Sentential Negation in Standard Arabic and Qassim Dialect

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the negative particles in Standard Arabic (henceforth SA) and compares them to the Spoken Qassim Dialect (henceforth QD), focusing on their morphological effects within the sentence. Negation in SA includes six particles (laysa, lam, lammaa lan, laa, and maa) that are used with verbal sentences except for laysa which is used with nominal sentences. The researcher noticed that the particles laysa, lam, lammaa, and lan are no longer used in QA, so only laa, and maa are used as negative particles in QD. Two main groups of morphemes seemed to represent negation elements in QD: verbal predicates are laa and maa, whereas non-verbal predicates are muhub and maakan. The negative marker laa is used in imperative and future sentences and precedes the verb. The negative particle maa precedes the verb in the present tense and is used in perfective and imperfective sentences. The inflected form muhub is derived from the negative particle ma and used to negate non-verbal predicates that are divided into eight inflections.