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New Books from John Benjamins Publishing Arabic The Explanation of Linguistic Causes Az-Zaggagi's Theory of Grammar Introduction, translation, commentary KEES VERSTEEGH (University of Nijmegen) The ultimate aim of every linguistic tradition is to go beyond the purely descriptive level and seek an explanation for linguistic phenomena. Traditions differ, however, with regard to the class of linguistic phenomena they wish to explain and the framework in which they define their explanation. In this volume the English translation is presented of the treatise on linguistic explanation by the 10th-century Arab grammarian az-Zaggagi, one of the most original thinkers of the Arabic tradition. He worked in a period in which the influence of Greek logic and philosophy made itself felt in almost all Arabo-Islamic disciplines. Some of the problems he deals with are familiar to modern linguists (e.g., morphological segmentation, categorization of parts of speech), others are comprehensible only within the frame of reference of Arabic linguistics (e.g., the declension of the verb). An extensive commentary on the text analyzes the problems discussed, both within the Arabic tradition and from the point of view of modern linguistics. Apart from the index of names and terms, there is an index of subjects, enabling the reader to consult the book on specific key notions. Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 75 xvi, 310 pp. US & Canada:Hb 1 55619 611 3 US$79.00 Rest of World: 90 272 4562 2 Hfl.130,00 Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics VII. Papers from the Seventh Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Mushira EID (ed.) This volume includes ten papers selected from the Seventh Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. For the first time in this series, three of the papers represent experimental studies dealing with Arabic syllable and morphological structure. Four are focused on aspects of agreement in Arabic. The remaining three deal with certain problems in Arabic phonology and discourse. The volume includes contributions by the following:Naomi Bolotin; Ellen Broselow; Marie Huffman, Su-I Chen and Ruohmei Hsieh; Bruce L. Derwing; Dilworth B. Parkinson and Richard A. Beinert; Ahmed Fakhri; Mark S. LeTourneau; Michael L. McOmber; Ibrahim Mohamed and Jamal Ouhalla; Sabah Safi-Stagni; Munther Younes; Wafa Batran Wahba. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, No. 130 vii, 192 pp. US &Canada:Hb 1 55619 584 2 US$57.00 Rest of World: 90 272 3633 X Hfl.95,00 Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics VIII Papers from the Eighth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Mushira Eid (ed.) This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the Eighth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics (March 4-5, 1994, Amherst, Massachusetts). The majority of papers deal with a syntactic topic: pronoun doubling, aspects of negation, and parameter-resetting in second language acquisition. This last article is placed in the section on language variation, together with a contribution on diglossia and linguistic variation. Phonology is the last section of this volume, including two articles: one on voice assimilation and one on the distribution of homorganic consonants in triconsonantal roots. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 134 vii, 261 pp. US & Canada:Hb: 1 55619 589 3 US$69.00 Rest of World: 90 272 3633 X Hfl.125,00 Paul Peranteau (paulMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issuebenjamins.com) John Benjamins searchable ONLINE catalogue: *via WWW -- gopher://Benjamins.titlenet.com:6400 *via gopher -- gopher Benjamins.titlenet.com 6400