Les etymons en arabe: Analyse formelle et semantique.

Les etymons en arabe: Analyse formelle et semantique. By Georges Bohas and Karim Bachmar. Recherches, vol. 23. Beirut: Dar el-Machreq Editeurs, 2013. Pp. 214.

As in the book under review, Georges Bohas has devoted much energy, often in collaboration with his pupils, to lending support to the idea that Semitic roots, as attested in Arabic, can be reduced to semantic core units consisting of two radicals or, on an even deeper level, to a (non-ordered) set of articulatory features called a "matrix." In his longstanding theory of "matrices et etymons," such matrixes are said to be the base ("invariant notionnel") for a whole array of semantically related roots. The "etyma" then are specific phonemic instantiations of these abstract matrixes. The matrix {[labial], [coronal]}, for instance, represents the semantic core "to hit," which can be instantiated by "etyma" as [b, t], [b, d}, etc., the elements of which are roots such as (core consonants marked in bold) batta 'to cut', badaha 'to hit someone with a stick', tabara 'to break', tabala 'to annihilate', and many more. When such roots cannot be semantically related, Bohas and Bachmar argue that they actually represent different "matrixes." The root mata'a, for instance, has the unrelated meanings 'to hit someone with a stick' and 'to stretch a cord'. While the first meaning matches the matrix ([labial], [coronal]}, the second meaning derives from the matrix {[nasal], [coronal]) with the semantic base ("invariant notionnel") "traction," the consonant m being both labial and nasal.

By sheer combinatorics, Bohas and Bachmar arrive at the number of (26 x (26-1)) : 2 = 325 possible "etyma"--w and y are excluded from the total of 28 Arabic consonantal phonemes as "extensions" of the labial b and the coronal t, respectively. The product 26 x 25 is divided by two since, according to this theory, the order of the consonants in the etyma plays no role. Not all of the combinatorically possible etyma are attested or meaningful, due to, e.g., co-occurrence restrictions (41 theoretically possible etyma), but Bohas and Bachmar arrive at the number of 192 fairly "productive" etyma. Additionally, 21 etyma are said to be somewhat working, 10 etyma are only attested in onomatopoetic context (and are therefore of problematic status), and 36 etyma are only attested with one root.

The volume is formally presented in a clear manner, with statistics and even a brief embedding of the theory in de Saussure's two principles of "l'arbitraire du signe" and "caractere lineaire du signifiant." In a historical perspective, Bohas and Bachmar briefly mention the phenomenon (or the theory) of al-ishtiqaq al-akbar as reported in Ibn Jinni's treatise al-Khasa'is, which refers to permutated roots bearing a similar meaning, e.g., strength and intensity in connection with the root consonants (b, j, r). There are also a few references to "classical" authors like Gesenius, Brockelmann, and Marcel Cohen as well as to some modern theoreticians in phonetics and phonology. Having said that, much like other publications by Bohas (and his pupils), this study is highly autonomous, i.e., no alternative synchronic or diachronic theories are taken into consideration (cf., e.g., Edzard 2011). Not even approaches that would support that of the author(s), notably Christopher Ehret's (1995) work on core elements in Afroasiatic vocabulary, are mentioned. Whether this is a asset or a drawback may to a certain degree be a matter of taste. In any case, the study in form and content pretty much represents a deja vu for anyone familiar with Bohas's approach to this subject matter (cf., e.g., Edzard 2003).

REFERENCES

Edzard, Lutz. 2003. Review of Georges Bohas. 2000. Matrices et etymons: Developpements de la theorie. Lausanne: Editions du Zebre. Zeitschrift fur Arabische Linguistik 42: 86--88.

--. 2011. Die SIG7.ALAN = Nabnitu-Liste und das Konzept der semitischen Wurzel. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlundischen Gesellschaft 161,1: 17-37.

Ehret, Christopher. 1995. Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic {Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press.

Ibn Jinni, Abu 1-Fath 'Uthman. At-Khasa'is. Ed. Muhammad 'All al-Najjar. 3 vols. Cairo, 1952-1956; reissued Beirut: Dar al-Huda.

Lutz Edzard

University of Oslo

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Author:	Edzard, Lutz
Publication:	The Journal of the American Oriental Society
Article Type:	Book review
Date:	Jul 1, 2015
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