12 55 Years of Arab Studies in Romania - Secţia de Arabă

Recent studies have drawn attention to a new particle mīš 5 , with an unique
form, used both in the Levantine Arabic dialects and in the North Africa ones to
negate a nominal clause.
Examples: ana méch hōn. „I am not here.”
ḥanna méch rāyiḥ. „Ḥanna is not leaving.” (Fleyfel, 2010: 23).
Furthermore, the particle mā can join other particles to form verbs, which
express negative action, or rather said, verbal phrases with a negative meaning:
mā c lákš. „Don’t worry.”
mā finâš c layǫn wáḥdnā. „We can’t compete with them, by ourselves.”
mā léhaš c éndi ší. „I don’t owe him anything.”
mā bẹddîš. „I don’t want.”
mā bénā šîš. „Nothing is wrong with us.”
mā fíš ḥádā mẹrtâḥ b(h)ad=déné. „No one is happy in this world.”
(Feghali, 1928: 224).
Sometimes, especially in poetry, the verb “to be” at its negative form is
expressed through the particle mā alone:
mā mbáiyen c laik ẹl-kébr. „You don’t seem old.” (Feghali, 1928: 225).
The negative form of the verb “to be” can also be expressed throughout the
particle γayr, in the case of the attributive constructions:
ẹl-'mûr ẹl-γáir ǧaṷhrîyė lǟzẹm tébṭal. „The matters that are not essential
must disappear.” (Feghali, 1928: 225).
2. Some aspects of negation based on a Lebanese series
In this last part of this brief study, we will discuss some aspects of the
negation, based on the observations made on the Lebanese series 'ajyāl. The series
were lunched in Lebanon during Ramadan of year 2011. It gathered mostly
Lebanese actors, but also other famous figures of the Arab cinematography. Our
purpose is to analyze some examples of the negation in what the producers of
these series call “the Lebanese dialect”, to compare it with what we found in the
consulted bibliography and last but not least, to ask a Lebanese Arabic speaker to
point out for us from the examples presented, what he wouldn’t use in his daily
conversation with other Lebanese people.
5
Having as an alternative pronunciation mēš.
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