PERIPHRASTIC COMPARATIVE STRUCTURES IN MODERN STANDARD ARABIC – WHICH ONES SHOULD BE TAKEN AS MANIFESTATIONS OF ANALYTICALLY ORIENTED EVOLUTIONS?
PERIPHRASTIC COMPARATIVE STRUCTURES IN MODERN STANDARD ARABIC – WHICH ONES SHOULD BE TAKEN AS MANIFESTATIONS OF ANALYTICALLY ORIENTED EVOLUTIONS?

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with evolutions that appear to become significant in relation to the way in which degrees of comparison are expressed in Modern Standard Arabic. It deals mainly with structures that represent different types of deviations of what would generally be considered the norm of Modern Standard Arabic: the use of periphrastic structures where single units might have been expected, the adverbialization of the elative ’akṯar within structures conveying the comparative degree, the erosion of the norm-sanctioned use of specifying complements after annexations conveying the superlative degree headed by ’akṯar, the apparent reluctance to use verbal nouns as specifying complements when they are associated with the passive voice. In searching for possible or plausible reasons for these tendencies and phenomena, we have highlighted the plurality of domains and disciplines that can shed light on them: phonetics, morphology, syntax, rhetoric, stylistics. We have also advanced some expectations concerning the way in which some of these phenomena might evolve.

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