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

andomly by speakers unsure of how to use it”. A more plausible analysis,
however, would be that fi is in fact a verbal predicate marker, which is therefore
compatible with a variety of temporal and aspectual interpretations. This appears
to be confirmed by examples such as those listed below:
(32) a. A1 (Urdu; 10 years)
nafar mafi araf hāza (Næss 2008: 72)
person NEG-FI know DEM
„a person wouldn‟t know this‟
b. B3 (Sinhala; 22 years)
arabi mapi hebbi (Næss 2008: 73)
Arab NEG-FI love
„Arabs don‟t like [them].‟
c. D1 (Javanese; 4 years)
bāden ana mapi pakkar (Næss 2008: 72)
then 1SG NEG-FI think
„and I don‟t think [of it] anymore‟
d. D2 (Tamil; 12 years)
wāhed fi šīl kūb gūl hāda kūb (Næss 2008: 89)
one FI take cup say DEM cup
„one would take a cup and say this is a cup‟
e. E1 (Malayalam; 17 years)
ana awwal fi yijlis andel sandūg māl cash (Næss 2008: 65)
1SG beginning FI sit PREP box PREP cash
„In the beginning I sat at the cashier‟s desk‟
f. E2 (Chavacano; 17 years)
mafi hebb siyāda diyāy u laham (Næss 2008: 73)
NEG-FI love much chicken and meat
„He didn‟t like chicken and meat too much‟
Instances of fi with the same various functions can also be found in the
samples of Omani Pidgin Arabic in online sources. The examples under (33) and
(34) illustrate its use as a predicative copula and as an equative copula
respectively:
(33) a. Muslim ana ma fi hindus (Kumar 2011a)
Muslim 1SG NEG FI Hindu
„I‟m a Muslim, not a Hindu.‟
b. Hada nafar ma fi kuwayis (Kumar 2011b)
DEM person NEG FI good
„This man is not good.‟
(34) a. Insān ana ma fi hayawan (Kumar 2011a)
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