Time expressions in Jordanian spoken Arabic : an ethno-linguistic statement

Abstract EN

Time expressions in Arabic constitute a set of forms reflecting some culture-specific ethnolinguistic patterns of communication.

These patterns are translatable into modern world languages, e.g.

English.

Although the translation is comprehensible, the time expression may sound strange to non-Arabs.

Such is the relativity of linguistic expressions.

Non-Arabs may wonder why ba9d bukra ‘ (lit) after tomorrow ’ should specify ‘ the day after tomorrow ’ whereas ba9d ?usbuu9 ‘ after a week ’ is not nearly as specific.

Note that ba9id bukra is a day of the week, but ba9id ?usbuu9 denotes a period whose duration may extend for days beyond the specified week.

A Jordanian who says bašuufak ba9id bukra commits himself to seeing his interlocutor on ‘the day after tomorrow’, whereas bašuufak ba9id ?usbuu9 does not commit the speaker to seeing his interlocutor on the day that comes after the week in question ends.

The article discusses a sample of spoken Jordanian time-expressions, and provides ethnolinguistic (and pragmatic) explanations of their meanings in the contexts in which they occur.

In the concluding section, an attempt is made to point out a few implications as to the way some loose time-expressions may sound to a recipient coming from a western culture where the minutes and seconds count in the life of men and women.