SPECIFIČNOSTI UPOTREBE LEKSEMA LAW U MODERNOM STANDARDNOM ARAPSKOM JEZIKU
SPECIFIC FEATURES IN THE USE OF THE LEXEME LAW IN MODERN STANDARD ARABIC

Summary/Abstract: The lexeme law is a polyfunctional lexeme in Arabic which, according to the assumptions of comparative Semitic linguistics, originates from Proto-Semitic. Consequently, this lexeme has found a place in grammatical descriptions of Arabic from the classical period to the present. It is discussed primarily in one of its realizations—that of a subordinator marking unreal or hypothetical conditional clauses in Arabic—while its other functions, with the exception of its use as a subordinator of concessive clauses, are mentioned only sporadically and typically remain undescribed and unanalysed. The syntactic description of the lexeme law as a subordinator of Arabic conditional clauses, largely motivated by morphological criteria, has undergone significant changes throughout history. Thus, from its initial exclusion from the group of conditional particles in the works of early Arab grammarians, it has come to occupy a central position in the description of Arabic conditional clauses in corpus-based studies of Modern Standard Arabic, where its usage is recognized beyond unreal conditional clauses and extended to potential and real conditional clauses as well. The primary focus of this paper is the analysis of the various syntactic functions of the lexeme law and the clause types it introduces. The analysis draws on the analytic–descriptive method and a typological–functional approach. The findings demonstrate that in Modern Standard Arabic the lexeme law is employed in several syntactic functions, from a subordinator of conditional clauses, through a subordinator of concessive, object, and unreal comparative clauses, to an exclamatory particle used to express a counterfactual wish. Nevertheless, given the considerable evolution in both the syntactic description and the actual linguistic reality of the lexeme law in its role as a subordinator of Arabic conditional clauses, considerable attention in this study is devoted specifically to this function — which also constitutes its most frequent use.

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