Arabic Modifying Adjectives and DP Structures

Abstract

Important characteristics of the Arabic adjectival system are investigated, in view of the question of how the DP system is organized. A first series of issues include: (a) how adjective serialization observes quasi-universal hierarchical ordering restrictions (or their mirror image order), (b) how adjectives and other modifiers and determiners alternate in postnominal and prenominal positions, and (c) how distributional classes of adjectives relate to attributive/predicative, or head/modifier uses. A second series concerns (d) inflectional properties of adjectives (including Case, Definiteness, and Number and Gender features), and their Head/Spec dependent status. Such questions are approached through postulating an articulated (fissioned) DP structure. Structural grounds are provided for checking various inflectional features in hierarchically ordered, but autonomous DP domains. AP (or A) movement, as well as N and Possessor raisings, are independently motivated. Cross-linguistic variation follows, depending on whether all, some, or none of these processes are involved, to yield convergent derivations. APs (along with NPs) are treated as DPs, taking into account their inflectional and interpretational behaviours. Definiteness inheritance and Genitive checking are reanalyzed in view of new empirical and theoretical considerations of synthetic possessive structures.

Concord and agreement features in Modern Standard Arabic

“…These agreement patterns have been mentioned in varying degrees in previous literature (see Fassi Fehri 1999;Ouhalla 2004;Shlonsky 2004;Assiri 2011; Alqassas 2013; a.o.). Of these analyses, only Assiri (2011) and Alqassas (2013) directly propose formal analyses of the phenomenon.…”

False resultatives: The interaction of agreement and creation in Northern Galilee Levantine Arabic

“…Arabic nouns are marked for gender, either masculine or feminine (masculine singular is the default form), and they are marked for number, either singular, dual, or plural (Corbett 1991;Fassi Fehri 1999;Ryding 2005). 14 The details of NG Arabic number and gender marking and of adjective-noun agreement are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively (and see Fassi Fehri 1984 for discussion of number agreement).…”

The Derivation of Vocative Exclamatives with the Particle ʔaya in Gulf Arabic

“…Therefore, when forming the vocative exclamative, a definite article is merged with the adjective to form a definite phrase (DP). In line with [9], an adjective can be definite because of an agreement with the D feature when it is located under a DP. The VocE particle ʔaya is mainly associated with a [2-p] feature and with a [3-p] feature in some constructions.…”