The Communicative Grammatical Function of Cognate Infinitives in Lebanese Arabic

Cognate Infinitives have been identified and described as productive linguistic features within Arabic language and along the Semitic continuum. However, their full range of function remains largely unstudied in the spoken varieties of Arabic. This study proposes a new grammatical model for the analysis and description of Cognate Infinitives in Lebanese Arabic that accounts for this feature’s semantic, informational, affective and social functions. It suggests that Cognate Infinitives function as focus markers and are efficient communicative tools for a variety of attention management actions as well as for ‘face’ management strategies. The findings of this study therefore replace the omnipresent notion of “adverbial emphasis” with a definition of “focus” that comprises both informational and affective factors.