Aspetti semantici del verbo quadriconsonantico reduplicato in arabo tunisino

Semantic Aspects of Quadriconsonantic Reduplicated Verbs in Tunisian Arabic Reduplication is a morpho-syntactic device, common to many languages of the world, which consists in the repetition of phonological material within a word. Arabic language—in its varieties of Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic and Arabic dialects—shows a relevant use of reduplication. According to Procházka (1993; 1995), the main function of reduplication in Arabic is semantic. One of the most evident applications of reduplication in Arabic is the verbal structure fa‘fa‘a, for which Procházka identifies the following six semantic classes: Motions (rhythmic, continuous, intensive), Acoustic phenomena, Optical effects, Physical or mental qualities; Denominal verbs; Neutral verbs. The first two classes are more productive, showing that there is a strong relation between reduplication and sound symbolism. Despite reduplicated verbs seem to be particularly productive in Neo-Arabic varieties, this linguistic phenomenon has received little attention in the current debate. Specifically, a study dedicated to reduplication in the Tunisian Arabic dialect has never been conducted. Drawing on Procházka’s semantic classification, this paper will therefore examine a large number of reduplicated quadriconsonantic verbs, with the ultimate goal being a preliminary investigation of their semantic functions.