A Contrastive Study of the Conjunctions Y and WA in Spanish and Arabic

Abstract

Researchers agree on the universal and unique meaning of copulative conjunctions in different it has almost the same meaning as the connector & in logic. Its different values are due to the inference procedures applied by the receiver when decoding messages. This suggests that it would not be feasible to conduct a contrastive study on the uses of this connector in more than one language. In this paper we try to demonstrate the feasibility of such a study since, even though the universal meaning of this connector is undeniable, the coincidence that it has the same value in different languages is only located in the system. Yet there are facts of norm and differences of structure that can influence the procedures of inference applied in the decoding of a message. Hence, the copulative connector might show some values and particular uses in one specific language, but not necessarily in another. We will limit our study to the use of these two conjunctions as connectors between clauses.