while the second pronoun refers to the
rst lla.
zayd = abar (predicate) of the second llai
Ha3ka = abar (predicate) of the
rst llai
An additional example is: lla llat llani arab riyatah Haawka

Findahu Fabdullhi [lit.] “The man who, the women who, those two who beat
her slave girl at his house are your brothers, is IAbdallah” i.e., “ Your two
brothers, who hit the slave girl, who belongs to her, are found at IAbdllah’s
house.”
15 ZA" 1957: 341.
lla = HibtidH
llat = HibtidH of the conjunctive clause which follows llat
llani = HibtidH of the conjunctive clause which follows llat
arab riyatah = conjunctive clause of llani, while the suxed pro-
noun –h refers to llat
Haawka = abar (predicate of) llaayni
Fabdullhi = abar (predicate of) lla16
As a
nal point, it should be mentioned that the conjunctive noun might be
omitted, as in:
lahumu d-daratu l-Ful anntu Fadnin tar min tatih l-Hanhru lidna
fh (Q 20:75–76)
“Those?for them await the most sublime degrees of the Gardens of Eden,
underneath which rivers ow, therein dwelling forever.”17
NÖLDEKE compares Q 20:75–76 with Q 19:61, where a conjunctive noun

appears in the clause: annti Fadnin-i llat waFada r-ramnu Fibdahu “Gar-
dens of Eden that the All-merciful promised his servants.”18 According to
NÖLDEKE the conjunctive noun might be omitted when the conjunctive
clause functions as a circumstantial clause, e.g., hal taFrifu d:dra aa
sukknuh bi:l:iri “Do you know the house, while whose residents have
been displaced, in (a place called) l-ir.19
2 The Function of the Conjunctive Clause

IBN YAI"+ explains that many grammarians call the conjunctive clause
umlat ,ila because this term indicates the function of this clause, i.e., it is
connected to the noun which precedes it. He mentions that S"BAWAYHI
calls this clause a+wun because it has the meaning of ziyda “appendix”,
16 MUBARRAD (n. d.): vol. 3, 131.

17 ARBERRY, A. (1964): The Koran Interpreted. London: Oxford University Press,
315–316.
18 Ibid., 307.
19 NÖLDEKE, TH. (1963): Zur Grammatik das Classischen Arabisch. Darmstadt: Wis-
senschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 101–102. He translates the last sentence as fol-
lows: “Erkennst du den Aufenthaltsort, während (=while) seine Bewohner fort-
gezogen sind?“
76 Y. Dror
namely, this clause is added to a noun in order to complete its meaning.20

IBN YAI"+ also claims that the information presented in the conjunctive
clause cannot contain any new information with which the hearer/reader is
not familiar because the purpose of a conjunctive clause is to de
ne the re-
ferenced noun through the information which the hearer/reader already
knows. This function dierentiates the conjunctive clause from the predi-
cate because the main function of the predicate is to provide the hearer/
reader some new or unknown information about the subject. Therefore, a
clause such as Han lla qma “the one who stood up came to me” can be
said only when the hearer/reader already knows that the action of standing
up has already been performed.21
According to the traditional Arab grammarians, the semantic meaning of
the conjunctive nouns can be completed once they are followed by a con-
junctive clause. As ANBR" explains:
lima summiya lla wa-llat wa-man wa-m wa-Hayy HasmHa ,-,ilti? qla
li:Hannah taftaqiru Hil ,iltin t3iuh wa-tubayyinuh li-Hannah lam tufham
maFnh bi-Hanfusih, Ha-l tar Hannaka law akartah min ayri ,ilatin lam
tafham maFnh att tuamma Hil +ayHin baFdah, ka-qawlika: lla Hab3hu
mun1aliqun Haw lla ntalaqa Hab3hu (…)
“Why are lla, llat, man, m and Hayy called conjunctive nouns? It was said:
Because these nouns need conjunctive clauses which clarify and explain
them, because their meaning cannot be understood by themselves; don't you
see that if you mention them without a conjunctive clause their meaning
cannot be understood until they are joined to something [i.e., to a clause]
which follows it, as you say: [someone] whose father is going away or
[someone] whose father went away.”22
The conjunctive clauses are inserted into the speech to describe de
nite
nouns. In Arabic, inde
nite nouns can be described/quali
ed by a clause,
as, for example: marartu bi-raulin hibin “I passed a walking man”, or
20 IBN YAI"+ 1985: vol. 2, 390. Cf. RECKENDORF 1921: 425.

21 IBN YAI"+ 1985: 393. Cf. ASTRB " 1998: vol. 3, 89; A+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1,
74. The three grammarians use the term maFh3d: wa-yu+tara1u f ,-,ilati Han tak3na
maFh3datan “It is a condition that the conjunctive clause will be known (=old
information)”.
22 ANBR" 1997: 379. Cf. IBN INN" 1985: 75, MUBARRAD (n. d.): vol. 3, 196.
IBN YAI"+ 1985: vol. 2, 388. (IBN YAI"+ calls the conjunctive noun ism nqi, “ an
incomplete noun” because it is nqi,u d-dallati “its meaning is not completed”.);
U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 74.
marartu bi:raulin Hab3hu hibun/ahaba “I passed a man whose father is

walking/walked”. If an inde
nite noun, which is regarded as “less strong”
than a de
nite noun can be quali
ed, then a de
nite noun should also be
quali
ed by a conjunctive clause.23
It should be mentioned in this context that Western grammarians distin-
guish between two types of relative clause: The
rst is called a substantive
relative clause, i.e., the conjunctive nouns m, man and lla in their various
conjunctions take the place of a noun; they can therefore function as the
subject, object or indirect object in the sentence; for example, in Hinna
Hawsan man qad Farafta “KAws is the one whom you know”, the relative
clause can be replaced by the noun maFr3f “known”, which functions as the
predicate in the nominative case. The second type is called an attributive re-
lative clause because it quali
es a noun, as in, for example, l:qawmu llana
yuHmin3na “the people who believe”.24
3 The Pronoun Referring to the Qualied Noun (al-id)

When we look at a sentence such as raHatyu r-raula lla Hab3hu ntalaqa “I
saw the man whose father went away” the object r-raula is the quali
ed
noun, and lla is the conjunctive noun followed by a clause. The question
is: How are these three syntactic elements connected together? It is the pro-
noun which refers to the quali
ed noun that connects the conjunctive clause
to the conjunctive noun. In the example presented above, the pronoun >hu is
suxed to the word Hab, which functions as the FHid, i.e., resumptive pro-
noun.
There are, however, some cases in which the FHid is omitted from the
sentence, as in Q 25:41: Ha-h lla baFa0a llhu ras3lan “Is this he whom
God sent forth as a Messenger?”25 In this verse the FHid is an omitted sux-
ed pronoun functioning as the direct object. One may omit the suxed pro-
noun in the accusative case (i.e., functioning as a direct object) when the
four elements – the conjunctive noun, the subject, the predicate and the di-
rect object of the conjunctive clause can be replaced by one word, or, in our
case, with the annexation ras3lu llhi. In other words Q 24:51 could have
been paraphrased as Ha-h ras3lu llhi. When several elements occupy the
position of one word it is possible to ease the expression of the statement by
omitting some elements, while in the conjunctive clause it is preferable to
23 ANBR" 1997: 380.

24 FISCHER 2002: 191–193. Cf. RECKENDORF 1921: 420.
25 Translation of ARBERRY 1964: 365.
78 Y. Dror
omit the object because it is not an obligatory syntactic element (Fumda) but
rather an adjunct (fala).26 According to IBN INN", if the pronoun is sux-
ed to a verb and functions as the direct object, it can be omitted due to the
length of the speech (13lu l-kalm), e.g., kallamtu lla kallamtu “I spoke with
whom I spoke”. The pronoun –hu which should be suxed to the second
verb (kallamtuhu) is omitted. IBN INN" explains that only when a pronoun
is suxed to a verb, can the suxed pronoun be omitted. However, such an
omission is not allowed when the pronoun is separated from the verb, as in
alla marartu bihi zaydun “(the one) who I passed is Zayd”. One may not say
alla marartu zaydun, because the pronoun is suxed to a preposition or to
a verb. Also saying arabtu lla qmat hindun “I hit the one who Hind stood
up” is grammatically incorrect because there is no resumptive pronoun re-
ferring to the conjunctive noun. Thus, the resumptive pronoun should be
suxed to a preposition such as Findahu “by him” or maFahu “with him”.27
Furthermore, the FHid which is suxed to a preposition might be omitted
provided that the omission does not create any ambiguity, i.e., the speaker/
hearer or the reader will know exactly what is the omitted preposition to
which the FHid is suxed and its exact place in the sentence, e.g., lla sirtu
yawmu l:umFati (lit.) “The day I walked is Friday”. The complete sentence
should be lla sirtu fhi yawmu l-umFati “the day on which I walked is Fri-
day”, while the omission of fhi is allowed because the “identity” of the
omitted preposition and its position in the clause is known.28
NÖLDEKE mentions that both the preposition and the suxed pronoun
can be omitted when the conjunctive clause indicates time, as, for ex-
ample:29
wa-ttaq3 yawman l taz nafsun Fan nafsin +ayHan (Q 2:48)

“And beware of a day when no soul for another shall give satisfaction.”30
The verse should be wa-ttaq3 yawman l taz fhi nafsun Fan nafsin +ayHan.31
26 ANBR" 1997: 381. Cf. IBN YAI"+ 1985: vol. 2, 389, 391–392; IBN IAQ"L 1984:
85; U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 79; SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 297, 309; FLEISCHER, H.
(1968): Kleinere Schriften. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, vol. 1, 704.
27 IBN INN" 1985: 76. Cf. ZA" 1957: 339.
28 SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 310. He calls this condition taFayyun l-arf “determinate
preposition”
29 NÖLDEKE 1963: 97.
30 ARBERRY 1964: 6.
31 See: ALL d-D"N l-MAALL" – ALL d-D"N s-SUY51" (1994): Tafsr
hal Hat Fal l-Hinsni nun mina d-dahri lam yakun +ayHan mak3ran (Q 76:1)
“Has there not been over man a period of time when he was a thing un-
remembered?”32
The verse should be hal Hat Fal l-Hinsni nun mina d-dahri lam yakun fhi
+ayHan mak3ran.33
According to IBN IAQ"L, the FHid cannot be omitted when two preposi-
tions appear in the same sentence and have dierent meanings, as (for ex-
ample) marartu bi-lla marartu bihi Fal zaydin “I passed the one because of
whom I passed Zayd”. The
rst preposition which is suxed to the conjunc-
tive noun is used to express adhesion (li-l-Hil,q), while the second preposi-
tion expresses the reason or cause (li-s-sababiyya). And when the govern-
ment of the same prepositions is dierent, one may not omit the FHid, as,
for example, marrartu bi-lla faritu bihi “I passed the one who made me
happy”, where the preposition bi is governed by two dierent verbs,
marrartu and faritu.34 When the two prepositions have the same function,
or they are governed by the same verb, then one may omit the pronoun,
e.g., ka-murra bi-lla marrartu wa-huwa barrun35 (should be marartu bihi)
“like the passing through the one who I passed while he is innocent”,
wa:ya+rabu mimm ta+rab3na (should be ta+rab3na minhu) “he drinks from
what you drink.”36
There are additional cases in which the FHid cannot be omitted. First,
when it is attached to another noun (maF13f), e.g., Ha lla zaydun wa:huwa
filni “Zayd and he who are men of culture and re
nement came”. Se-
cond, when a noun is attached to the FHid (maF13f Falayhi), e.g., Ha lla
huwa wa:zaydun qHimni “the one who he and Zayd are standing up
came”.37 Third, when the pronoun follows the hypothetical particle lawl,
e.g., Ha lla lawl huwa la-Hakramtuka “the one who if not him I would
l:allayni. Beirut: Dr Ibn Ka.r, 8.

32 ARBERRY 1964: 621.
33 See: l-MAALL" – s-SUY51" 1994: 578.
34 IBN IAQ"L 1984: 87; U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 81; SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 311.
35 murra is a verb in the passive. This example is written in U+M5N"’s book as fol-
lows:

36 U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 81. Cf. NÖLDEKE 1963: 97.
37 U+M5N" (vol. 1, 79) mentions that FARRK and IBN s-SARR allow the omis-
sion of the pronoun in this case. Cf. SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 311.
80 Y. Dror
have respected you came.”38 Fourth, when the pronoun follows the particles
of limitation or restriction, as in, for example: Han lla m f d:dri Hill
huwa “the one who nobody is in the house except for him came to me,” or
lla Hinnam f d-dri huwa “the only who is in the house is he.” Fifth, when
the FHid follows a negative particle, e.g., Han lla m huwa qHimun “the
one who did not stand up came to me.”39
As for clauses such as Han lla qma “the one who stood up came to
me” or in Han lla kna qHiman “the one who was standing came to me”
the FHid is not visible; however it is implicit in the verb qma and kna.40
Western grammarians mention cases in which the FHid can be replaced
by a demonstrative pronoun, e.g., yawmun tamahhada madu ka (instead
of maduhu) “a day whose glory was made possible/settled.” It can also be
replaced by the same noun to which the FHid refers, e.g., Hinna l:maniyyata
manhalun l budda Han Husq bi-kaHsi l-manhali (instead of bi-kaHsihi) “Death is
a spring and it is inevitable that I will be watered by a glass of this spring.”41
4 What Can Function as ila?

,ila must be a clause and never one single word. However, we may
nd
some conjunctive clauses consisting of one word, such as, for example,
Q 6:154 tamman Fal lla Hasana “(we gave Moses the Book) to complete
upon those who do right”42 or Q 2:26 ma0alan m baF3atan “(God is not a-
shamed to give forth) a parable of a mosquito”. In Q 6:154 there is also a
reading in which Hasan is in the nominative case, i.e., Hasanu, while the
structure should be reconstructed as tamman Fal lla huwa Hasana “to
complete upon those who do right” and in Q 2:26 the structure should be
reconstructed as ma0alan m huwa baF3atan “a parable which is of a mos-
quito”.43
The conjunctive clause must be a declarative sentence that states a fact
or an argument which can be con
rmed or denied (umlatun abariyyatun
tamilu ,-,idqa wa-l-kaba). Thus, the following example is incorrect because
it contains an interrogative clause: Han lla hal qma ulmuhu “came to
38 U+M5N" (n. d.): 79.

39 SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 311.
40 IBN YAI"+ 1985: vol. 2, 389.
41 RECKENDORF 1921: 417, 428.
42 ARBERRY 1964: 140 (A few changes have been made in his translation).
43 ANBR" 1997: 382.
me the one who does his servant stood up?”44 According to ASTRB ", the
conjunctive clause must be a declarative sentence because the contents of
this clause must be known to the reader/hearer, i.e., he already knows that
the action mentioned in the conjunctive clause has already been performed.
However, in clauses expressing a wish or command the contents can be
known only after they have been expressed by the speaker. For example, in
marartu bi:lla araba zaydan “I passed the one who beat Zayd”, the con-
junctive clause is considered a declarative clause, while the action of beat-
ing Zayd is a completed action and the occurrence of this action is known to
the reader/hearer. In contrast, a clause such as Han lla ribhu “the one
who hit him! came to me”45 is not accepted because the action expressed by
a verb in the imperative has not yet been performed, and thus it is not yet
known to the reader/hearer.46 IBN IAQ"L also agrees that the conjunctive
clause must be a declarative sentence and it cannot have the meaning of ex-
clamation (taFaub).47 He also adds that when the conjunctive clause is a
declarative clause it does not need the statement that precedes it in order to
complete its meaning, i.e., in a sentence such as Han lla arabtuhu “the
one whom I beat came to me” the clause which consists of the verb
arabtuhu is grammatically and semantically complete. However, in a sen-
tence such as Ha lla lkinnahu qHimun “the one who, but he is standing,
came to me” the conjunctive clause is grammatically and semantically in-
complete and incorrect, therefore it must be assigned to another clause in
order to become clear, as (for example) m qaFada zaydun lkinnahu qHimun
“Zayd did not sit but he is standing up.”48
Moreover, the conjunctive clause cannot govern the conjunctive noun or
any other syntactic element which precedes the clause (see section
ve).
The conjunctive clause might be a nominal or verbal clause as, for example:
lla qma Ha3hu Zaydun “(the one) whose brother Zayd stood up”, lla
Ha3hu zaydun Ha3ka “(the one) whose brother is Zayd is your brother” or
44 ANBR" 1997: 382. Cf. IBN INN" 1985: 76; IBN YAI"+ 1995: vol. 2, 388; IBN
IAQ"L 1984: 80; U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 75; SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 294.
45 This example is presented by IBN IAQ"L (p. 80) and SUY51" (vol. 1, 295), who
say that this sentence is accepted by KISK". SUY51" also mentions that accord-
ing to KisK it is possible that the conjunctive clause can express a wish, e.g.,
lla laytahu mun1aliqun zaydun “the one who, I wish that he is walking, is Zayd.”
46 ASTRB " 1998: vol. 3, 91.
47 SUY51" (vol. 1, 295), however, mentions that it is allowed according to IBN
s>SARR.
48 IBN IAQ"L 1984: 80. Cf. SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 296.
82 Y. Dror
marartu bi:lla f d:dri “I passed the one who is in the house.” In the pre-
vious sentence a verb was omitted while the reconstruction of the elided
verb should be: marartu bi-lla staqarra f d-dri “I passed the one who re-
sides in the house”. An additional example is: na8artu Hil l:qHimu Ha3hu
which means lla qma Ha3hu “I looked at the one whose brother stood
up”.49
The conjunctive clause, by being a clause, must contain the obligatory
syntactic elements, which are the subject and the predicate. Thus, according
to MUBARRAD, deletion of the predicate will create an ungrammatical
clause,50 as he shows in the following examples: raHaytu lla llani
Habawhum mun1aliqni “I saw the one who, those whose parents are leav-
ing.” According to MUBARRAD, Habawhum mun1aliqni is the ,ila of
llani, i.e., if is the clause which should complete the meaning of the con-
junctive pronoun. However, he explains that the utterance Habawhum
mun1aliqni serves as the subject, while the predicate is omitted. The next
example raHaytu lla llani Habawhum mun1aliqn f d-dri “I saw the one
whose parents are going/are leaving in the house”, is also considered by
MUBARRAD an inadequate grammatical structure even though the conjunc-
tive clause consists of subject and predicate. The conjunctive clause does
not include any resumptive pronoun (FHid), therefore the correct version of
this clause should be: raHaytu lla llani Habawhum mun1aliqn f d:drihi
“I saw the one whose parents are leaving in his house.” The following ex-
ample also cannot be considered as a correct clause because of the lack of a
predicate: raHaytu llaayni lla qm Hilayhi “I saw the two persons who, the
person for whom they stood up”. Thus, the correct clause should be raHaytu
llaayni lla qm Hilayhi Ha3ka (lit.) “I saw the two persons for whom they
stood up is your brother.”51, i.e., “I saw the two persons who stood up for
your brother.”
5 The Position of the Syntactic Elements in the Conjunctive Clause

As a rule, the conjunctive clause must immediately follow the conjunctive
noun, i.e., it is impossible to prepose the conjunctive clause, while the quali-
ed noun is postposed as, for example, lla qma Han “the one who stood
49 IBN INN" 1985: 75. Cf. IBN YAI"+ 1985: vol. 2, 390; IBN IAQ"L 1984: 80;
U+M5N" (n. d.): vol. 1, 75. According to FLEISCHER 1968: vol. 1, 702, a pro-
noun should be added to the clauses, e.g., marartu bi:lla huwa f d:dri.
50 MUBARRAD (n. d.): vol. 3, 130.
51 Ibid., vol. 3, 191.
up is me.”52 SUY51" explains the word order in the previous example as

follows:
Hin taHaara l-mubaru Fanhu wa-taqaddama l-abaru taFayyanati l:batu

Finda l:umh3ri (…) li-Hanna l-amla Fal l-maFn qabla tammi l:kalmi
mamn3Fun
“If the subject is postposed and the predicate is preposed, then a reservation
must be expressed by the public (…) because clarifying the meaning of an
utterance by another utterance in the speech would be allowed only after
completing the speech.”
This means that the conjunctive clause completes the meaning of the con-
junctive noun; it is therefore impossible to bring forward the part which cla-
ri
es, while the element which needs this clari
cation is postposed. Another
way to explain SUYU1"’s words is that the verb and the conjunctive noun
are inected in accordance with the quali
ed noun; therefore, if the quali-
ed noun is postposed, how can these elements syntactically agree with the
quali
ed noun?
Moreover, introducing any syntactic elements between the conjunctive
noun and the conjunctive clause is impossible. For example, the following
sentence is grammatically incorrect: arabtu llat saw1an Ha3h aFfarun “I
beat the one with a whip whose brother is Zayd”. The word saw1an, which
takes the place of a noun in the accusative indicating the instrument by
which the action is performed (mafF3l mu1laq li-l-Hlati), is considered as
Hanabiyyun bayna ,-,ilati wa-l-maw,3li “a foreign element (separates) be-
tween the conjunctive noun and the conjunctive clause”.
A correct version of this sentence would be arabtu llat Ha3h aFfarun
saw1an “I beat the one whose brother is aIfar with a whip” or arabtu
saw1an llat Ha3h aFfarun “I beat with a whip the one whose brother is
aIfar” or even saw1an arabtu llat Ha3h aFfarun “with a whip I beat the
one whose brother is aIfar”.53
Various types of appositives (tawbiF) might be inserted into the conjunc-
tive clause, while they have a speci
c position in the clause. Thus, if an ad-
jective is inserted into the following clause, marartu bi-ribayni zaydan “I
passed two men who beat Zayd”, it should be inserted at the end of the
clause, i.e., marartu bi--ribayni zaydan 8arfayni “I passed the two men
52 IBN s-SARR, Ab3 Bakr l-Badd (1973): al-U,3l f n-naw. Baghdad: Ma/baIat
Salmn l>AI9am, vol. 2, 232. Cf. SUY51" 1989: vol. 1, 299.
53 IBN INN" 1985: 76.
84 Y. Dror
who beat Zayd (and they are) graceful”. It is impossible to insert the adjec-
tive after the active participle and to say marartu bi-ribayni 8:8arfayni
zaydan “I passed the two graceful men who beat Zayd” because Zayd is an
integral part of the statement -ribayni zaydan which is considered by the
grammarians as one noun, therefore if an adjective were positioned between
them, it would mean that the adjective describes only part of the noun and
not the entire noun. A similar explanation is provided in the following ex-
ample: marartu bi--ribayni Hiwatuka zaydan “I passed the two who beat
and are your brothers, Zayd.” This sentence is grammatically incorrect, as
the following explanation indicates:
law qulta: marartu bi--ribayni Hiwatuka zaydan fa-aFalta l:Hiwatan

badalan mina -ribayni lam yauz li-Hannaka l tubaddilu mina l-ismi wa:qad
baqiyat minhu baqiyyatun.54
“If you say: I passed the two who beat and they are your brothers, Zayd,
and you use the word brothers as being in apposition to the word :two beat-
ing persons’ (ribayni), it is not allowed because you cannot use an apposi-
tion added to a noun, while there are remains of this noun (i.e., the apposi-
tion actually separates the two parts of the noun).”
According to the traditional Arab grammarians, one may not take out
syntactic elements which belong to the conjunctive clause and place them
outside this clause; for example, the correct structure is lla Hakala 1:1aFmaka
zaydun “the one who ate your food is Zayd”, while it is incorrect to prepose
the direct object and place it before the conjunctive clause and say 1:1aFmaka
lla Hakala zaydun “your food, the one who ate (it) is Zayd.” In this case the
government (Fmil) of the direct object is found in the conjunctive clause;
however, the eect of the Fmil on the direct object expires when it is locat-
ed outside its range of eect, i.e., outside the conjunctive clause.55
54 IBN INN" 1985: 77. Cf. ZA" 1957: 339; IBN s-SARR 1973: vol. 2, 232.
In the example presented by the three grammarians the active participle
:ribayni is used because it is equivalent to a relative clause, i.e., -ribayni =
llaayni arab, or as GOLDENBERG explains: “The pronominal head referring to
the de
nite quali
ed entity, which is implied in the adjective-word al-qHimu :the
standing one’ is recognized as represented by alla in the parallel expression
alla qma, and the pronominal alla is therefore commonly de
ned as ismun
maw,3lun conjunctive (pro)noun’. See: GOLDENBERG, G. (1998): Alla
al>Ma)dariyya in Arab Grammatical Tradition. In: Studies in Semitic Linguistics.
Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 259.
55 ZA" 1957: 340. Cf. IBN INN" 1985: 76.
It is possible, however, to change the word order inside the conjunctive

clause, as for example the following four versions of the clauses are correct:
lla qa,adahu Ha3ka rkiban yawma l-umFati zaydun “the one who your
brother follows/pursues/seeks while he (your brother) was riding on Fri-
day was Zayd.”
lla Ha3ka qa,adahu rkiban yawma l-umFati zaydun “the one who your
brother follows while he was riding on Friday was Zayd”.
lla rkiban qa,adahu yawma l-umFati Ha3ka zaydun “the one who while
he was riding he follows him on Friday, i.e., your brother was Zayd.”
lla yawma l-umFati rkiban Ha3ka qa,adahu zaydun “the one who on
Friday, while he was riding your brother follows him, was Zayd.”56
Conclusions
Relative clauses consist of two main components – the conjunctive noun and
the conjunctive clause. As for the conjunctive nouns, they can be classi
ed
into two groups: those that are inected, such as lla and Hayy; and those
that are uninected, such as man and m. Many of the traditional Arab
grammarians argue that these nouns are considered to be de
nite due to the
conjunctive noun that follows them. However, according to ASTRB ",
who presents a dierent view, the conjunctive nouns are de
nite because of
their status. He means that these nouns can be used by the speaker only
when the conjunctive clause includes ‘old’ information, i.e., information
that is known to the hearer, while being known information is what charac-
terizes de
nite nouns. In addition, the conjunctive nouns have a syntactic
function, i.e., they can occupy the position of the subject, direct object or
indirect object; for this reason a syntactic analysis of conjunctive clause
might be involved with more than one subject or predicate. For example, in
llai Haka Ha3ka, llai is analyzed as the subject, while Ha3ka functions as
its predicate. Haka is the conjunctive clause which consists of a subject (an
implicit pronoun in the verb) and a predicate (the verb itself).
The primary function of the conjunctive clause is to complete the mean-
ing of the conjunctive noun, while the connection between the quali
ed
noun, the conjunctive noun that follows it and the conjunctive clause is
achieved by the appearance of a resumptive pronoun or, as it is called,
al:FHid. Despite its important function in connecting three syntactic ele-
ments, it can be omitted under speci
c conditions: (1). When it is suxed
56 ZA" 1957: 340.
86 Y. Dror
to a verb and functions as a direct object. (2).When it is suxed to a prepo-

sition, while the speaker/hearer knows what is the exact preposition and its
exact position in the clause. (3). When the prepositions to which the re-
sumptive pronouns are suxed have dierent Fmil. (4).When the resump-
tive pronoun is a dependent pronoun, as (for example) huwa, and it is at-
tached to another noun.
As for the type of the conjunctive clause, it must be a declarative clause
because as a rule it must include known information, in which the actions
are completed. In the case of other clause types such as imperative clauses,
which most commonly function as commands, instructions or orders, the
action at the moment of speech has not yet been performed and will be
completed only after ful
lling the command.
Finally, the quali
ed noun must precede the conjunctive clause although
one may not place semantic elements which belong to the conjunctive
clause in the main clause, simply because the Fmil can aect the syntactic
components which are placed in the conjunctive clause and not outside the
clause.

Relative Clauses in Arabic: Syntactic Structure Analyzed

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Relative Clauses in Arabic: Syntactic Structure Analyzed

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Syntactic Structure of the Relative Clauses in Arabic

Author(s): Yehudit Dror

1 The conjunctive nouns

* Dr. Yehudit Dror, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of

lla ruFa bi-l-ibtidHi wa-qma ,ilatuhu wa-fFilu qma mumarun fhi

lla = HibtidH (i.e., in the nominative case)

An additional example is: lla llat llani arab riyatah Haawka

15 ZA" 1957: 341.

NÖLDEKE compares Q 20:75–76 with Q 19:61, where a conjunctive noun

2 The Function of the Conjunctive Clause

16 MUBARRAD (n. d.): vol. 3, 131.

namely, this clause is added to a noun in order to complete its meaning.20

20 IBN YAI"+ 1985: vol. 2, 390. Cf. RECKENDORF 1921: 425.

marartu bi:raulin Hab3hu hibun/ahaba “I passed a man whose father is

3 The Pronoun Referring to the Qualied Noun (al-id)

23 ANBR" 1997: 380.

wa-ttaq3 yawman l taz nafsun Fan nafsin +ayHan (Q 2:48)

l:allayni. Beirut: Dr Ibn Ka.r, 8.

4 What Can Function as ila?

38 U+M5N" (n. d.): 79.

5 The Position of the Syntactic Elements in the Conjunctive Clause

up is me.”52 SUY51" explains the word order in the previous example as

Hin taHaara l-mubaru Fanhu wa-taqaddama l-abaru taFayyanati l:batu

law qulta: marartu bi--ribayni Hiwatuka zaydan fa-aFalta l:Hiwatan

It is possible, however, to change the word order inside the conjunctive

56 ZA" 1957: 340.

to a verb and functions as a direct object. (2).When it is suxed to a prepo-

You might also like

lla ruFa bi-l-ibtidHi wa-qma ,ilatuhu wa-fFilu qma mumarun fhi

lla = HibtidH (i.e., in the nominative case)

An additional example is: lla llat llani arab riyatah Haawka

15 ZA" 1957: 341.

marartu bi:raulin Hab3hu hibun/ahaba “I passed a man whose father is

3 The Pronoun Referring to the Qualied Noun (al-id)

wa-ttaq3 yawman l taz nafsun Fan nafsin +ayHan (Q 2:48)

l:allayni. Beirut: Dr Ibn Ka.r, 8.

4 What Can Function as ila?

Hin taHaara l-mubaru Fanhu wa-taqaddama l-abaru taFayyanati l:batu

law qulta: marartu bi--ribayni Hiwatuka zaydan fa-aFalta l:Hiwatan

56 ZA" 1957: 340.

to a verb and functions as a direct object. (2).When it is suxed to a prepo-