LOAN VERBS IN MALTESE: A Descriptive and Comparative Study

CONTENTS

Preface by David Cohen

Acknowledgements

I. Introduction

1. Previous works on the Romance element in Maltese

2. On the present work

2.1. The need for the present study

2.2. Aim and scope of this research

2.3. The method of research

3. Definitions and notational conventions

3.1. Glossary of definitions

3.2. Phonetic symbols

3.3. Other symbols

3.4. Abbreviations

II. The background

1. General background

1.1. Geographical background

1.2. Politico-cultural history

2. Linguistic background

2.1. Linguistic stratigraphy

2.2. The sociolinguistic situation

2.3. Language contact

2.4. The orthography

3. The linguistic systems in contact

3.1. Typological comparison of the different morphological systems

3.2. Description of the verbal systems in contact

3.2.1. The verb in Semitic Maltese

3.2.2. The verb in Italo-Romance

3.2.3. The verb in English

3.3. Proposed typological classification of Maltese loan verbs

III. Type A Verbs: Full integration to Semitic Maltese sound verbs

1. The Arabicization (taʿrîb) of loan words in Arabic and its dialects

2. Analysis of the process of full integration

3. Type A verbs as "second generation" loans

4. Variations and innovations in Type A verbs

5. The vowel sequences of Type A verbs

6. The derivational morphology of Type A verbs

7. Datingfully integrated loans: an assessment of the problems

IV. Type B Verbs: Full integration to Semitic Maltese weak-final verbs

1. The Semitic Maltese weak-final matrix as model for Type B verbs

2. Characteristics and innovations of Type B verbs

3. Romance variations on the Semitic weak-final theme

4. The syllabic sequences of Type B verbs

5. The Romance base-form for integrating Type B and C verbs

6. The categorization of borrowed verbal stems (Types B and C) within the Semitic Maltese inflexional morphology

7. The historical transfer of loan verbs between inflexional categories

8. The derivational morphology of Type B verbs

V. Type C Verbs: Undigested Romance stems with a weak-final conjugation

1. The gemination of the initial stem consonant

1.1. Descriptions of the phenomenon

1.2. The distribution of initial gemination

1.3. The historical perspective

1.4. Italo-Romance links

1.5. Possible Semitic Maltese influence

2. Reflexes of the Romance verbal infix -isc- in Type C verbs

2.1. The verbal infix -isc- in Italo-Romance

2.2. The distribution of the infix /-išš-/ in Maltese loan verbs

3. The neutralization of Romance phenomena affecting the verbal stem

3.1. Strong verbs in Italo-Romance

3.2. Romance verbal stems ending in -c, -g or -sc

3.3. Romance verbs with infix -isc-

3.4. Stems with movable diphthongs

3.5. Allomorphic stem changes at the suprasegmental level

4. Historical consonant changes

4.1. Voicing/devoicing phenomena

4.2. The /n-/ prefix

5. The loss of vowel material

5 .1. Pretonic vowels in word-initial position

5.2. Pretonic vowels in open syllable

5.3. The treatment of proparoxytones

5.4. The loss of the stressed final vowel in some Romance stems

6. Timbral vocalic changes in Type C stems

7. Shift of stress in stems of Type C

8. Synchronic changes affecting Type C verbs

8.1. Voicing/devoicing phenomena

8.2. Vowel morphophomenics of the stem: quantity

8.3. Vowel morphophonemics of the stem: quality

8.4. Romance Maltese infix /-išš-/

8.5. Alternating stems

9. Final considerations on Type C verbs

VI. Type D Verbs: The integration of undigested English stems

1. The neutralization of English stem allomorphs

2. Initial gemination in Type D verbs

3. Stem-extension /-y-/ in Type D verbs

3.1. Distribution of the phenomenon

3.2. The historical perspective

4. Other diachronic stem changes

4.1. Bi-morphemic stems

4.2. The gemination of the final consonant

4.3. The devoicing of a final voiced consonant

4.4. The treatment of English proparoxytones

5. Synchronic changes affecting the English Maltese stem

6. The categorization of English loan verbs

7. The derivational morphology of Type D verbs

VII. Conclusions and findings

1. Typological classification

2. The Semitic stratum of Maltese

3. The selection of favoured patterns

4. A morphology under strain

5. A typological shift

6. Stem dynamics

7. Inflexion

8. Derivation

9. Linguistic pluralism

10. Linguistic continuity

11. Towards a complete description of Maltese

Appendix A: Inflexional paradigms

1. Type A verbs

2. Semitic Maltese sound verbs and weak-final verbs (Theme I)

3. Semitic Maltese sound verbs and weak-final verbs (Theme II)

4. Type B verbs

5. The regular inflexional suffixes and neo-Semitic weak-final suffixes

6. Type C verbs

7. Type D verbs

8. The neo-Semitic weak-final inflexion in Maltese loan verbs

9. The morphological features of Maltese loan verbs

Appendix B: Corpora

1. The corpus of Type A loan verbs

1.1. Theme I

1.2. Theme II

1.3. Theme III

1.4. Theme V

1.5. Theme VI

1.6. Theme VII

1. 7. Theme IX

1.8. Theme QI

1.9. Theme QII

2. The corpus of Type B loan verbs

2.1. Theme I

2.2. Theme II

2.3. Theme III

2.4. Theme V

2.5. Theme VI

2.6. Theme VII

2.7. Theme QI

2.8. Theme QII

Appendix C: The historical development of weak-fmal verbs in Semitic Maltese

1. The historical perspective

1.1. Loss of Category 3

1.2. Shifts of category

1.3. The Perfect

1.4. The Imperfect

1.5. Frequency

1.6. Accretions

1.7. Semantic loss and semantic gain

2. The inflexion of weak-final verbs in Semitic Maltese

3. The integration of other Semitic Maltese verb classes to weak-final verbs

3.1. The integration of hamza-final verbs to weak-final verbs

3.2. The integration of geminate verbs to weak-final verbs

3.3. The integration of /°/-final verbs to weak-final verbs

3.3.1. /°/-final verbs taking the weak-final conjugation

3.3.2. Weak-final verbs sporadically treated as /°/-flnal verbs

3.3.3. Weak-final verbs taking the /˚/-final conjugation

3.3.4. Weak-final verbs and /°/-final verbs in colloquial Maltese

3.4. Some Semitic Maltese weak-final verbs of Theme IV

4. Root metanalysis involving the weak-final conjugation in colloquial Maltese

4.1. Metanalysis in verbs with Stop + Fricative as radicals

4.2. Metanalysis involving weak-medial verbs

5. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

STUDIES IN SEMITIC LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS