--- title: "Left Dislocation in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects — Khan 2016" description: "Khan examines how North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects place a noun phrase at the front of a clause and then… 14 references, cited by 2 papers here." authors: ["Geoffrey Khan"] year: 2016 venue: "Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 50" source: "https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/718" doi: "10.5842/50-0-718" licence: "CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus)" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/khan-2016-left-dislocation-north-eastern-neo/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/khan-2016-left-dislocation-north-eastern-neo/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2016](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2016/page/3/) / Left Dislocation in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects # Left Dislocation in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects **Authors:** [Geoffrey Khan](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/geoffrey-khan/) · **Year:** 2016 · **Venue:** Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 50 · **Licence:** CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus) **Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5842/50-0-718) · [PDF](https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/article/download/718/688) · [DOI 10.5842/50-0-718](https://doi.org/10.5842/50-0-718) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2581252814) **Citations:** 32 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) · [2](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/khan-2016-left-dislocation-north-eastern-neo/cited-by/) in our library, of the 140,884 papers whose bibliographies we read ## Summary Khan examines how North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects place a noun phrase at the front of a clause and then refer back to it inside the clause, a pattern known as Left Dislocation (LD). Using recorded spoken material from several Jewish and Christian dialects, he identifies two types. In LD1, the fronted item is tightly bound to the clause: there is no intonation break and only a pronominal affix picks it up again. In LD2, the item is set apart by a pause, an independent pronoun, a full noun, or no resumption at all. Diagnostic tests show that LD1 items act like ordinary subjects. They can be non-referential, downward-entailing, questioned, or in narrow focus. LD2 items must be topics. When the fronted item is topical, both types signal the start of a new discourse unit, which fronted objects do not do. The author concludes that LD items are kinds of subjects on a grammaticalization path. In some ergative and possessive constructions this path has ended with the fronted item reanalysed as the sole subject. ## Key points - NENA is one of four Neo-Aramaic groups. Speakers of its dialects lived across the north of Iraq, the north-west of Iran and the south-east of Turkey, as well as in Armenia and Georgia. - The examples come from C. Urmi, Barwar, J. Arbel, J. Sanandaj and Qaraqosh, drawn from Khan's earlier grammars (1999–2016b). - The tests that separate LD1 from LD2 are: - quantifiers such as "nobody" or "few people"; - nuclear-stress narrow focus; - interrogative words in the fronted slot. - In LD2, focus can only fall on a resumptive independent pronoun, never on the dislocated noun itself. - A fronted object with a matching object clitic looks like LD1 on the surface but does not mark a discourse boundary. Fronted topical objects instead express cohesion with the preceding text. ## Interesting ideas - Integration is graded along separate formal cues (prosodic break, clitic vs. free pronoun vs. full noun vs. nothing), so a construction gets a profile rather than a single binary label; this keeps distinct phenomena from being merged. - Operator tests (negative quantifiers, "few X", wh-words, contrastive focus) serve as diagnostics for whether a fronted element is a true subject or only a topic. - Fronting a topical subject or dislocated item marks the onset of a new discourse section or shift. Fronting an object signals continuity or recapitulation instead. - Some LD patterns are triggered inside the clause by argument semantics (experiencers, impersonal subjects) rather than by the surrounding discourse. This separates grammar-driven word order from pragmatics-driven word order. - A dislocated noun plus an independent pronoun can carry contrastive focus ("he, and nobody else"). ## For Mova How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests: - **I1** (tree): When converting or parsing dislocations, record the type of resumption (affix, pronoun, noun, none) as a feature, so that `dislocated` attachments carry their degree of integration. - **I2** (learn): Build negative-control probes that put quantified or wh-phrases into dislocated slots, and check whether the parser and frame builder treat them consistently. - **I3** (world): Use subject/LD fronting as a cue for segment boundaries when ordering events, and treat object-fronted clauses as elaborating the current event rather than adding a new one. - **I4** (frames): For experiencer verbs, map a fronted possessor-like noun to the Experiencer role, and do not read it as a discourse topic shift. - **I5** (frames): Treat a dislocated noun followed by a stressed resumptive pronoun as an exclusive-focus cue, producing an implicature that alternatives are excluded. *Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.* Fields: [Linguistics & languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/linguistics/) Topics: [🕎 Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [🐪 Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/) ## Institutions - [University of Cambridge](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-cambridge/) — University, Cambridge, United Kingdom · 119 works · 110,950 citations ## Cite Cite as: Geoffrey Khan. 2016. Left Dislocation in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 50. The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ```bibtex @inproceedings{khan2016left, title = {{Left Dislocation in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects}}, author = {Geoffrey Khan}, booktitle = {Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 50}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.5842/50-0-718}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5842/50-0-718} } ``` - [← previous Bilingually-constrained Synthetic Data for Implicit Discourse Relation Recognition](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/wu-2016-bilingually-constrained-synthetic-data-implicit/) - [next → Phrase Detectives Corpus 1.0 Crowdsourced Anaphoric Coreference.](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/chamberlain-2016-phrase-detectives-corpus-1-0/) - [↑ back to papers of 2016](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2016/page/3/) ## References 14 references, 1 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Alexopoulou, T., E. Doron, and C. Heycock. 2004. Broad subjects and clitic left dislocation. In D. Adger, C. de Cat, and G. Tsoulas (Eds.) Peripheries: Syntactic Edges and Their Effects. Dordrecht: Kluwer. pp. 329–358. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Alexopoulou%2C+T%2E%2C+E%2E+Doron%2C+and+C%2E+Heycock%2E+2004%2E+Broad+subjects+and+clitic+left+dislocation%2E+In+D%2E+Adger%2C+C%2E+de+Cat%2C+and+G%2E+Tsoulas+%28Eds%2E%29+Peripheries%3A+Syntactic+Edges+and+Their+Effects%2E+Dordrecht%3A+Kl) 2. Chafe, W. L. 1994. Discourse, Consciousness, and Time: The Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Chafe%2C+W%2E+L%2E+1994%2E+Discourse%2C+Consciousness%2C+and+Time%3A+The+Flow+and+Displacement+of+Conscious+Experience+in+Speaking+and+Writing%2E+Chicago%3A+University+of+Chicago+Press%2E) 3. Doron, E., and C. Heycock. 1999. Filling and licensing multiple specifiers. In D. Adger, S. Pintzuk, B. Plunkett, and G. Tsoulas (Eds.) Specifiers: Minimalist Approaches, Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 69–89. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Doron%2C+E%2E%2C+and+C%2E+Heycock%2E+1999%2E+Filling+and+licensing+multiple+specifiers%2E+In+D%2E+Adger%2C+S%2E+Pintzuk%2C+B%2E+Plunkett%2C+and+G%2E+Tsoulas+%28Eds%2E%29+Specifiers%3A+Minimalist+Approaches%2C+Oxford%3A+Oxford+University+Pre) 4. Doron, E., and C. Heycock. 2003. Categorical Subjects. Gengo Kenkyu 123. 95–135. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Doron%2C+E%2E%2C+and+C%2E+Heycock%2E+2003%2E+Categorical+Subjects%2E+Gengo+Kenkyu+123%2E+95%E2%80%93135%2E) 5. Doron, Edit, and Geoffrey Khan. 2012. The Typology of Morphological Ergativity in Neo Aramaic. Lingua 122. 225–40. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2011.11.008) 6. Khan, G. 1999. A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel. Boston, MA: Brill Academic Publishers. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+1999%2E+A+Grammar+of+Neo%2DAramaic%3A+The+Dialect+of+the+Jews+of+Arbel%2E+Boston%2C+MA%3A+Brill+Academic+Publishers%2E) 7. Khan, G. 2002. The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 36. Boston, MA: Brill. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+2002%2E+The+Neo%2DAramaic+Dialect+of+Qaraqosh%2E+Studies+in+Semitic+Languages+and+Linguistics+36%2E+Boston%2C+MA%3A+Brill%2E) 8. Khan, G. 2004. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sulemaniyya and Ḥalabja. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 44. Leiden: Brill. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+2004%2E+The+Jewish+Neo%2DAramaic+Dialect+of+Sulemaniyya+and+%E1%B8%A4alabja%2E+Studies+in+Semitic+Languages+and+Linguistics+44%2E+Leiden%3A+Brill%2E) 9. Khan, G. 2007. The North Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects. Journal of Semitic Studies 52. 1–20. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+2007%2E+The+North+Eastern+Neo%2DAramaic+Dialects%2E+Journal+of+Semitic+Studies+52%2E+1%E2%80%9320%2E) 10. Khan, G. 2008a. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Urmi. Gorgias Neo-Aramaic Studies. Piscataway: Gorgias. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+2008a%2E+The+Jewish+Neo%2DAramaic+Dialect+of+Urmi%2E+Gorgias+Neo%2DAramaic+Studies%2E+Piscataway%3A+Gorgias%2E) 11. Khan, G. 2008b. The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar. Leiden: Brill. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+2008b%2E+The+Neo%2DAramaic+Dialect+of+Barwar%2E+Leiden%3A+Brill%2E) 12. Khan, G. 2009. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sanandaj. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Khan%2C+G%2E+2009%2E+The+Jewish+Neo%2DAramaic+Dialect+of+Sanandaj%2E+Piscataway%2C+NJ%3A+Gorgias+Press%2E) 13. Westbury, J. 2016a. Left Dislocation: a typological overview. Stellenbosch Papers in Lingusitics Plus 50. 21–45. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Westbury%2C+J%2E+2016a%2E+Left+Dislocation%3A+a+typological+overview%2E+Stellenbosch+Papers+in+Lingusitics+Plus+50%2E+21%E2%80%9345%2E) 14. Westbury, J. 2016b. A Functional Profile of Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew. Stellenbosch Papers in Lingusitics Plus 50. 65–90. [our card](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/westbury-2016-functional-profile-left-dislocation-biblical/)