Viktor Bielický

In this synchronic study we scrutinize multi-word sequences of different structure and complexity that fulfil the function of prepositions in contemporary Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Many of these structures such as bi-sababi “because of”, natīǧatan li- “as a result of”, ‘alā r-raġmi min “in spite of”, bi-ġaḍḍi n-naḍari ‘an “regardless of” and ǧanban ʼilā ǧanbin ma‘a “side by side with”, which occur especially in more formal registers of MSA (including Media Arabic), underwent the process of grammaticalization and became a part of the Arabic lexicon. We gathered 230 multi-word sequences of this type and analyzed them as to their structure, syntax and semantics using a large corpus of newspaper texts. The complex prepositions in question, representing Prep-N, Prep1-N-Prep2 and indefNacc-Prep structural types, are used mainly as heads of prepositional phrases functioning as adjuncts, which express miscellaneous semantic relations.
Keywords: Modern Standard Arabic, Media Arabic, prepositions, complex prepositions, syntax, semantics.

This study focuses on life and works of professor Jaroslav Oliverius (*1933), a prominent Czech arabist and hebraist, who is currently professor emeritus at the Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. First, authors concentrate on his life and studies during which he met some outstanding Czechoslovak orientalists. The authors also pay attention to more than five decades of his dedicated teaching within both Arabic and Hebrew studies. However, in the very core of the article the authors attempt to review Oliverius’ scholarly work comprising domains such as Arabic folk literature, classical and modern Arabic literature, Egyptian literary criticism and Egyptian drama. The last part of the study deals with Oliverius’ translation activities from both classical and modern Arabic literature.