الفهرس 
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the debatable hypothesis that Arabic verbs are more Aspectoriented than Tense-oriented. It tackles the idea that Arabic Imperfective verbs can be
used to denote different time references by virtue of being purely ‘timeless’ and having
no accurate indication of time. Hence, in this thesis, the researcher focuses on studying
various Imperfective verb forms in Qur’anic Arabic to provide further evidence on the
hypothesis and verify that such verbs are solely ‘timeless’ and denote no accurate time
reference.
The study is mainly Qur’anic research that bases its main activity on collecting and
examining data from the Ever-Glorious Qur’ān, mainly Sūrat Al-Kahf [The Cave], which
is the primary source. Other main sources used are books, academic research papers, and
other relevant articles and journals.
The main goal behind this paper is to:
e) study the function of context, modality, and morpho-syntactic devices in
determining the aspectual connotation of an utterance and its denoted time
reference, and
f) analyse different Imperfective syntactic constructions mentioned in Sūrat al-Kahf
[The Cave].
The main research questions tackled in the paper include:
f) How can an Imperfective verb form have different indications of time?
g) Do modality and particles play a role in defining the actual time reference of an
Imperfective verb?
The research methodology followed in the study is more qualitative than quantitative,
depending on interpreting both the linguistic as well as the situational context of different
Imperfective constructions mentioned in the sūrah.
The approach followed is a descriptive-analytical approach, in which the researcher
has worked on describing the aspectual connotation of some of the Imperfective
constructions mentioned in the sūrah as well as analysing their different syntactic
constructions, within the framework of Chomsky’s Minimalist Program (MP) as well as
the scope of Arabic grammar.
This research work is composed of five chapters. Chapter One provides an
introduction that brings out the significance of the study, the main objectives as well as
the methodology used in the data collection in addition to a brief about the study findings.
Chapter Two provides a literature review about the difference between the notions of
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Tense and Aspect then moves on to indicate the difference between both the Perfective
and the Imperfective, based on some linguists such as Comrie, Benmamoum, Socin and
others. Chapter Three introduces the study’s theoretical framework by giving a glimpse
about the Arabic verbal morphology in general then moves on to discuss the
morphological form of Imperfective verbs and explains different Imperfective mood
inflections. Chapter Four tackles various syntactic derivations for different Imperfective
constructions and works on confirming the fact that the Minimalist Program is adequate
in analysing different constructions in Standard Arabic (SA) and the language of the
Qur’ān. Finally, chapter Five outlines the conclusion and the main study findings, which
indicate that there are three major elements that determine the indication of time in the
Imperfective: first is the role of the context itself, which is the most important factor in
defining the aspectual connotation as well as the time reference denoted by the verb in
use; the second is the ‘modality’ or the speaker’s approach regarding an utterance and his
actual intended speech act; whereas the third is the use of specific morpho-syntactic
devices, exemplified in the use of particles, adverbials, mood inflections, etc.
Thus, we can evidentially say that Arabic Imperfective verbs have Aspect and not
Tense or Time, in the sense that they are more action-oriented since they pay more
attention to the action denoted by a verb rather than to the point of time at which it
occurs. Accordingly, an Arabic Imperfective verb form is purely timeless and has in itself
no absolute indication of time.