Exclamation in English and Arabic: A Contrastive … journal of Science Commerce and Humanities Volume No 2 No 2 February 2014 174 Exclamation in English and Arabic: A Contrastive

International journal of Science Commerce and Humanities Volume No 2 No 2 February 2014

174

Exclamation in English and Arabic: A Contrastive Study

DR. Nadia Amin Hasan

Department of English

Faculty of Arts- Assiut University

Abstract

Exclamation is considered till now one of the challenging topics, particularly its semantics. Studies

on exclamation abound. Many studies on exclamation have compared different languages to English.

Languages covered by these studies include English, Italian, Paduan, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish,

French, German, Setswana, Korean, Catalan, Vietnamese and Austronesian languages. On exclamation in

Arabic and English little is said. This paper aims at surveying the coding of exclamation in standard Arabic.

It aims, following Michaelis (2001) and Rett (2008) to examine the formal and the semantic features which

jointly define exclamation in English and contrast them with those of Arabic. The paper is divided into three

sections. The first begins with surveying different definitions of exclamations, a review of literature and the

method of analysis follow. The second section concentrates on a contrastive analysis of the coding of

exclamation in both English and Arabic. Thus, the Arabic material considered is examined according to the

bearings of the different definitions of the terms exclamation and exclamatives. Also, an analysis will be

conducted on Arabic according to the criteria set by linguists for identifying exclamation. Similarities and

differences together with the findings and the conclusion of the analysis will be pointed out in the third

section of the paper.

I. Introduction

Collins dictionary defines exclamation as an abrupt, emphatic or excited cry or utterance. It may also

be an interjection or ejaculation. Webster (1989: 330) confirms that to exclaim 'is to cry out in emotion or

excitement or to utter under the stress of sudden thought or emotion.' Trask (1993:96) introduces

exclamation as one of the four sentence types of traditional grammar, typically expressing a more or less

emotional comment on something and often enhanced by a grammatical distinctive form, or any utterance

serving to express emotion regardless of its grammatical form. Crystal (1997: 142) defines it as a term used

in the classification of sentence functions and defined sometimes on grammatical and sometimes on

semantic or sociolinguistic grounds.

Huddleston (1984: 351) states that 'exclamation is characterized by a sense of surprise. Exclamatory

statements are overlaid by an emotive element. They involve an emotive element' Quirk et al. (1985) use the

term 'exclamation' to refer to the logical or semantic status of an utterance. The term 'exclamative' is often

used to refer to a specific sentence/clause type on par with the three clause types declaratives, interrogatives

and imperatives. This means that in Quirk et al.‟s terminology, some exclamations are realized by

exclamatives, while some are not.

Sadock & Zwicky (1985:162 qtd in Beijir, 2002) state that declarative and exclamatory sentences are

similar as they both represent a proposition as being true, but they differ in that in an exclamation, the

speaker emphasizes his strong emotional reaction to what he takes to be a fact, whereas in a declarative, the

speaker emphasizes his intellectual appraisal that the proposition is true.” Radford (1997: 506 qtd. In Beijir,

2002: 1) defines an EXCLAMATIVE as “a type of structure used to exclaim surprise, delight, annoyance

etc. Michaelis (2001: 1039) states that 'Exclamations … are grammatical forms which express the speaker‟s

affective response to a situation: exclamations convey surprise. Surprise may be accompanied by positive or

negative affect.'


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. In so far as Arabic is concerned, Eid (1992: 563- 4) states that exclamation is driven by a strong

feeling of astonishment arising from something curious and extraordinary. It is expressed positively to

glorify or exalt someone or something and it may be expressed to degrade or condemn. It may also encode

feelings of high elation or grief. Linguists confirm that it is a feeling of excitement for something

extraordinarily vague. This sort of excitement is called exclamation even though it is not outwardly

expressed. Grammarians state that it is an exaggerated description of something astonishing, unique and

unprecedented. Moreover, it is expressed verbally. There are two methods for wording exclamation in

Arabic: those that express functions other than exclamation but sanctioned as exclamatory by common usage

or derived from tradition (termed by grammarians 'sama؟i') and those consistent with the rules or norms

(termed by grammarians 'qyassi'.).

I.1. Review of literature:

Michaelis (2001: 1038) has conducted a typological survey of the coding of exclamatives as they

'form a variegated class both within and across languages'. She worked with examples from French,

German, Turkish, Setswana and Korean. Exclamatory utterances assert that the degree in question is higher

than the speaker would generally expect. Exclamative constructions, concluded Michaelis (2001:1042) are

characterized by some formal and semantic features.

Fabian Beijir's paper (2002) attempts to settle matters concerning the too many terminology used to

describe expressive/emotional utterance. Some of the terminologies used are EXPRESSIVE

UTTERANCES, EXCLAMATORY UTTERANCES, EXPRESSIVE SENTENCES, EXCLAMATIONS,

EXCLAMATIVES, and EXPRESSIVE SPEECH ACTS. He came up with the conclusion that ' if the

proposition in an expressive/emotional utterance indicates a high or extreme position on a semantic scale,

and a deviation from a norm, this expressive/emotional utterance is an exclamative. He, then, sorted out five

types of exclamatives: 1- Prototypical exclamatives, 2- Exclamatives with interrogative form, 3- Such (a)

and so exclamatives, 4- Exclamative that-clauses and to-infinitive clauses, 5-DPs used as exclamatives

Zanutti and Porter (2003) study exclamatives as they are a "less well-studied clause types" and to

detect whether force is represented in syntax. They note that clause types like exclamatives are detected by

some distinguishing semantic characteristics. They point out three properties which distinguish exclamative

clauses and show how they give rise to criteria which help pick out members of this class. The three

properties are: factivity, scalar implicature and inability to function in question/ answer pairs. Factivity

means that their propositional content is presupposed. It is a property that presupposes the truth of the

proposition expressed by that clause Scalar implicature, on the other hand, indicates that the proposition

they denote lies at the extreme end of some contextually given scale". Thus, if we say 'how very difficult the

exam is!, this indicates that the degree of its difficulty is greater than the alternatives under consideration,

and this aspect of its meaning can be labelled an implicature because it goes beyond the sentence‟s truth-

conditional meaning. They conclude that force can't be inferred by any element in particular in syntax.

Rather, clause types like exclamatives are detected by some distinguishing semantic characteristics. Their

work on exclamatives falls within the domain of Construction Grammar. They follow the line of Michaelis

and Lambrech (1996) but with a somewhat different approach.

.

Peter Collins (2004) conducts an empirical study of exclamative clauses in English, which is

intended to complement the accounts presented both in the comprehensive reference grammars and in the

more theoretically-oriented literature (e.g. Michaelis and Lambrecht 1996; and Zanuttini and Portner 2003).

He argued that the exclamative clause type is to be limited to constructions with an initial exclamative

phrase containing what (as modifier) or how (as modifier or adjunct), since only in these has there been a


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grammaticalisation of the illocutionary force of exclamatory statement. .Ana C. P. (2004) investigated a

subclass of exclamative construction in Brazilian Portuguese characterized by a negative-bias inference.

. Castroviejo Miró (2008) proceeded from the claim that the semantics of exclamatives is a

challenging topic of linguistic research since their status as clause type is not well-defined. She concentrated

on embedded exclamatives and conducted a comparison between English and Catalan. Christopher Potts

and Florian Schwarz (2008) build logistic regression models and use the resulting statistics to state general,

corpus- and language-independent hypotheses about what it means to be an exclamative pragmatically.

These hypotheses allow us to identify previously unnoticed exclamatives, and they highlight the importance

of purely expressive meanings. Rett (2008) proposes a semantic account of exclamations. The account relies

on an important distinction between „proposition exclamations‟ (exclamations expressed with declarative

sentences, as in 1) and „exclamatives‟ (exclamations expressed with wh-clauses, definite DPs and inversion

constructions, as in 2.

(1) Sue wore orange shoes!

(2) a. (My,) How orange Sue‟s shoes were!

In her paper (2011), she provides a semantic and pragmatic account of exclamations. She draws on work in

degree semantics to explain why exclamatives can and must receive a particular type of degree

interpretation.

Sæbø's (2010) challenge has been to defend, in the face of potential counterevidence, the

hypothesis that interrogatives and exclamatives have basically the same denotations. Kaufman's article

(2010) examines the morphology and syntax of two types of nominalizations: exclamative formation and

temporal subordination across a wide range of Austronesian languages. Thi Vinch To (2012) investigated

some typical structures in English and Vietnamese. He also analyzed the uses of these sentences in

performing the illocutionary acts known as the exclamatory acts in the speech act theory. He proceeded from

the contention that there was less attention paid to the pragmatic perspective in dealing with exclamatives

while interest was paid to morphosyntactic and semantic aspects of Vietnamese. He concluded that

exclamatory sentences in English are used to show the following illocutionary acts: surprise, excitement,

compliment, painfulness, promise and comfort; while in Vietnamese they show the first four acts only.

Depending on the subject, object and the speaker's feelings, exclamative acts can be internal, external,

unconscious and conscious in both English and Vietnamese.

Chernilovskaya et al (2012) contended that utterances of wh-exclamative clauses convey two distinct

implications: descriptive and expressive content and they focus on the context change effect of exclamatives

assuming that their denotation is some semantic object that can be turned into a proposition corresponding to

their descriptive content. In a reply to the claim that exclamatives signal a mental state, they argue that:

'instead, we claim that they signal a mental occurrence, that is, a mental/emotive event. Exclamatives are

used when the speaker is „struck‟ by something (or pretends to be).

I. 2. The Theoretical Framework:

An analysis of Arabic will be conducted according to the semantic and formal criteria for identifying

exclamations and exclamatives as set by Michaelis (2001), Rett (2008) and other linguists who share the

same intuitions. In detecting Arabic exclamation, the material considered will be tested according to the

bearings of the different definitions of the terms exclamation and exclamatives. The paper follows the

differentiation made between exclamatives and exclamations posed by Quirk et al (1985).

Michaelis (2001) examines the formal and semantic criteria which define exclamations. She sets

them as the following: 1- The coding of surprise or the affective stance of the speaker: she states that

exclamatives are grammatical forms that express the speaker‟s affective response to a situation:

exclamations convey surprise. Surprise may be accompanied by positive or negative affect. Michaelis adds


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that the speaker‟s affective stance toward the propositional content can be overtly expressed by a negated

epistemic predicator like I can’t believe or by an interjection denoting the speaker‟s surprised affect.'

However, the speaker‟s affective stance is not necessarily encoded at the lexico- grammatical level. She

exemplified that exclamation may be represented by an isolated-NP exclamative like The indignities that

the world heaps on him!; thus, the speaker‟s affective stance is not lexically expressed. In such cases we

can say that the speaker‟s affective stance can be inferred by the hearer from the semiotic value

conventionally attached to the form employed.

2- the expression of a speaker's viewpoint: she asserts that ' Both exclamations and declaratives linguistically

encode a proposition which the speaker assumes to be true'. But unlike declaratives, exclamations should

semantically and pragmatically presuppose that the proposition is known to both speaker and hearer. But the

scalar degree is known to the speaker only. Scalarity must be coupled with presupposition. Scalarity may be

syntactically realized by anaphoric degree adverbs. This sentence type can be expressed in different formal

expressions as there is a many-to-one mapping of form to function. Michaelis (2001) states them as follows:

1- Co-occurrence with interjections:

Exclamations give expression to the speaker's affective stance or attitude. Sometimes an exclamation

is realized by an interjection which is a word or a sound used to express a sudden feeling or emotion.

Interjections belong to the oldest form of the spoken language and represent the most primitive type of

utterance. Sometimes an exclamatory construction co-occurs with interjections. Interjections are a mark of

emotive emphasis in speech. The most common interjections in English as explained by Svartvik & Leech

(1985 :117)

Oh! = surprise

Ah! = satisfaction

Aha! = jubilant satisfaction or recognition

Wow! = great surprise

Yippee! = excitement or delight

Outch or ou! = pain

Ugh! = disgust

Eckersely & Eckersely (1981: 315) add the following to the list

Hello! = surprise in addition to its use as a greeting

Hey! = to attract attention

Alas! = a literary form expressing sorrow or disappointment

They comment that the interjections 'oh!' is sometimes written 'O'. Then, it may have the force of a verb

particularly in rhetorical speech.

O that I had done what he told me (ibid: 316)

O is followed by a noun clause. The same applies to 'alas' meaning I am sorry. (ibid: 335)

Thi Ven (2012: 2) states that Interjection can appear either before or after an exclamative expression.

He cites the following examples:

(1) Ah! Here they are!

(2) What a crazy cat that was, whoo!

2- Subordination to factive epistemic verbs: This property, factivity, was first pointed out by

Grimshaw (1979 qtd in zanutti and porter 2003: 19). Factivity presupposes that the propositional content

of the clause is true. Michaelis (2001) differentiates between main clause exclamative and constructions

containing exclamative complements. In main clause exclamatives, factivity is realized by an abstract

factive morpheme. In other constructions, factivity is realized syntactically by embedding the clause

under one of the factive verbs, e.g. know, agree, realize, etc. when they are embedded under a verb like

know or realize, in the present tense and with a first person subject, this verb cannot be negated, as seen

in the following:

I don‟t know/realize how very cute he is.


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Factivity may also be realized by embedding clauses under classes other than factive verbs. 'Adjectives and

noun construction', comments Crystal (1997:147), 'may display factivity, as in it's surprising that he left and

it's a shame that he left.'

3-Anaphoric degree adverbs, Rett (2008) concluded that when languages use degree words other than

question words in exclamative constructions, these are anaphoric degree words analogous to so(in English

and German), Italian cosı´, and French tellement.

.

4-Question words: An exclamative construction may take an information-question form.

5- Subject and finite verb inversion:

6- Right Dislocation:- Michaelis (2001: 1043) adds that an exclamative sentence type may invoke right

dislocated or unlinked topic as in

(a) She’s pretty sharp, my mom.

(b) That’s certainly a shame, that he’s not willing to discuss it.

In her semantic account of exclamation, Rett (2008) assumes that there are two semantic restrictions on

exclamatives: degree and evaluativity restrictions. She states that 'For the utterance of an exclamative to be

expressively correct, its content must additionally be about a degree, and that degree must exceed a

contextually relevant standard. (Rett, 2008: 601). Exclamation, she affirms, should also be judged on the

basis the evaluativity restriction, i.e. an exclamation is expressively correct if it is used to express surprise at

the content of the exclamation, and if this content is salient. … The content of the exclamative must

additionally be objectively surprising; specifically, the degree in question must be high relative to a

contextual standard. (Rett, 2008: 607)Thus, she concludes 'that any construction which denotes a degree

property can be used to utter an exclamative' (Rett, 2008: 612).

In addition and as deduced from the above review of literature, the semantic criteria of judging exclamation

can be summarized as follows:

1. The expression of a high or extreme position on a semantic scale or relative to a contextual standard

2. Deviation from a norm

3. Exclamatory utterances are emphatic. They are assertions.

4- Exclamatory utterances express the speaker's affective stance, positive or negative. They are overlaid by

an emotive element

II. Exclamation in English and Arabic:

II. 1. Exclamation in English

1-Prototypical or matrix exclamatives: The basic form of an exclamative 'is marked by an initial

exclamative phrase containing how or what'. They are called in the literature prototypical, matrix or

proposition exclamatives. Huddleston & Pullman (2005: 168) state that they may function as subject or

non-subject as in the following examples:

What unpleasant people work in this restaurant?

How clever you are!

They may also be main or subordinate clauses as in the following examples:

How very kind you are!

I told them how very kind you are! (Huddleston & Pullman 2005: 180)

2- Interrogative exclamatives: When uttering an exclamative, an interrogative clause may be used as in

the following:

Isn‟t she beautiful! (Rosengren 1997 qtd. in Bijar,2002: 9)


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In the example above the speaker expresses his/her feelings concerning the fact that the female in question is

not only beautiful, but beautiful to a high degree on the scale of beauty (unless it is uttered ironically)

(Bijar,2002: 9)

Some wh-questions (called by Rett (2008: 613) Inversion exclamatives have the force of an exclamative

particularly when intensified by some adverbs. Svartvik & Leech (1985) state that 'You can intensify the

emotive force of a wh- question by adding some adverbs like ever, on earth etc. to the wh- word. They cite

the following examples:

How ever did he escape? {I just can't imagine!}

Why on earth you didn't tell me? {How silly of you!}

What in Heaven's name does he think he's doing? {The idiot!}

The utterances as such are all scalar; they all refer to phenomena on high positions on various scales.

Also when the subjunctive is combined with inversion may do as exclamations as in Far it be from me! as

pointed out by Quirk et al (1985:204).

3-Some statements when uttered with emphasis and falling intonation can do as exclamations or when

emphasized by 'do' when used as a dummy auxiliary or when Emphatic 'so' and 'such' are added as in the

following examples

You do look pretty!

He's such a nice man.

Negative statements when intensified by 'at all' express exclamatory meanings. For example:

I found nothing at all the matter with him.

Other negative intensifiers are 'a bit and by any means' (both adverbials of degree) and 'whatever' (a

postmodifier of a noun phrase).

You have no excuse whatever

Negative emphasis is also expressed by placing the negative element at the beginning of the clause:

Never have I seen such a crowd of people. (Svartvik & Leech ( : 118-119 )

c. 'can' is used in exclamations to express the idea 'is it possible..'

It surely can't be four o'clock already!

Could any one be such a fool as to believe that! (:Eckersely & Eckersely,1981: 197)

d. May is used in exclamatory sentences to express a wish

May all your dreams come true! (ibid: 206)

Some statements with comment clauses can do as exclamatory utterances; they are so called because they do

not add to the information, but they function as a comment on its truth' the manner of saying it or the attitude

of the speaker.

Stated bluntly, he had no chance of recovery.

What's more, we lost all our belongings

- Some sentence adverbials can express an emotional reaction as:

To my regret,he did not accept our offer.

Surprisingly, no one objected to the plan. (Svartvik & Leech, 1985: 121)

4- Nominal, DP, hidden or Non-sentence exclamations:

A DP as pointed out by Beijer (2002:14) can also be used as an exclamative, as long as the NP is

modified by a restricted relative clause (Quirk et al. 1985:11.53):

The fuss they made! (Quirk et al. (1985 §11.53)

Quirk et al. (1985) call the utterance above nonsentence, since it is a DP used as if it were a complete

sentence. This exclamative type naturally relies on the intonation contour. According to Quirk et al.

(1985:11.53) DP-exclamatives generally express disapproval, i.e. the speaker does not approve of the fuss

they made. Grimshaw (1979) refers to exclamations like that as hidden exclamatives.


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5- That-clause exclamations: Rosengren (1997 qtd. In Bijar,2002: 9-10) points out, however, that some

exclamatives consist of that-clauses. A that-clause denotes a real or hypothetical state of affairs, and when

using that clause exclamatorily, the speaker in question considers the existence of the state-of-affairs

denoted by the that-clause to be a deviation from a certain norm. They may be emphasized by so or such as

in the following examples they cite:

That I have something to do with this monstrousness!

That she could be so ruthless!

In example (16) the speaker considers the very fact that someone believes that he has something to do with

something described as a monstrousness to be remarkable. In example (17) the existence of the fact that she

could be so ruthless is in itself a deviation from a norm. Exclamations, thus, do not only express deviations

from certain norms, but also various feelings, such as astonishment, joy, surprise and disappointment in

relation to this deviation. These feelings regarding the propositional content of an utterance are conveyed via

certain intonation patterns.

Beijer (2002:13) affirms that 'when someone utters an exclamatory that-clause, he conveys that the

very existence of the fact in question is a deviation from a certain norm'. Zanuttii & porter (2003: 4) argue

that nominal and that-clause exclamatives have the two syntactic components marking an exclamative,

namely the wh- and the factive operator. The relative clause can fulfill the role of the wh- operator and the

definite article 'the' marks the clause as factive.

6- Infinitive exclamations: An infinitive is sometimes used in exclamatory sentences or in sentences

expressing a wish unlikely to be realized. For example:

To think that he knew about it all the time!

Oh! To be young again!

Oh! To be in England! (Eckersely & Eckersely , 1981: 235)

7- Echo exclamations, which repeat part or all of the preceding utterance:

A: I‟m going to London for a holiday.

B: To LONdon! That‟s not my idea of a rest. (Quirk et al. (1972: 7.84 qtd. In Bijar 2002:4)

8- There are also some exclamatory constructions. Eckersely & Eckersely (1981: 160) state that: a. some

exclamatory sentences are of the pattern 'adv./ v./ subj. i.e. adverbs have front position. This is so for

emphasis. 'This usage is in many cases literary and emotional' (ibid: 263)

Here comes the bride!

There goes our train!

Here they are!

b. Svartvik & Leech (1985: 125) state that the construction 'if only I could remember his name is

exclamatory

Now for some fun!

9- Repetition {which also denotes degree = extremely}

It's far, far too expensive. (Svartvik & Leech, 1985: 118)

10- Some imperatives in particular contexts could be classified as exclamatory, e.g. down with the prime

minister!

11- Epithet exclamative: Arnold M. Zwicky (2004: 1) adds another type of exclamation which he calls

epithet exclamatives and cites the following as an example:

You goddam linguist!


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12- Single word exclamations

Some exclamations are expressed by single words. It is a type of language where no verb is needed

because every thing needed for the understanding of the message is provided by context'. Eckersely &

Eckersely (1981: 315) confirm that 'sometimes an ordinary word or groups of words are used as

interjections. For example: Silence! Well done! Stop! These 'perhaps are elliptical sentences equivalent to

something like: I want silence! You have done well'

II. 2. Exclamation in Arabic:

II.2. A. Syntactically based Exclamatives

1-Prototypical or matrix exclamatives The unmarked syntax for exclamatives in Arabic is what is called

in Arabic grammar Qyassi: or Rule-governed. This can be dubbed exclamatives.

1. Ryding (2005: 518-19) states that form IV of the trilateral verbs in Traditional Arabic is used,

preceded by the function word ma, to indicate surprise, wonder or astonishment at a certain quality or

characteristic of someone or something. Form IV is augmented from form I by the prefixing of hamza plus

fatha. It is a past non-finite verb. It has the stem pattern aC1C2aC3. It is followed by a noun in the accusative

or a pronominal suffix to indicate the possessor. The verbs used in this type of construction are sometimes

referred to as 'adjectival verbs'. They are also termed 'verbs of surprise or admiration' and they occur in two

types of constructions on the pattern: ma ?af؟al and ?af؟el bi-hi.

Examples:

Type I: Ma ?akrama zaydan

How generous zayd is!

Ma ?a؟ðama Muhammadan

How great Muhammad is!

Type II: ?akrim bi-Zaydin

?a ð؟ im bi-Muhammadin

In the Glorious Qur'an we have:

?absir bi-hi wa ?asme؟ (Qur'an :18- 28)

How well He beholds and how well He hears! (Ghali, 2008 : 296)

'Ma', in type I, is an indefinite exclamatory particle and it is the subject of the sentence. ?akram-a and

?a؟ðam-a are past non-finite verbs whose subjects are mustatir. The exclamatory objects are the two proper

nouns cast in the accusative with the vowel /a/ and the nunation. In this type also, the verb may be suffixed

with a pronoun that functions as the exclamatory object. It may be a second or a third person pronoun as

shown in the following examples:

?ilah-ii ma ?krama-k

My God how generous you are!

Qutila al-?insaan-u maa ?akfar-a-h (Qur'an: 80-17}

Slain be man! How disbelieving he is! (Ghali, 2008 : 585)

This verb also may be augmented by the preventive 'n' or 'nuun al wyqaya'. It, then, should be suffixed by

the first person pronoun i as in the following example

Ma ?fqara-n-i ?ila ؟afwa allah

Oh !How much I need God's forgiveness!

In type II ?akrim and ?a ð؟ im are also past non-finite verbs cast in the form of an imperative to

express exclamation. The letter bi- is additional and the two proper nouns are the subjects of the sentence.

They are in the nominative case as subjects but they are pronounced with kasra or the vowel /i/ and

nunation. The verbs used in these two types are the main verbs for exclamation.


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Verbs of surprise of the two above-mentioned types are formed only from trilateral verbs on condition that:

1- they are in the active voice

2- they are capable of being fully inflected. So, we can't use verbs of praise and blame like 'ne؟ma' and

'bi?sa'.

3- they should express an act or a state in which one person may surpass another.

4- they shouldn't be one of the defective verbs. So, we can't use defective verbs like 'kan'.

5- they shouldn't be one of those verbs whose adjectives are formed on the pattern ?f؟al for masculine and

fa؟laa? for feminine. So, we can't use, in this construction, verbs like ħamura 'to become red' and ؟awara 'to

become one-eyed' because the masculine and the feminine adjectives derived from these types of verbs are

?aħmar and ?a؟war and ħamraa? and ؟awraa? respectively.

If the verb does not agree with the above conditions, there must be some recourse to a

circumlocution. Thus, if the verb is augmented (e.g. tadahraja) we use a trilateral root verb that accepts

this form (e.g. a?a ð ma), then we follow it with the masdar as in the following example:

Ma ?a؟ðama tadahruja assaxra

How fast this rock rolls!

The same rules apply if the verb is one of the defective verbs.

Ma ?ajmal-a ?esbah-a al-sama? Safiya

How clear the sky is this morning!

Tammam Hassan (2003: 358/9) adds that because of the confusion resulting from using these

structures in interrogation and negation, Arabs resort to some techniques like dispensing with the verb

of surprise and forming the structure with the particle 'ma' and the use of '?ay'. The particle ma refers

to something wondrous. It is used in various verses of the Qur'an:

Fa-?awħa ?ila ؟abdihi ma ?awħa (Qur'an: 53- 10)

Then He revealed to His bondman what He revealed (Ghali, 2008 : 526)

Iz jağša assedrata ma jağša (Qur'an:53:16)

As that which envelops did envelop the lote-tree! (Ghali, 2008 : 526)

Ašša؟rawy comments on the two verses above saying that the particle ma indicates bewildering

numerousness and abundance; i.e. Allah has revealed to the prophet many miraculous things beyond

human expectations and belief. Moreover, the lote tree is enveloped by astonishing creatures known

only by God.

Another example:

al- qaari؟aa ma l-qaari؟aa (Qur'an:101:1/2)

The smiter! What is the smiter? (Ghali, 2008 : 600)

li-?ay yawmin ?ujila-t (Qur'an: 77: 12)

To whichever day is( this) term appointed? (Ghali, 2008: 580)

Wright (1964:316)states that the interrogative pronoun ?ay serves to express astonishment, in which

case it may always be put in the masculine singular and the noun which it governs in the genitive is

undefined. For example:

je?tani bi-rajul-in ?ay-u rajul !

You‟ve brought me a man, how great he is!

2- Another common exclamation type is realized by the use of vocatives. It is expressed by the

particle 'yaa' and '?ayuha' for masculine or ?ayatuha' for feminine. Then, a noun in the nominative with

the article follows as in:

Yaa ?ayyuha at-telmiiz

O you student!


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It may be followed by a noun without the article if the person addressed is present If the person

addressed is absent, the noun is put in the accusative as in:

Yaa ğafilan (Haywood & Nahmad, 1965: 444)

O careless!

In standard Arabic 'some vocative nouns of an idafa construction' (Ryding: 170-1) are used to express

feelings of astonishment 'e.g. yaa-salam or of bereavement and loss 'e.g. yaa-xasara'.

Or the vocative as used in the Qur'an

Ya-bušra ! haza ğulam! (Qur'an:12-19}

What good tidings! Here is this youth! (Ghali, 2008: 237)

Exclamation of this type may also use the preposition 'l-' [pronounced with fatħa] in addition to a definite

noun in the genitive case. yalalmaskiin! O the poor man!

Yaalal?asaf! How unfortunate!

The preposition 'l-' is sometimes followed by a pronominal suffix to indicate the exclamatory object. It

should be followed then by the preposition min and an indefinite noun.

Yaalaka min jaban!

O what a coward you are!

Wa ya nukraha min saa؟a ħiin ؟ ada aššayx wa qad wara ibnatahu fi tturaab (Taha Hussein, 2010:

41)

What evil hour it was when the old man went home after he had buried his daughter!

Some vocatives are used as part of some formulaic exclamatory expressions. As indicated in the

quran in sura al-kahf (or the Cave)

Yaa-waylatana mali haza al-kitabi la yuğaderu sağyratan (Qur'an: 18-49}

Oh woe to us! How is it with this book that it leaves out nothing, small or great, except that it has

enumerated it? (Ghali, 2008: 299)

III. 2. Exclamation 'sama؟ii' = non-rule governed.

This can be dubbed exclamation. 1- Some formulaic constructions express functions other than

exclamation but sanctioned sometimes as exclamatory by common usage or depending on context. They are

termed in Arabic 'sama؟ii' as shown in the following:

a. the use of the masdar 'subħan' with the Name of Allah to express surprise or astonishment or as

indicated in the Qu'ran with the addition of the word 'rab' with the genitive first person pronoun annexed

to it 'Rabbi':

Qul subħaana Rabbi hal Kuntu illa bašarar rasuula (Qur'an:17- 93)

All extolement be to my Lord! Have I been anything except a mortal as messenger? (Ghali, 2008: 291)

This word 'subħaan' is used in prayers to glorify God

b. The use of some idiomatic verbs in an exclamatory sense like: 'qutel and kabur

Fa-qutela kayfa qaddar

θumma qutela kayfa qaddar (Qur'an:74: 19/ 20)

So, may he be slain, how he determined!

Again, may he be slain, how he determined! (Ghali, 2008: 576)

qutela al-?insan ma ?akfarah (Qur'an: 80- 17)

slain be man, how disbelieving he is! (Ghali, 2008: 585)

kaburat kalema-tan taxruju min ?fwahi-him (Qur'an:18: 5)

An odious word it is coming out of their mouths. (Ghali, 2008: 294)

In his interpretation of the glorious Qur'an, Attabari comments that the verb here equals the Arabic

prototypical exclamative: ?akber biha kalema how odious this word is! They claim that Allah has a son.


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Aššurawy comments that the verb kabur means ؟aðuma wa tanaha fi el-؟iðam, it is so odious that it has

reached an extreme point on the scale of atheism.

Many other formulaic expressions are used interjectionally (Haywood & Nahmad, 1965: 446). For

example:

La ?elah-a ?ela ?ant subħanak (Qur'an:21- 87)

There is no god except You. All extolement be to You! (Ghali, 2008: 329)

Ma؟aaz allah ?inn-a-hu rabb-i ?aħsan-a maθway(12-23)

Allah be my refuge! Surely He is my Lord who has given me the fairest lodging. (Ghali, 2008: 238)

Haša li-lah ma ؟alemna ؟alyhi men suu? (Qur'an:12- 51)

Allah forbid! In no way do we know any odious (deeds) against him. (Ghali, 2008: 241)

Some swear words are also used exclamatorily. When two friends negotiate after being judged one

to heaven and the other to hell, the former sees the latter's place. Then, he exclaims

Tallah-i in kedt-a laturd-iin (Qur'an:37- 56)

By Allah, decidedly you were almost about to topple me down indeed. (Ghali, 2008: 448)

It is a swear word used to express surprise as pointed out by Al- Fayd l-kašany in his interpretation of the

Qur'an. It is commented by Ghali (2008: 448) that tallahi is a stronger oath than the usual wallahi.

Moreover, the word rada, besides meaning perish, indicates a fall into the void or a deep well. It means a

fatal falling down,i. e. leading certainly to death.Thus, it is higher on the semantic scale of falling down than

waqa؟ , saqat or hawa (all meaning 'to fall' with scalar difference). Rosengren (1997 qtd. in Beijar (2002)

shows that:

the exclamatory/emotive function of exclamatives is triggered by the sentence mood, the

propositional properties, and the stress pattern. The proposition is described as a predicate

inducing a scale of some sort: DEGREE or QUANTITY. Generally, a speaker is

expected to produce a proposition of a certain value on some scale, that is, a proposition

in accordance with the norm in question.

Believers, when contemplate the great creation of heavens and nature, they exclaim:

Rabba-na ma xalaqt-a haza batil-an subhana-k (Qur'an:3- 191)

Our Lord, in no way have You created this untruthfully. All extolement be to You! (Ghali, 2008: 75)

When believers are judged to paradise, they exclaim:

Al-hamd-u lilah-i lazy sadaqana wa؟d-a-h (Qur'an:39- 74)

Praise be to Allah Who has sincerely (made good) His promise to us (Ghali, 2008: 466)

This is an expression of great joy and high elation.

2- Some constructions with lilah

Wa lilah ?awqata al ğaza? Tuula haza al-?usbuu؟ '(Taha Hussein: 2010: 28)

wa-lilah may also be added to the word darruhu as in:

Wa li-lahi darr-uhu min faris!

O! What a great knight he is!

3- Interrogative exclamation: The use of question words or interrogatives to express great

astonishment and surprise in what may be called rhetorical or exclamatory interrogatives. All types abound

in the Qur'an, for example:


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a- The particle ?a may be used directly with the verb. For example: ?a- nu-?minu kama ?aama-a a-

ssufahaa? (Qur'an:2-13)

Shall we believe just as the fools have believed? (Ghali, 2008: 3)

b- the particle ?a may be prefixed to the word ?inna and to the conjunctions wa , fa, and θumm-a

?a-?inna la-madin-uun (Qur'an: 37- 53)

Will we surely be doomed indeed? (Ghali, 2008: 448)

?a-wa- lamma ?saba-t- kum musiiba-tun qad ?asabtum miθl-ayha qul-tum ?anna haza (Qur'an:3- 165)

And is it that when an affliction befell you, and you have alrea dy been afflicted twice over the like of it,

did you say 'however is this? (Ghali, 2008: 71)

?a-fa-ma naħnu bi-maytiin ?ila mawtatu-na al-?ula (Qur'an: 37- 58)

Then in no way will we be dead except for our first death. (Ghali, 2008: 448)

c. the interrogative particle hal:

hal θwweb-al-kuffar-u ma kan—u ya-؟mal-uun (Qur'an:83- 36)

Have the steadfast disbelievers been requited for what they were performing? (Ghali, 2008: 589)

d.the compound negative particle ?a-la

?a-la tastami؟-uun (Qur'an : 26- 25)

Do you not listen? (Ghali, 2008: 368)

It is said by the pharaoh to his companions and followers when confronted by Moses' claims of the

presence of God {or from the point of view of the pharaoh of a god other than him}.

e. the use of the particle of requiring with urgency or gentleness: ?alla halla lawla lawma. For

example:

lawla yukalimuna allah-u ?aw ta?tina ?aaya (Qur'an: 2- 118)

If only Allah had spoken to us or a sign had come up to us (Ghali, 2008: 18)

f. the interrogative pronoun man / ma:

man ?ilah-un ğayr ul-lah ya?tiikum bi-dyaa? (Qur'an: 28- 71)

What god other than Allah will come up to you with illumination? (Ghali, 2008: 394)

Ma-li-haza al-ketabi la yuğaaderu sağera-tan wa-la kabiira-tan ?illa ?aħsaha (Qur'an :18 -49)

How is it with this book that it leaves out nothing, small or great, except that it had enumerated it!

(Ghali, 2008: 299)

g. the interrogative pronoun ?ay

fa-?ay-u el-fariiq-ayn-i ?aħaq-u bi-l-?amn (Qur'an :6- 81)

Then, which of the two groups is worthier of security. (Ghali, 2008: 137)

h. kayf

fakayfa tataq-uuna in kafar-tum yawman yaj؟alu l-weldana šiiba (Qur'an :73- 17)

So, in case you disbelieve, how will you protect yourselves against a day that will make the new-born

hoary-headed. (Ghali, 2008: 574)

4- The use of nouns of numbers 'kam' and 'ka?ay' as exclamatory: Nouns of numbers are mainly

used as interrogatives to mean how many? But they are also used as 'assertory or exclamatory' [Wright,


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1964: 125 Vol. II] to mean many or much. 'kam' is followed by a substantive in the genitive of the singular

or of the broken plural, and requires a verb in the perfect as in:

kam ğelman-an malak-tu!

How many a slave have I owned!

wa kam min malak-in fi ssamawat (Qur'an : 53- 26)

and how many an angel (there is) in the Heavens (Ghali, 2008: 526)

wa kam qasam-na min qary-tin kana-t ðalima { Qur'an: 21:11}

and how many a town that was unjust We have shattered .(Ghali, 2008: 323)

'ka?ayy' is ordinarily used as assertory or exclamatory but rarely as an interrogative. It is

compounded of 'ka' and the 'genitive of '?ayy' .

It abounds in the Qur'an:

Wa ka?ayyin min nabyyin qatala ma؟ahu rebyyon kaθiir-un-a fa-ma wahan-u lima ?sabahum fi sabeel illah

{ Qur'an: 3- 146}

And similarly how many a prophet there has been along with whom myriads manifold have bought; so in no

way do they feel feeble for whatever afflicted them in the way of Allah

(Ghali, 2008: 68)

Wa ka?ayyin min qaryatin ?amlaytu laha wa heya ðalima θumma ?axzt-u-ha { Qur'an: 22- 48}

And similarly many a town I have reprieved, while it was unjust; thereafter I took it (away) (Ghali, 2008:

338)

Wa ka?ayyin min qaryatin ؟atat ؟ an ?amri rab-i-ha wa rusul-i-hi fa-ħasab-na-ha ħesab-an šadiid-an wa

azaban nukra (Qur'an: 65-8)؟ azab-na-ha؟

And (similarly) many a town there has been that rebelled against the command of God and His messenger,

so We reckoned with it a strict reckoning, and tormented it a highly maleficent torment! (Ghali, 2008:559)

Wa ka?ayyin min ?aayatin fi ssamawati wa l-?ard yamur-uun ؟alyha wa hum؟ anha murid-uun (Qur'an: 12-

105)

And (similarly) many a sign (that are) in the heavens and the earth that they pass by, and they are veering

away from them! (Ghali, 2008: 248)

Ašša؟rawy comments on this verse that whenever you find this word ka?yyn, know that the noun following

is too many to count. It is definitely beyond counting or listing. I prefer to call these nouns of numbers

measurement operators following Rett (2011).

5- Some statements when uttered with emphasis are also exclamatory: the use of some emphatic

particles like ?inna and the lam. As in the following examples:

Inna la-dal-uun (Qur'an: 68-26)

Surely we are indeed erring people! (Ghali, 2008: 565)

Inna la-mudrak-uun (Qur'an: 26- 61)

Surely we are indeed overtaken! (Ghali, 2008: 370)

Same as English, emphasis in Arabic is also detected by repetition. In the following the use of

repetitive interjections is exclamatory:

Hayhata hayhata lima tw؟aduun (Qur'an :23- 63)

Away, away with whatever you are promised! (Ghali, 2008: 344)

Sentences with repetitive structure are emphatic and emotive; consequently they are exclamatory.


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But, unlike English, to indicate that a particular sense or action lies at the very end of a scale, the

absolute object of the verb is used undefined as in:

?za rujj-at el-?ard rajja wa bussa-t-i el-jebal-u bassa (Qur'an : 56: 4-5)

When the earth will be convulsed with a (severe) convulsion and the mountains crumbled with a violent

crumbling (Ghali, 2008: 534)

Wright (1964: 54-vol. II) states that 'it is used for strengthening or magnifying, i.e. to add greater force to the

verb. He adds (ibid: 55) 'still for greater emphasis the masdar may be repeated'. We have in the Qur'an:

?eza dukk-at el -?ardu dakkan dakka (Qur'an: 89- 21)

When the earth is pounded (into powder) pounding, pounding (Ghali, 2008: 593)

The destruction of the earth on the Day of Judgement is beyond imagination and description. It is something

unprecedented and inexperienced before.

Also for expressing something lying at the extreme end of a scale 'the masdar accompanied by a suffix

referring to the logical subject' is used as in:

Junn-a jun-uun-uh (ibid)

He reached the highest degree of madness!

As stated above, if the proposition in an expressive/emotional utterance indicates a high or extreme position

on a semantic scale, and a deviation from a norm, without explicitly stating this deviation, this

expressive/emotional utterance is an exclamative. (Biejir, 2002: 17)

6- Epithet exclamation: it is also available in Arabic. For example when the wife of the prophet

Ibrahiim is informed of begetting a child while she and her husband are very old she was surprised and her

immediate response was uttering an epithet

Faskkat wajh-a-ha wa- qalat ؟ajuz-un ؟ aqiim (Qur'an : 51- 29)

Then she beat her face and said 'an old sterile woman (Ghali, 2008:521)

7- Echo exclamation which repeats a previous utterance or part of it to express astonishment is also

available in Arabic as indicated by the following:

-Xatab-ha ؟abbas el-helw qabla safarihi ?ila a-ttal elkabiir

-?abbas el-helw! (Mahfouz, 1977: 142)

-She has been engaged to Abbas el Helw

Abbas el-Helw!

7- Single word exclamation: it is stated by Haywood & Nahmad, (1965: 446) that 'certain nouns are

used in the accusative as interjections. For example: marħaba! 'welcome' and ؟ajaban! 'strange'. The

thundering cries 'bread! Freedom! Social justice' ushering in the 25th

of January revolution are considered a

type of exclamations. It was a cry for a long-lived injustice and a deep-rooted sense of degradation and

marginalization.

8- The use of exclamatory negation:

One may exclaim by uttering negative sentences, for example:

Ma sam؟ena bi-haza fi-l-milati l-?aaxera (Qur'an: 38- 7)

In no way did we hear this in the last creed (Ghali, 2008: 453)

ma la-hum bi-hi min ؟elmin wa-la li-?abaa?i –him (Qur'an : 18-5)

In no way do they have any knowledge of it, nor their fathers (Ghali, 2008: 294)

ma-?šhad-tu-hum xalq-as samawati wa-al-?ardi wa-la xalqa ?anfusi-him (Qur'an: 18- 51)

In no way did I make them witness the creation of the heavens or the earth (Ghali, 2008: 299)


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9- The use of verbs of praise and blame particularly 'ne؟ma' and 'be?sa' are also used to exclaim

in particular contexts. In the Qur'an we have

Wa be?sa al-wirdu l-mawruud (Qur'an: 11- 98)

And miserable is the herding to be herded! (Ghali, 2008: 233)

It is stated in the Qur'an that the pharaoh will take his followers to hell. Then the Qur'an comments with the

above verse.

'Oh! The worst place ever!

Fa-ne؟ma ?ajr-u l - ؟amil-iin (Qur'an : 39- 74)

So how favourable is the reward of the good doers! (Ghali, 2008: 466)

When believers are ordered to paradise, they exclaim: oh! how great our reward is!

fa-?iza nazala bi-saħati- him fa-saa?a sabahu l- munza-riin (Qur'an: 37- 177)

So when it comes down in their courtyard, then how odious will be the morning of them that are

constantly warned. (Ghali, 2008: 452)

How worse that morning is when they are awakened to the ever-lasting punishment of God. It is the worst

morning ever!

Many verbs are used in the imperative to mark great surprise and amazement in particular context.

When the Jini are sent by God to listen to the Qur'an, they are stunned by its rhetoric and greatness and they

order one another: Hark! The Qur'an says:

Fa-lamma hadaro uh qal-u ?nsetu (Qur'an: 46- 29)

As soon as they were in its presence they said: Hearken! (Ghali, 2008: 506)

They listen until the prophet finishes. Then, they run away to their people to warn them against God's anger

if they remain disbelievers. The Qur'an says:

Fa-lamma Qudy-ya wall-au ?ila qawm-i-him Munzer-iin (Qur'an: 46- 29)

Then as soon as it finished, they turned back to their people, constantly warning. (Ghali, 2008: 506)

An emphasis enough that their running away is an expression of their surprise over what they have heard is

their statement in sura al-jin

Inna same؟na qura'an-an ؟ajaba (Qur'an: 72- 1)

Surely we have heard a wonderous Qur'an. (Ghali, 2008: 572)

10-Some particular constructions are used to conjure up some exclamatory meanings like wa law tara

meaning there is nothing like this you will ever see or hear!

Wa-law tara iz faze؟-u fa-la fawt (34: 51)

And if you could see them as they get alarmed: so there is no eluding. (Ghali, 2008: 434)

What is observed here is that it is a conditional sentence without its apodosis. Ašša؟rawy, in his

interpretation of the Qur'an, states that the then clause of this conditional sentence is dispensed with because

it is implied. The meaning indicated is 'if you behold them, Muhammad, when they are in such a fright on

the Day of Judgment, you will see something extraordinarily astonishing that will comfort your heart. They

will be punished in return for their blasphemy and disbelief.

O behold them! How frightened they are when they hear the call for resurrection from which there is no

escape!

Wa-law tara iz eðalim-uun mauquf-uun ؟end-a rabb-i-him yarje؟u badihim ?ila ba؟din el-qawl (34: 31)

And if you could see as the unjust ones are being made to stand in the reckoning of their Lord, bandying

argument the one against the other! (Ghali, 2008:431)

O behold them! When they are brought over on the Day of Judgement and they stand in front of God

helpless and unaided casting the blame on one another!


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11- Same as English, exclamation can be expressed by interjections which 'are called by the Arabs sounds or

tones.' [Wright 1964: 294- vol. I]. They also co-occur with exclamations. Some of the interjections used in

the Qur'an in an emotive sense and which have a verbal force are:

Ha = look!

Hayt = come here!

Hayhat = far from it!

Halum = bring here!

Waa: waa ?slamah

Way = woe!

Way ka?anna allahu yabsut-u el-rizq-a li-man ya- šaa?u min ؟ebade-hi

(Qur'an : 28- 82)

Ah, actually Allah outspreads the provision to whomever He decides of H:is bondmen. (Ghali, 2008: 395)

?uff = ugh! Fie!

In the qur'an we have in the story of the parents whose son denies them their Islam and resists being

converted to Islam or believing in God. He exclaims in their face:?uff!

Wa-llazi qala li-walid- ayhi ?uffin la-kuma (Qur'an : 46- 17)

And he who say to his parents 'fie upon you both' (Ghali, 2008: 504)

Tab-an! = death

When the prophet called up the people of Mecca to inform them that he is the messenger of God to them, his

uncle Abu-lahab exclaimed in his face:

Taba-an la-k! ?a-li-haza jama؟ta-na

Death to you! Have you gathered us to tell us this nonsense!

Wright (1964: 296- vol.I) states that some interjections have, 'by origin or use, a certain verbal force

and have therefore called ?asmaa? Al?f؟aal'. They are either originally imperatives, as 'hati' meaning give

here or equivalent to imperatives and in some cases admitting its construction and inflection. For example

ha may be joined by the pronominal suffixes of the second person. In which case it is equivalent to the

imperative of '?axaza'.

Hak-a-ha = take her!

Or a hemza may be substituted for the 'k' and the word decline as follows:

Singular masculine 'ha?a' and feminine 'ha?i'

Dual 'ha?uma'

Plural masculine 'ha?umu as in:

'ha?umu ?eqra?uu ketabyya' (Qur'an: 69-19)

Here you are! Read my book (Ghali, 2008: 567)

12- Exclamation in Arabic is expressed by many verbs involving the body (Levin's encoding of this class

of verbs, 1993: 217) For example:

Faskkat wajha-ha wa- qalat ؟ajuzun ؟ aqiim (Qur'an :51- 29)

Then she beat her face and said 'an old sterile woman (Ghali, 2008:521)

The act of striking the face with the hand is an indication enough that her astonishment is beyond

expression. It is something unprecedented that couples who are far beyond the age of begetting have

suddenly become expectant parents.

Fa-?asbaha yuqalibu kaff-ay-hi ؟ala ma ?anfaqa fiha (Qur'an :18- 42)

So in the morning, he became (remorseful) wringing his hands for what he expended upon it. (Ghali, 2008:

298)


190

This is said by the owner of the garden that has been devastated for his refusal to give something out of it for

the poor. When he saw it, he was stunned. He kept wringing his hand, which is an emphasis enough of

surprise and astonishment. His story was mentioned in sura al kahf (the Cave).

Another exclamatory act expressed by a body part verb is the movement of the head up and down. In

the Qur'an we have:

Fa-sa-yunğeduun ?elaika r?uus-a-hum wa-yaquluun mata huu (Qur'an: 17:51)

Then, they will wag their heads at you and they will say ,"when will it be? Say, "it may be drawing near".

(Ghali, 2008:287)

The verb is derived from the root 'nğd' that means moving the head up and down as an act of amazement and

surprise.(al- Mu؟jam al-wajiiz: 625) They do so because of what the prophet informs them of the certainty of

resurrection.

Fa-lamma ra?a-yna-hu ?kbar-na-hu wa-qata؟-na ?aydya-hun (Qur'an: 12- 31)

So, as soon as they saw him, they were greatly amazed at him and cut their hands severely. (Ghali, 2008:

239)

The Qur'an says that when the women saw the prophet Yousuf, they were amazed by his beauty. The degree

of their surprise and involvement is expressed by the act of cutting off their fingers unaware of what they

were doing.

When the magicians are confronted by Moses by order of the pharaoh, his evidence [i.e. the stick that

all of a sudden turned into a huge snake that swallows up all their tricks] outweighs their magical tricks. The

magicians, amazed and bewildered, have nothing to do to express their amazement and their stunning sense

of God's greatness but to prostrate humbly in self-abasement. No words are enough. The Qur'an says:

Fa?ulqya as-saharatu sajed-iin (Qur'an : 26- 46)

So the sorcerers were cast down, prostrating themselves. (Ghali, 2008: 369)

?iza yutla ؟alay-him ya-xer-uun lil-?azqani sujjadan (Qur'an :17-107)

When it is recited to them, they collapse upon their face prostrating. (Ghali, 2008: 293)

The extreme limit of their glorification to God's words is expressed by prostrating.

Walla mudberan wa lam yu؟aqeb( Qur'an : 27- 9)

He turned away withdrawing and did not retrace his steps. (Ghali, 2008: 377)

Moses, when called by God in the Holy Land of Sinai to be sent as a messenger to the pharaoh, his first

response is running away, an expression of great surprise and horror.

Wa tara qula ummatin jaθya (Qur'an : 45- 28)

And you will see every nation kneeling down (Ghali, 2008: 501)

On the Day of Judgement, every nation is horrified. They kneel down in horror. The extent of their horror is

expressed by kneeling down.

Wa-tada؟u kulu zati ħamlin ħamla-ha wa tara annasa sukara wa ma hum bisukara wa lakin azaab-a alla-hi

šadiid (Qur'an : 22- 2).

And every pregnant female will lay down her burden; and you see mankind drunken, and in no way are they

drunken but the torment of Allah is strict. (Ghali, 2008: 332)

Every pregnant lady gives birth to her child, even if it is immature.

Some verbs that express body- internal states of existence (Levin's encoding of this subclass of

verbs, 1993: 223) are used to express extreme feelings. This is a subclass of the above-mentioned class of

verbs. They describe a physical state of the subject that is a reflex of a particular psychological state as


191

indicated by Levin (ibid). For example: An assertion of believers' great fear when they listen to the verses of

the Qur'an and what it expresses of what awaits disbelievers, they shudder and tremble. The Qur'an says:

Taqša؟eru min-hu guluudu l-aziin yaxšawna rabba-hum (39: 23)

Whereat shivers the skins of the ones apprehensive of their Lord. (Ghali, 2008: 461)

Wa aqtaraba al-wa؟d ul-haq fa?za hija šaxesatun ?bsar ul-aziin kafaru ya waylana qad kunna fi ğaflatin

min haza bal kunna ðalimiin (Qur'an :21- 97)

And the True Promise has drawn near. So, only then do the beholdings of the ones who disbelieved keep

glazing over! O woe to us! We were already in a state of heedlessness of this; no' indeed we were unjust!

(Ghali, 2008: 330)

Wa iz zağat el- ?absar-u wa balağati l-quluub ul ħanaje r(Qur'an : 33-10)

And as beholdings swerved and hearts reached the larynx. (Ghali, 2008: 419)

This verse shows another body part verb to express great horror. The first is related to the eyes with which

they stare or look fixedly. Moreover, their hearts lurch up or move until they reach their larynx.

To express even greater horror on the day of Judgement, the Qur'an says:

Wa ?anzer-hum yawma al-?aazefati iz el-quluubu lada al-hanajeri kaðim-iin (Qur'an :19- 39)

And warn them against the Day of Imminent (Doom) as the hearts are close to the larynxes and they are

repressing (anguish inwardly) (Ghali, 2008: 308)

Here, their hearts lurch up until they reach the larynx and get jammed there. They will be choking the throat.

They do not either return to their places or get out and consequently they die and get rid of this horror.

II. 2. B. Morphologically-based exclamations

Merin & Nikolaeva (2008: 2) state that exclamations exhibit a bewildering variety of morphological and

syntactic forms. Exclamatory meaning in Arabic is sometimes morphologically indicated by exhibiting an

extreme degree in some constructions. Various derivatives of the root ؟a-j-b are used to indicate amazement.

They exhibit degree morphology defined by Rett (2011: 14) as 'a cover term for gradable or amount

predicates.' For example

Inna same؟na qur?aanan ؟ajaba (Qur'an : 72- 1)

Surely we have heard a wonderous Qur'an. (Ghali, 2008: 572)

Inna haza la-šay?un ؟ajiib { Qur'an : 11-72}

Surely this is a wonderful thing. (Ghali, 2008:230)

Inna haza lašay?un ؟ujaab { Qur'an : 38:5}

Surely this is indeed a most wondrous thing. (Ghali, 2008: 453)

Different forms derived from this root are used. For example, we have verbs, adverbs, nouns and

adjectives. In the first example we have the form ؟ajab that follows the pattern CaCaC or fa؟al. In the

second and third examples we have different patterns of adjectives. All of them are attributive adjectives.

The first adjective describes the matter as something amazing and marvelous. The second adjective ؟ajiib

follows the pattern fa؟iil. The third adjective follows the pattern fu؟aal as it is read ؟ujaab or the pattern

fu ؟؟ aal as it is sometimes read ؟ujjaab in another way of reading the ؟ayya. These are two intensive forms of

the adjective, though the latter is less common. Adjectives of these forms indicate a very high degree of the

quality which their subject possesses (Wright, 1965: 136/7 vol.II). It is commented that 'the words ؟ajab

nearly indicates something astonishing, ؟ajiib adds more meanings, ؟ujaab means the thing that goes far

beyond expectation and ؟ujjaab that is read with the gemination of the second radical indicates the farthest


192

end of amazement (al-qurtuby: 15/ 68:9). Thus, if we put them in an ascending order of intensity, they are as

follows:

ujjaab؟ ujaab؟ ajiib؟ ajab؟

In the Qur'an we have these two verses:

Bal ؟ajebta wa ya-sxar-uun/ wa ?za zukker-uu la yazkr-uun

Wa ?za ra?a-w ?ayatan yastasxruun (Qur'an : 37- 12/14)

No indeed, you wonder and they scoff. And when they are reminded, they do not remember. And when they

see assign, they turn it into scoffing. (Ghali, 2008: 446)

In Arabic, if a word exhibits an increase in its morphological make-up, this indicates intensity in its

meaning. The more there is evidence of the prophet's truthfulness, the more they are led astray. yastasxruun

indicates the extremity of their scorn .

wa –hum ya-starix-uuna fi-ha (Qur'an : 35- 37)

And they scream aloud. (Ghali, 2008:438)

They are crying in hell. They have reached an extreme degree of crying, an indication enough of their terror

and pain and that they are taken aback. The situation is totally unexpected and terrorizing. There is a

difference of degree between the two verbs 'yasrix' and yastarix' both meaning 'cry'. The latter follows the

pattern of form VIII of trilateral verbs. This verb is augmented with respect to form I in that an infix /t/ is

added to the form after the first radical. This verb is in the present tense. Thus, it is prefixed with the present

tense subject marker ya-. It has the pattern ya- C1-ta-C2iC3. It is stated that 'form VIII verbs may be

reflexive or medio-passive in meaning, but they also express a wide range of meanings that are difficult to

predict.' (Ryding: 2005: 543). This form has phonologically many characteristics. It is stated that 'the

insertion of the extraneous consonant /t/ within the root sometimes affects the spelling and the pronunciation

of form VIII. Various forms of assimilation of the infixed –taa- to the initial root consonant occur. The taa,

as a result of a process of progressive assimilation, is velarized if the initial root consonant is velarized, i.e. it

is either s,d, t, or ð. Thus, the taa changes to taa.

Fa-ta?ala allah-u l-malik-u lhaq la ?ilaha ?ila huwa rabu l؟-arši l-kariim (Qur'an : 23- 116)

Then Supremely Exaltd be Allah, The King, The Truth! There is no god but He, The Lord of the Honorable

Throne. (Ghali, 2008: 349)

The pattern of this verb is tafa؟al. this is form VI of trilateral verbs. It is augmented with prefixed ta- and a

long vowel –aa- inserted after the third consonant of the trilateral root. It is in the present tense. The subject

marking stem vowel is fathaa and the two stem vowels are fathaa. Thus, it has the stem pattern ta-

C1aaC2C2A3. One meaning of this form of the verb is 'gradual, continuous movement or increase in a

quality' (Ryding: 2005: 543). In his interpretation of the Qur'an, ašša؟rawy says that the word ta?ala means,

when ascribed to God that HE is far above all in HIS Righteousness, His Purity, His Impartiality, Integrity

and Blemishlessness. The Throne is also specified here because it is the topmost of all God's creation. So,

what is meant is that Allah is in the highest degree of Greatness and Sublimity with nothing and no one else

above. This satisfies the criterion of scalar implicature. It is affirmed

III. Conclusion:

A survey of different analyses on exclamations has shown that the most common criteria linguists

count on for identifying exclamation are scalar implicature (the expression of a high or extreme position on

a semantic scale), factivity, emphasis, deviation from a norm and the expression of the speaker's affective

stance positive or negative. Linguists have also differentiated between exclamatives and exclamation in

English. Exclamation is an all-inclusive term. Exclamative is only a clause type. In so far as the English

language is concerned there are prototypical exclamatives realized by wh-words (wh- exclamatives),

interrogative exclamatives (or rhetorical questions), exclamatory statements (accompanied by some sentence

adverbials or when uttered with particular emphasis and intonation), noun phrase exclamation, that-clause


193

exclamation, exclamatory infinitives, echo exclamation, epithet exclamation, some verbless imperatives and

single word exclamations. Formulaic expressions, vocatives and interjections are also exclamatory.

Exclamation in English is a syntactic and semantic phenomenon.

In Arabic, there are two methods for wording exclamation. The first is that consistent with the rules

or norms: 'qyassi', which corresponds exactly to the English term 'exclamative'. The second is 'sama؟i'

which corresponds exactly to the term 'exclamation' in English, i.e those constructions that express functions

other than exclamation but sanctioned as exclamatory by common usage or derived from tradition.. The

former is expressed by 'verbs of surprise or admiration' and they occur in two types of constructions: ma

?af؟al and ?af؟el bi-hi. They are sometimes reduced to the particle 'ma'. Other particles may be used like

?ay. It is also realized by the use of vocatives. The latter is realized by the use of some formulaic expressions

like subħan, some swear words, particular constructions like wa-lilah and wa law tara, the use of

interrogative and exclamatory negation, nouns of numbers and emphatic statements. The emphasis is

realized by the use of inna, lam of emphasis, repetition, the absolute object of the verb or the masdar

accompanied by a suffix referring to the logical subject and. verbs of blame and praise are sometimes

exclamatory in particular contexts.. Same as English, various types of exclamations like epithet, echo and

single word exclamation are also present in Arabic. Interjections are also exclamatory though some of them

differ from English interjections by having a verbal force. Exclamation in Arabic is sometimes kinetically

realized by the use of verbs involving the body and verbs that denote body internal states of existence. It is

also morphologically expressed by a variety of degree morphology. Thus, in Arabic exclamation is a

morphological, syntactic, semiotic and semantic phenomenon. The study suggests the inclusion of these

categories in grammar books.

Appendix 1

The Phonemic Symbols that will be used to represent the Arabic Data in the Study are Listed

Below with their Corresponding Arabic Graphemes.

[b] Voiced bilabial stop [ب]

[t] Voiceless alveo-dental stop [ت]

[t] Voiceless alveo-dental velarized stop [ط]

[d] Voiced alveo-dental stop [د]

[d] Voiced alveo velarized stop [ض]

[k] Voiced velar stop [ك]

[q] Voiceless uvular stop [ق]

[?] Voiceless glottal stop [ء]

[g] Voiced alveo-palatal fricative [ج]

[ħ] Voiceless pharyngeal fricative [ح]


194

[ع] Voiced pharyngeal fricative [؟]

[f] Voiceless labio-dental fricative [ف]

[] Voiceless dental fricative [ث]

[z] Voiced dental fricative [ذ]

[ð] Voiced dental velarized fricative [ظ]

[s] Voiceless alveolar fricative [س]

[s] Voiceless alveolar velarized fricative [ص]

[z] Voiced alveolar fricative [ز]

[š] Voiceless alveo-palatal fricative [ش]

[x] Voiceless alveo-palatal fricative [خ]

[ğ] Voiced uvular fricative [غ]

[h] Voiced glottal fricative [ه]

[r] Voiced alveolar trill [ر]

[l] Voiced alveolar lateral [ل]

[m] Voiced bilabial nasal [م]

[n] Voiced alveolar nasal [ن]

[y] Voiced palatial glide [ى]

[w] Voiced bilabial round glide [و]

[i] High front vowel [ ]

[a] Low back vowel [`]

[u] High back rounded vowel [ ]


195

Note: Consonant gemination and vowel length are represented by doubling the respective consonant or

vowel letter.

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The sky, the mountains and the earth are God's creatures. They glorify God and feel great anger for

man's sins and ingratitude. They feel even more furious when some disbelievers claim the presence of a son

for God. This great anger is expressed in the following verse:

Takadu samawatu ya-tafatar-n min-hu wa tanšaq-u

l-?ardu wa taxeru el-jebalu hadda (Qur'an: 19- 90)

the heavens are almost about to be rent asunder thereof and the earth cloven and the mountains to collapse,

razed (completely)

The sky and the earth's anger is expressed by being about to be split

The mountains are about to break down to pieces. (Ghali, 2008: 311)

Ibn abbas says,' the earth and the sky are so frightened and terrified of man's atheism that they are about to

annihilate./ disappear/break down in anger. This is an indication that their anger has reached an extreme

point.

What asserts the scalar nature of Arabic exclamatives is likening them to comparative adjectives.

Contarino (1974: 11), as noted by Ryding (ibid), describes the word following maa as 'elative in the

accusative of exclamation, that is, as a comparative adjective'.

Documents

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