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King Saud University

College of languages and Translation
Text-linguistics for students of translation
Hand-out No. 4

The textual component: Coordination & Subordination

To be described as such, a text should exhibit two kinds of cohesion: semantic and
structural relations. The first type of textual relation is what Halliday calls semantic
cohesion; the second one is called structural cohesion, a term used in the current study to
refer to cohesive relations between clauses.
According to The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar (1994: 63), a clause is:

a grammatical unit operating at a level lower than a sentence but higher than a
phrase [.] Some modern grammar uses the clause, rather than the sentence,
as the basis of structural analysis, so that in some instances clause and
sentence are coterminous. More importantly, a clause based analysis allows a
more straightforward functional analysis into five possible elements of
English [and Arabic] clause structure.

For Halliday (1985), the notion clause is a term used in linguistic studies to refer to
any number of word groups combining to express a process, relating either explicitly or
implicitly, an agent, and an affected.
Following the method adopted by some linguists (e.g. Cantarino: 1979, Young: 1980,
etc.), for example, the analysis of English and Arabic clauses is based on a grammatical
model in which an attempt is made to incorporate the relevant syntactic features of the two
languages.
According to this model, English clauses and Arabic verbal clauses consist of the
following functional elements:

1. Subject 2. Predicator
3. In/Direct objects (optional) 4. Object Complement (optional)
5. Adjunct (optional)

These functional elements are usually realised by phrasal elements (e.g. noun phrase,
verb phrase, and prepositional phrase) but the subject, object, and complement may also be
realised by embedded subordinate clauses. The following translationally equivalent examples
exhibit this:





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[1]:
Arabic: aTa: l-muallim l-tilmi:dh kita:b-an
P S IO DO

English: The teacher gave the pupil a book.
S P IO DO



[2]:
Arabic: intakhaba l-amri:ki:yu:n ki:lintu:n rai:s-an fi: nu:fammbar
P S DO OC A

English: The Americans elected Clinton president in November.
S P DO OC A

English clauses may also contain subject complements realised either by a noun
phrase and adjective phrase, or an embedded subordinate clause (as in examples 3, 4, and 5,
respectively) or adjective complements, commonly realised by an embedded that clause (as
in example 6 below).

[3]:
John is a doctor. (Equative)
S P SC

[4]
John is very clever. (Attributive)
S P SC

[5]:
This is [what I dont like]. (Equative)
S P SC

[6]:
I am confident [that he will succeed].
S P SC (Adj. C)

In addition to verbal clauses, Arabic also has nominal clauses (clauses that begin with
a nominal). Arabic nominal clauses consist of an argument- referred to by Arab
grammarians as [al-mubtada] and a predicate-referred to as [al-khabar]. The argument is
realised by a noun phrase (having a noun or pronoun as head) or an embedded noun clause.
The predicate may be realised by a noun phrase, an adjectival phrase, a prepositional phrase,
or a verbal clause. Arabic nominal clauses resemble in many ways English clauses having the
verb to be as predicator. The main difference between the two types of clauses is that
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Arabic nominal clauses are verbless except when the predicate is a verbal clause. The
examples below illustrate some of the most basic structures of Arabic nominal clauses:

[7]:
Arabic: al-rajul-u Sadi:qi:
Argument + Predicator (NP)

English: The man is my friend.
S P SC (NP)

[8]:
Arabic: al-rajul-u fi: l-Hadi:qa
Argument + Predicator (PP)



English: The man is in the garden.
S P A (PP)
[9]:
Arabic: al-rajul-u Tawi:l-un
Argument + Predicate (Adj. P)

English: The man is tall.
S P SC (Adj. P)

The pair of clauses in example 5:8 has an equative structure (NP1/NP2); those in
example 8 have a locative structure (NP/PP of place), while those in example 9 have an
attributive structure (NP/Adj. P).
In English there are two types of clauses: coordinate/main/independent clause
(equivalent to [jumla kubra:/ jumla mustaqilla] in Arabic) and subordinate/dependent clause
(equivalent to [jumla sughra:/ ghayr mustaqilla] in Arabic).


1. Coordination

Coordination is a syntactic relation holding between grammatical elements that have
equal syntactic and semantic status. Thus, for instance, coordination at the clause level may
hold between main clauses (clauses capable of forming separate simple sentences) or
between subordinate clauses (clauses which cannot stand independently as separate
sentences). The following examples illustrate both coordination between main and
subordinate clauses:


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[10]:
Zalat ayna:ya fi: aynayh-i laHDat-an wa ibtasamt-u
[My eyes stared into his for a time, and I smiled.]
M + M

[11]:
kullama: ghalabani: l-futu:r-u aw istaSa: alayya l-ilha:m-u lakamani:
muda:ib-an fi: Sadri:
[Whenever I was overcome by weariness or my inspiration failed me he
would punch me playfully on my chest.]
S + S

According to Quirk and Geenbaum (1972), coordination can be divided into sub-
components based on two criteria: type and rank.
In terms of type, coordination is either syndetic (equivalent to [al-faSl] in Arabic)
when coordinating conjunctions between clauses or elements within the same clause are
present or asyndetic (equivalent to [al-waSl] in Arabic) when coordinating conjunctions are
not present as in the following examples:

[12]:
Arabic: udkhul ayyuha: l-walad, tana:wal al-faTu:r
[Come in O child, have some breakfast]

English: I rose to my feet, shook hands and left the room.

In the above examples, it can be seen that, in both, the second clauses are
asyndetically coordinated to the first ones.
In terms of rank, coordination is sentential (between sentences as in examples 13
below), clausal (between clauses as in examples 10-12 above), or phrasal (between phrases,
as in examples 14 below):

[13]:
Arabic: lam yakun li: dali:l-un wa hal li-lHubb-i dali:l?
[I didnt have any proof. And does love have any proof?]

English: You are seventeen years old and the gun you are carrying is
heavy. And the way is long and fierce.

[14]:
Arabic: ishtar-a l-tilmi:dh-u qalam-an wa muSTarat-an wa kita:b
[The pupil bought a pen and a ruler and a book]

English: The pupil bought a pen, a ruler, and a book.

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English and Arabic have several coordinators. In English, there are three principal
coordinators (and, or, and but). In contrast, Arabic has at least six main coordinators. In
addition to [wa] and, [aw] and [am] or, and [la:kin] but, Arabic also has [fa] and then
and [thumma], which is similar in meaning to [fa] except that a greater time gap separate the
occurrence of two actions when [thumma] is used . The difference in meaning between [wa],
[fa], and [thumma] can best be explained with reference to the following examples of phrasal
coordination:


[15]
ja:a muHammad-un wa ali:y
[Mohammed and Ali came]

[16]
ja:a muHammad-un fa ali:y
[Mohammed came and then Ali]

[17]
ja:a muHammad-un thumma ali:y
[Mohammed came + (greater time interval than in 16) and then Ali.]

The coordinator [wa] is not marked for any specific temporal sequence. Thus, in 15,
[muHammad] could have come before or after [ali:y] or they could have come at the same
time. In contrast, [fa] in 16 explicitly signals that [ali:y] came after [muHammad]. The same
holds true for [thumma] in example 17, except that the time interval between [muHammad]
and [ali:y]s coming is greater than that in example 16.


2. Subordination

The second type of syntactic cohesion is subordination. Unlike coordination, which is
a syntactic relation between grammatical elements that have equal syntactic and semantic
status, subordination is a syntactic relation between clauses that have unequal status (i.e. a
subordinate and a main clause). Inequality of status is interpreted here in both propositional
and syntactic terms. From a propositional point of view, the function of the proposition
expressed by the subordinate clause is that it either amplifies, modifies, or forms part of the
dominant proposition expressed by the main clause. From a syntactic point of view, on the
other hand, a subordinate clause usually contains a subordinating particle (also referred to as
a binding particle) which renders it incapable of standing as a separate sentence in its own
right.
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English and Arabic subordinate clauses can be divided into subcomponents based on
the two criteria: type and rank.
In terms of type, English and Arabic subordinate clauses can be divided into several
types according to the semantic and/or the syntactic features of subordinating particles.
Subordinate clauses in the two languages include the following main types (in each case
Arabic subordinating particles and their English counterparts are provided. Each clause type
is illustrated with examples from the two languages):


1. Time

The typical subordinating particles signalling this function include:
a. [Hatta:]: until b. [mundhu]: since
c. [qabla]: before d. [baynama:], [fi:yma:], [ala: Hi:yni]: while
e. [bada:]: after f. [Halama]: as soon as
g. [Hi:yna], [Hi:ynama], [lamma:], [indama:]: when

Some of the above mentioned particles are illustrated in the following examples:

[18]:
Arabic: intaZirni: Hatta: antahi: min kita:bat i-r-risa:la
[Wait for me until I finish writing the letter]

English: He worked all night until he finished the essay.

[19]:
Arabic: indama: waqafa l-qiTa:r harwaltu fi: ittija:h i-l-manaSSa
[When the train stopped, I ran toward the platform.]

English: When the results were announced, he emerged the winner.

[20]:
Arabic: bada an najaHa fi: l-imtiHa:n sa:fara ila: faransa: fi: ija:za
[After he passed his examination, he travelled to France on a
holiday.]

English: After her husband died, she rarely went out of her house.


2. Place

The only subordinating particle that signals this function is:
[Haythu]: where


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[21]:
Arabic: dhahabna: ila: l-maTam-i S-Si:ni: Haythu akalna: wajba
shahi:ya
[We went to the Chinese restaurant where we ate a delicious
meal]

English: He went to visit Egypt where he was born more than 50 years
ago.


3. Conditional

The subordinating particles in this type are:
a. [idha:], [in], [law]: if b. [inlam], [lawla:]: if not, unless

[22]:
Arabic: idha: lam taHDur fi: l-mawid fa-sawfa lan tajidani:
[If you do not come on time, you will not find me]

English: If you are not busy, please come and help me with the house.


4. Concession

The subordinating particles in this type are:
a. [bi-l-raghmi min]: although b. [maa anna]: even though

[23]:
Arabic: maa annahu Sadi:yqy fa innani:y arfuDu an usallifahu
nu:qu:wd
[Even though he is my friend, I refuse to lend him some money.]

English: Even though it is raining, the children are unwilling to come
inside.


5. Reason

The subordinating particles in this category are:
a. [li:]: because b. [idh]: since

[24]:
Arabic: lam yaHDur i-l-ijtima:a li:-annahu ka:na kha:rij al-bila:d
[He did not attend the meeting because he was outside the
country]

English: I cannot buy this car because I have no money.
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6. Purpose

The subordinating particles in this type are:
[kay], [li-kay], [li-]: so that, in order that

[25]:
Arabic: dhahabtu ila: s-su:q kay ashtariy-a qami:S
[I went to the market in order to buy a shirt.]

English: He sent the children to their grandparents so that he could
finish writing the book.


7. Manner

The subordinating particles in this type are:
[kama:], [mithlama:]: as

[26]:
Arabic: darasa l-qa:nu:n kama: faala abu:hu
[He studied the law, as did his father]

English: She cooks a turkey exactly as her mother used to do.


8. Relative clauses

English relative clauses are marked by relative pronouns such as who, whose,
whom, which, and that. Arabic, in contrast, has three conjunctive names: [al-ladhi:], and
its variants, [man], and [ma:]. The difference between the three is presented as follows:

i. [al-ladhi:] and its variants are definite with a definite antecedent. [man] and [ma:].
are indeterminately definite or indefinite depending on context, and they do not have an
antecedent. Abdulaziz Al-Aqil (1990) suggests that these two relative pronouns serve
simultaneously as antecedent and relative pronoun.

ii. Both [man] and [ma:] have single forms. In contrast, [al-ladhi:] has eight forms,
depending on whether the antecedent is feminine or masculine, and whether it is singular,
dual, or plural. The dual forms vary as to whether the case is nominative or whether it is
accusative/genitive.
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Examples 27 and 28 below illustrate English relative clauses while Arabic relative
clauses are exemplified in 29, 30, and 31:

[27]:
Nuclear weapons, which can destroy the earth several times over, should
be banned.
[28]:
The woman who lives next door is an old friend of mine.

[29]:
inna naji:b maHfu:Z, al-ladhi: Ha:za ala: ja:izat nu:bal lil-adab-i,
ka:tib-un miSri:-un maru:f-un
[(Truly) Nagib Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize for literature is a
well-known Egyptian writer.]

[30]:
inna l-kita:b al-ladhi: aTaytani: iyya:hu mufi:d-un jidd-an
[(Verily) the book that you gave me was very useful]

[31]:
man jadd-a wajad-a
[He who works hard succeeds.]

English relative clauses and Arabic clauses marked by the name [al-ladhi:] or one of
its variants can be divided into two types: restrictive (as in examples 28 and 30 above) and
non-restrictive (as in examples 27 and 29). The two types of clauses differ from each other
syntactically, semantically, phonologically, and in punctuation. Syntactically, restrictive
clauses typically function as elements within a phrase. Semantically, restrictive clauses
provide a necessary definition of their antecedents, while non-restrictive clauses provide
extra incidental information (which can be omitted) about their antecedents. Finally, non-
restrictive clauses, unlike restrictive ones, are separated by a comma from their antecedents
or placed between two commas when interrupting the main clause. (For further description,
see Abdulaziz Al-Aqil, 1990: 75-83)


9. Wh-ever marked clauses

English wh-ever words and their Arabic equivalents that mark a clause as subordinate
include:

a. [kullama:]: whenever b. [mahma:]: whatever
c. [aynama:]: wherever

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[32]:
Arabic: aynama dhahabtu istaqbalani: l-na:s bi-Hafa:wat-in ba:lighat-
in
[Wherever I went people welcomed me very warmly]

English: The bodyguards follow the president wherever he goes.

[33]:
Arabic: mahma: faalta fa-sawfa lan tanjaH
[Whatever you do, you will not succeed]

English: Whatever you do, I will remain true.


10. [inna] and [anna] that marked clauses

[inna] and [anna], both translated into English as complementizer that, commonly
mark clauses as subordinate in Arabic, especially after verbs expressing verbal acts (just as in
English). The following examples illustrate this type of subordinate clause:

[34]:
Arabic: qa:la (inna-hu sawfa yaHDuru ghadan)
[He said (that he would come tomorrow)]

English: They told me [that I should have come earlier].

In addition to these various clause types, English also has non-finite subordinate
clauses marked by non-finite verbs: the -ing form, the past participle, and the infinitive, as
in:

[35]:
a. Leaving by a side door, the president came face to face with hostile
demonstrators.

b. Saddened by what he saw on TV last night, the president vowed to
send more relief supplies to Somalia.

c. To stimulate growth, the Chancellor must come out with an alternative
policy.

Arabic also has three more types of subordinate clauses that seem to differ not only
from English subordinate clauses but also from the other Arabic subordinate clauses. These
types of Arabic subordinate clauses are described as follows:



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i. Circumstantial clauses [jumlat-u- l-Ha:l]

Semantically, circumstantial clauses in the Arabic language- referred to by Arab
grammarians as [jumla Ha:li:ya], describe the condition or status of any entity in a
preceding main clause. Syntactically, a circumstantial clause typically contains [wa] and
referred to by Arab grammarians as [wa:w-u- l-Ha:l], a coreferential independent pronoun
(referring back to the entity mentioned in the main clause), and an imperfect verb together
with a variety of other optional clause elements. Another important feature of the
circumstantial clause is that it can stand alone as an independent simple sentence, as in:

[36]
kharajat ila: sh-sha:ri wa hiya tarfau wajhaha: li-nismat al-fajr al-
ba:rid l-raTibba
[She went to the street (and she raising her face) to the cold moist dawn
breeze.]

Another version of the circumstantial clause becoming more common nowadays is to
omit the [wa] and the coreferential pronoun as in the following example:

[37]
kharajat ila: sh-sha:ri tarfau wajhaha: li-nismat al-fajr al-ba:rid l-
raTibba
[She went to the street raising her face to the cold moist dawn breeze.]

It is worth noting here that even though the independent pronoun is omitted in
example 5:38, the clause still contains the masked subject feminine pronoun [hiya] she
signalled by the feminine particle [ta] at the beginning of the verb [tarfa-u]. Thus, even
when the explicit pronoun is omitted, the clause still contains a subject pronoun in addition to
the verb. In this way, the clause would still be able to function as an independent sentence.

ii. Explanatory clause [al-jumla l-tafsi:ri:ya]

In semantic terms, a proposition expressed in Arabic by an explanatory clause-
referred to by Arab grammarians as [jumla tafsi:ri:ya]- provides more explanation or
exemplification of the proposition expressed by the main clause. Syntactically, however, the
explanatory clause, just like the circumstantial clause, contains all the clause elements
enabling it to stand as an independent sentence in its own right, as in:




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[38]
Arabic: ha:dha: l-kha:lu l-ghari:bu l-ladhi: yuTliq-u asma: ukhra:
ala: l-ashya:, yaqu:lu lahu waladd badal an yuna:diyahu bi-
ismih-i wa yussammi: l-bunduqi:ya l-qadi:ma midfa

[This strange uncle who gives different names to things, he calls
him a child instead of calling him by his name, and he calls the
old rifle a cannon]

English: What a strange uncle this is who gives things all different
names, who says child to him instead of calling him by his own
name, and who refers to the old rifle as a cannon.

It is interesting to observe that in the above example, the English version renders the
Arabic explanatory clauses as relative clauses (marked by who), thus, explicitly marking
them as syntactically subordinate.

iii. Relative clauses (with no relative pronouns)

In addition to relative clauses marked by the relative pronouns [al-ladhi:], [man], or
[ma:], Arabic has also another type of relative clause characterised by the absence of a
relative pronoun. The antecedent of such clauses is always indefinite. Further, such relative
clauses are also typically capable syntactically of acting as separate sentences, as in:

[39]
ash-sha:bbi: sha:ir arabi: taaththara kathi:r-an bi-l shuara: l-
ru:mansiyi:n l-inqili:z.

[Al-Shabi is an Arab poet he was very much influenced by the English
romantic poets.]

Again, an English translation of the above Arabic clause would render it as
syntactically subordinate by the use of a relative pronoun (i.e. who was very much
influenced by the English romantic poets).
In terms of rank, English and Arabic subordinate clauses, within the rank system of
the grammatical categories in systemic grammar, normally function as elements of sentences
(immediate constituent of sentences). In this case, subordinate clauses are said to be non-
embedded as in the following examples:





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[40]
Arabic: sawfa azu:ruka indama: aHDur-u ila: landan
[I will visit you when I come to London]

English: If it rains, we will not be able to play tennis.

In both languages, sentences which have more than one clause often constitute both
coordination and subordination. The clearest cases of such combinations are listed below
(subordination is indicated by an arrow pointing towards the main clause/s):

i. (S + S) M

In this pattern, two or more coordinated subordinate clauses are jointly subordinated
to a main clause:

[41]
(1)\idha: ata: mubakkir-an/(2)\wa idha: aHDar-a kulla l-
mablagh/(3)\fa-saabi: lahu s-sai:ya:ra./

[(1)\If he comes early/(2)\and if he brings all the money,/(3)\I will sell
him the car./]



ii. (M + M) S

In this pattern, two or more coordinated main clauses jointly dominate a subordinated
clause:

[42]
(1)\ghaDiba l-usta:dh\(2)\wa kharaja min al-faSl/(3)\li-anna t-tala:midh
ka:nu: yuSdiru:n aSwa:t muzija

[(1)\The teacher became angry/(2)\and left the classroom/ (3)\because
the pupils were making a lot of noise./]


iii. (S M) + (S M)

This pattern contains two subordinations and one coordination:






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[43]
(1)\indama: adhhabu ila: ba:ri:s/(2)\aqDi: muZam awqa:ti: fi: t-
tasawuq/(3)\wa-la:kin indama: adhhabu ila: landan/(4)\aqDi:
muZam-a awqa:ti: fi: l-masraH./

[(1)\When I go to Paris,/(2)\I spend most of my time shopping,/(3)\but
when I go to London,/(4)\I spend most of my time in the theatre./]


iv. M + (M S)

The first and second main clauses are coordinated and the subordinate clause is
subordinated only to the second main clause:

[44]
(1)\HaDara aHmad/(2)\wa la:kin ali:y lam yaHDur/(3)\li-annahu mari:D./

[(1)\Ahmad came/(2)\but Ali couldnt/(3)\because he was sick./]

Finally, it is possible for a subordinate clause to be subordinated to another subordinate
clause, as in the following example:

[45]
tadhakkartu [anna abi: qa:l-a (innahu lam yashtari sayya:arat-an {lam
tujibh-u})].

[I remembered [that my father had said (that he had not bought a car {he
hadnt liked})].

In the above example, it can be seen that the last relative clause is subordinated to the
preceding that clause (qualifier of head noun car) and this that clause (second clause) is
subordinated to the first that clause (object of said), which is in turn subordinated to the
initial main clause (object of remembered). Thus, the sentence contains three instances of
subordination.