The Power of Event in Nouns & Verbs A Study in Mechanisms & Indications

Abstract

Linguists and grammarians have been intrigued by the concept of eventive energy in Arabic lexicon, particularly in verbal nouns and verbs, from the inception of traditional Arabic grammatical studies. They possess divergent concepts based on its functionality and purpose. The primary question this study seeks to address is: How does the degree of eventivity in a word influence its meaning and grammatical function? This research aims to examine the perspectives of linguists and scholars about the representation of events by nouns and verbs. This constitutes a segment of their research to comprehend the mechanics of eventive energy and its influence on sentence construction. The study employs a descriptive methodology, including the examination and analysis of ancient grammatical texts to get insights on the semantic dimension of this eventive force. The primary objective of the research is to investigate the influence of eventive energy on the syntactic arrangement of words in Arabic phrases. It aims to elucidate the syntactic requirements generated by events, manifesting as structural and relational dimensions, and to demonstrate the many representations of events via nominal and verbal forms concerning structure, function, and meaning. The primary findings of the study indicate that the verbal noun (maṣdar) explicitly and immediately denotes the event, whereas the verb denotes the event in an indirect and formal manner, including both its root and morphological structure. The verbal noun has significant eventive energy, increasing its likelihood of becoming an absolute object (mafʿūl muṭlaq). The verb has significant eventive force, enabling it to govern the verbal noun in the accusative case. The study indicates that more research is required on latent eventive energy in different word types, including derivative forms and other categories of verbs, such as deficient and stative verbs.