This book is primarily a synchronic account of the syntax of Sanani Arabic. The illustrative
material is taken from the author's own field notes and from publications of Sanani jokes
sayings proverbs short stories and personal narratives. Chapter 1-3 provide a general
introduction to the phonology and morphology of the dialect plus general syntactic notions
with the principal purpose of facilitating comprehension of the transcription system and the
syntax. Chapter 3 also establishes parts of speech. The main part of the book Chapter 4-10
examines the way in which these parts of speech function in the larger syntactic units of
phrase clause and complex clause. It is argued that each syntactic unit has three components:
two constituents (a modified term and a modifier) the syntactic relationship linking these
constituents and the semantic implications of that relationship. The following syntactic
relationships are examined: predication complementation annexion attribution negation
coordination and supplementation. Chapter 11 looks beyond the clause and using examples from
extended texts considers the role of co-reference in discourse.
