Syntactic Constructions and Contrastive Linguistics: Passive, Relative Clauses, Indirect Speech, Conditionals, and Negation in English and Arabic

Syntactic Constructions of the Passive in English and Arabic

English and Arabic differ fundamentally in how they construct the passive voice. In English, passive constructions are periphrastic, meaning they rely on auxiliary verbs and specific multi-word structures. In contrast, Arabic passives are morphological, meaning the change occurs internally within the structure of the verb itself through vowel changes. English passives utilize the auxiliary verb $\text{be}$ combined with the past participle ($p.p$) and are derived from basic active sentences. Arabic passives do not use auxiliaries; they are derived through internal vowel changes ($\text{المبني للمجهول بالإنجلیزیة یكون تركیبي، في حین أن العربیة یكون صرفي}$).

English exhibits six major types of passive. The Agentive passive mentions the doer using the preposition "by," such as in the sentence "The glass was broken by John." The Agentless passive is used when the doer is unknown or unimportant, such as in "The letter was mailed today." The GET passive is utilized in informal or colloquial styles to denote both an action and a resultant state, occurring only with verbs expressing actions or processes (e.g., "He got killed," "The door got damaged," or phrases like "got married" or "got arrested"). The Causative HAVE passive follows the order of Subject + had + Object + past participle, focusing on what was done and the subject's intention (e.g., "I had my car washed yesterday"). The Pseudopassive uses an intransitive verb without the passive $\text{be}$, where the subject receives the action and the agent is implied; it appears active in form but passive in meaning, such as "History repeats itself" or "These shirts wash well." Finally, Adjectival or Stative passives use the past participle as an adjective following the verb $\text{be}$ to describe a state rather than an action, such as "The door is closed."

Arabic passive types include the Regular (Morphological) passive, formed by internal vowel changes, such as the shift from $\text{kasara}$ (broke) to $\text{kusira}$ (was broken). The $\text{Anfa’ala}$ form ($\text{انفعل}$) can also convey passive meaning, as seen in $\text{al-babu in-kasara}$ ("the door broke/was broken"). The Impersonal passive features an intransitive verb in the passive form at the start of a sentence with a deputy agent ($\text{نائب فاعل}$) replacing the subject. This deputy agent can be a verbal noun ($\text{مصدر}$), a time adverbial ($\text{ظرف زمان}$), a place adverbial ($\text{ظرف مكان}$), or a prepositional phrase ($\text{جار ومجرور}$). In Modern Standard Arabic, specifically in journalistic styles, a Lexical or Periphrastic passive uses the construction $\text{tamma}$ ($\text{تم}$) followed by a verbal noun, such as $\text{tamma ih’alatu al-mashru’i}$ ("The project was referred"), whereas Classical Arabic would use the regular passive verb $\text{u’hila al-mashru’u}$.

Functions of Passive Constructions

In English, the passive serves several functions. One primary role is foregrounding the patient, which highlights the receiver of the action and backgrounds the agent (e.g., "A thousand people were killed by the tornado"). It also allows for agent deletion for reasons of economy, anonymity, irrelevance, or to avoid responsibility (depersonalization). Conversely, the passive can highlight the agent when it provides new information in question-and-answer contexts, such as "It has been typed by MARY." Other discourse functions include information packaging, expanding on long or "heavy" agent phrases by placing them at the end of the sentence, creating stylistic suspense, maintaining topic continuity across clauses, and establishing a formal, objective tone in scientific or legal writing.

Arabic passive functions also include situations where the agent is unknown (e.g., $\text{suriqa al-kitabu}$ - "The book was stolen"). It is frequently used to conceal the agent due to fear, politeness, protection, or aversion and contempt (e.g., $\text{huddima al-baytu}$ - "The house was demolished"). Additionally, it is used in narrative contexts to create suspense by mentioning the passive action first and revealing the agent later in the active voice (demystifying effect), such as $\text{qutila al-nu’man; ramahu rajulun...}$ ("Al-Nu’man was killed; a man from Yemen threw at him…").

Constraints and Specific Verbs in the Passive

There are several constraints on passivization in English. Reflexive verbs cannot be passivized (e.g., "Mary hurt herself" cannot become "*Herself was hurt by Mary"). Certain stative transitive verbs do not form the passive, including: $\text{resemble}$, $\text{contain}$, $\text{possess}$, $\text{lack}$, $\text{have}$, $\text{cost}$, $\text{weigh}$, $\text{marry}$, and \text{fit. Some ditransitive verbs cannot make an indirect object the subject of a passive sentence, such as $\text{mix}$, $\text{pour}$, $\text{fetch}$, and $\text{make}$. Furthermore, some verbs occur only in the passive, such as $\text{born}$ and $\text{rumored}$. Modals in the passive may also change meaning; for instance, "He cannot do it" indicates ability, while "It cannot be done" indicates impossibility.

In Arabic, some verbs occur exclusively in the passive form ($\text{أفعال لا تصح إلا في المبني للمجهول}$). These include verbs meaning: be surprised ($\text{duhisha}$), rushed ($\text{hura’a}$), faint ($\text{ughmiya}$), turn purple ($\text{umtuqi’a}$), be amazed ($\text{bhita}$), be interested ($\text{u’niya}$), become insane ($\text{junna}$), catch a cold ($\text{zukima}$), be conceited ($\text{zuhiya}$), be feverish ($\text{humma}$), be infatuated ($\text{u’li’a}$), be semiparalyzed ($\text{fulija}$), and give birth ($\text{nufisat}$).

Relative Clauses in English and Arabic

Relative clauses are adjectival clauses that postmodify a head noun. In English, there are six relativizable positions according to Keenan & Comrie (1977): Subject, Direct Object, Indirect Object, Object of Preposition, Genitive, and Object of Comparison. English relative clauses are categorized into three types: Restrictive (providing essential identifying information), Non-restrictive (providing extra information, marked by commas, and never using the pronoun "that"), and Free (headless clauses with no antecedent, e.g., "I will stay where you stay"). In English, relative pronouns and the copula $\text{be}$ can often be omitted to create reduced forms (participle, prepositional, or infinitive phrases).

Arabic relative clauses ($\text{الموصول الاسمي}$) are independent adjectival clauses linked by a relative pronoun that agrees with the antecedent in number, gender, and case (in the dual form). Arabic allows five relativizable positions: Subject, Direct Object, Indirect Object, Object of Preposition, and Genitive. A key feature of Arabic relative clauses is the resumptive pronoun ($\text{العائد}$), which marks the position of the relativized noun except when it is the subject. Arabic distinguishes between Syndetic relative clauses (used with definite antecedents, where the relative pronoun is mandatory) and Asyndetic relative clauses (used with indefinite antecedents, where the relative pronoun cannot be used and the resumptive pronoun cannot be deleted).

Contrastively, English relative pronouns assume the grammatical function of the relativized noun, while in Arabic, the resumptive pronoun assumes this function. In English, the relative pronoun is used regardless of the definiteness of the antecedent, but in Arabic, it is only used for definite antecedents. English allows the deletion of the relative pronoun and copula, and optional deletion when it replaces an object NP; Arabic does not allow this deletion because the pronoun serves as the essential tie between clauses. English permits preposition fronting (e.g., "The city about which you spoke"), which is not used in the same way in Arabic. Furthermore, English relative pronouns show animate/inanimate distinctions ($\text{who}$ vs. $\text{which}$), while Arabic pronouns focus on number, gender, and dual case.

Indirect Speech Shifts

Direct speech quotes exact words, while indirect speech reports statements using a reporting verb and a $\text{that}$-clause. In English, moving from direct to indirect speech triggers several shifts. Tense backshift (tense harmony) occurs if the reporting verb is in the past: present becomes past, and past becomes past perfect (e.g., "I want" becomes "he wanted"; "I bought" becomes "she had bought"). However, tense remains unchanged if the statement is a general truth (e.g., "The earth is round"). Pronouns shift (1st to 3rd person; 2nd to 1st or 3rd). Demonstratives shift ($\text{this/these}$ to $\text{that/those}$). Time and place adverbials change: $\text{yesterday}$ to $\text{the day before}$, $\text{now}$ to $\text{then}$, $\text{here}$ to $\text{there}$, $\text{tomorrow}$ to $\text{the next day}$, and $\text{today}$ to $\text{that day}$. Word order shifts so that subject-auxiliary inversion in questions is removed, and imperatives become declarative sentences using "to" or "not to."

In Arabic indirect speech, there is no tense backshift; the verb tense remains the same. Pronouns shift from 1st to 3rd person. Unlike English, there is no word order change in reported questions. Demonstratives change from near to distant forms ($\text{hatha} \rightarrow \text{thalika}$). The fundamental contrast is that English requires changes in tense and word order, while Arabic maintains the original tense and structure.

Conditional Sentences

English conditional sentences consist of the $\text{Apodosis}$ (main clause/result) and the $\text{Protasis}$ (conditional clause), using subordinators like $\text{if}$ and $\text{unless}$. Real conditions refer to possible situations in the present or future. Unreal conditions in the present/future refer to hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situations (e.g., "If I were you…"). Unreal conditions in the past describe impossible situations that did not happen (e.g., "If I had had enough money…"). English also features factual conditions ("If we boil water, it vaporizes") and predictive conditions. Conditional structures can also exist without $\text{if}$ through inversion (e.g., "Had she arrived earlier…").

Arabic conditional sentences consist of $\text{جملة الشرط}$ (condition) and $\text{جواب الشرط}$ (result). There are three main particles: $\text{In}$ ($\text{إن}$) and $\text{Idha}$ ($\text{إذا}$) for fulfillable/possible conditions, and $\text{Lau}$ ($\text{لو}$) for unfulfillable or contrary-to-fact conditions. In Arabic, the conditional clause usually precedes the result. With $\text{Lau}$, the particle $\text{la}$ ($\text{لا}$) is often prefixed to the main clause verb. If the result clause is not a perfect verb, it is typically preceded by $\text{fa}$ ($\text{الفاء}$).

Negation Formation and Types

English negation is formed by placing "not" after the first auxiliary verb or the copula $\text{be}$; otherwise, the dummy operator $\text{DO}$ is used. Negation can be realized through the verb (using $\text{not}$), negative forms ($\text{never}$, $\text{nobody}$, $\text{no}$, $\text{nothing}$), or semi-negative forms ($\text{scarcely}$, $\text{rarely}$, $\text{hardly}$, $\text{little}$, $\text{few}$). English has three types of negation: Clausal (the whole clause), Local (only one constituent), and Affixal (using prefixes like $\text{un-}$, $\text{a-}$, $\text{dis-}$, $\text{in-}$, \text{non-). The scope of negation refers to the part of the clause affected by the negative item; for instance, "any" is inside the scope of negation while "some" is usually outside.

Arabic negation employs particles such as $\text{maa}$ ($\text{ما}$), $\text{lam/lamma}$ ($\text{لم/لما}$), $\text{laa}$ ($\text{لا}$), $\text{lan}$ ($\text{لن}$), and the negative verb $\text{laysa}$ ($\text{ليس}$). Their use is tied to the tense or aspect of the verb. $\text{Maa}$ negates perfect verbs or equational sentences. $\text{Lam}$ negates the imperfect with a past meaning, while $\text{Lamma}$ implies the action hasn't happened yet but might. $\text{Laa}$ negates imperfect verbs or noun phrases. $\text{Lan}$ provides emphatic future negation. $\text{Laysa}$ is a defective verb used for equational sentences. Unlike English, Arabic negative particles are tied to specific tenses, and they precede the verb (preverbal negation) rather than following an auxiliary (post-auxiliary negation).