Gaps and resumptive pronouns in Modern Standard Arabic

Alotaibi, Mansour; Borsley, Robert D.

doi:10.21248/hpsg.2013.1

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(7 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Now, let us examine if HA adheres to the that-trace effect or not. Consider the following examples in (10) below. The example in (10a) demonstrates the surprising ungrammaticality of extracting the wh-phrase in the lower clause, considering that null-subject languages (NSLs) typically allow for a subject trace after the complementizer 'that'.…”

Section: That-trace Violationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pronominal clitic related to the CLLDed element is a direct object clitic. An additional backing for this stance is the observation that in SA, the DP following the complementizer 'Ɂinna'-whether directly after it as in (12a) or with an intervening element like a prepositional phrase (PP) as in (12b)-necessitates an accusative case (Alotaibi, 2019;Alotaibi & Borsley, 2013;Aoun, 1981;Berjaoui, 2009). This is illustrated in the following example in (12) The ungrammaticality of (10a) does not arise due to the that-trace effect, but rather from the premise that the DP after the complementizer functions as a topic and can occasionally be followed by an object.…”

Section: That-trace Violationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pro-Drop in Hijazi Arabic: A Minimalist Perspective

AlQurashi

2023

ESJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper focuses on investigating the null subjects in Hijazi Arabic and addresses how they are derived and interpreted. There is a strong connection between rich verbal agreement inflection and pro-drop in HA due to the language's highly inflectional nature. It is shown in this paper that HA is a consistent null subject language. This study is framed within Holmberg's (2005, 2010) theory of null subjects. Holmberg proposed that null subjects (henceforth NSs) are defective subject pronouns labeled Ps. The null subjects are derived via incorporation into T after the features valuation and union take place. The head T (a probe) has unvalued -features which are valued by the defective subject pronoun (a goal) and in return, the [u case] feature on P is valued by T. The incorporation of P into T forms a chain which is subject to chain reduction where the lower chain copy (the defective subject pronoun in spec-VP) receives a null spell out. The pronounced elements consist of the valued φ-features of T, which manifest as a verbal affix on the finite verb subsequent to the verb's incorporation into T. This reflects the deletion of the subject in spec-VP. The null subject is interpreted as a definite 3rd person null subject when the [uD(efiniteness)] feature of P is valued by an A-Topic (antecedent) in spec-TopP. On the other hand, it is interpreted as a definite 1st or 2nd person null subject if it is valued by speaker/addressee features in the domain of C (Complementizer).

show abstract

Section: That-trace Violationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: That-trace Violationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pro-Drop in Hijazi Arabic: A Minimalist Perspective

AlQurashi

2023

ESJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, Alotaibi [ 38 ] assumed that “the preverbal NP in SVO is base-generated as a topic, rather than a subject. The moved wh-non-subject moves to [Spec-FocP], while the wh-subject is base-generated in [Spec-TopP]” (p.1).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alotaibi [ 38 ] also indicated that “a problem arises when the non-subject wh-phrases move over the SV order” (p.1). Therefore, the preverbal DP in SVO order is considered a Topic ( mubtada‘ ), while the post-verbal DP is merely a subject ( fā’il ) located within the v*P phase.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The syntax of wh-questions in unaccusative and (Un)ergative structures in Mehri language: A Phase-based approach

Fakih,

Al-Qumairi,

Alzubi

2023

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Mehri Language is an endangered language spoken in eastern Yemen, a sub-group of the Semitic language family, and a Southern Arabic language. The syntax of Mehri wh-questions has not been explored within minimalism; hence, there is a morpho-syntactic need to provide a modern analysis of wh-questions in order to show how the interrogative structures can be derived. This study aims to examine the syntax of the wh-question movement in Mehri’s unaccusative/ergative and unergative structures and answer the following questions within Chomsky’s (2000 and 2008) Phase-based Theory: (i) Does the Mehri language allow fronting of wh-phrases to [Spec-CP]? And (ii) how can wh-movement in Mehri unaccusative and (un)ergative structures be accounted for? This work presents a novel analysis of wh-question movement in unaccusative/ergative and unergative structures in Mehri; it demonstrates that the source head C triggers the movement of wh-adjunct and wh-subject phrases. In wh-adjunct extraction, two strategies are employed: overt wh-fronting and wh-in-situ; when the head Foc inherits an edge feature from C, wh-adjunct overtly undergoes movement from its original position within v*P to the left peripheries of [Spec-FocP] and subsequently to [Spec-CP]. When the lexical wh-adjunct remains within v*P, its question features covertly move to [Spec-CP], because the head Foc does not inherit an edge feature from C. In wh-subject extraction, the wh-subject overly undergoes movement to [Spec-CP] because C obligatorily inherits the edge feature to the head Top, which triggers movement of the illogical subject in unaccusative/ergative structures and the logical external specifier in unergative structures to [Spec-CP]. Moreover, Mehri obeys the Phase Impenetrability Condition of Chomsky, where wh-subject and wh-adjunct phrases must pass through certain phases until [Spec-CP].

show abstract

“…Wh-questions in Arabic dialects are formed via a variety of strategies. In Modern Standard Arabic, for example, wh-questions can be formed by moving the wh-phrase to the beginning of the sentence (4) or by a strategy of resumption ( 5) 1 (e.g., Alotaibi & Borsley, 2013;Aoun et al, 2010).…”

Section: Linguistic Facts In Najdi Arabicmentioning

confidence: 99%

The D-Linking Effect on Wh-Extractions from Islands and Non-Islands in L1 Speakers and L2 Learners of English

2021

JRLT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the effect of discourse-linked (d-linked) wh-phrases on acceptability of whextractions from islands and non-islands. Native speakers of English (n = 27) and Najdi Arabic learners of English (n = 31) rated on a 7-point scale their acceptability of wh-questions with bare and d-linked wh-extractions from islands and non-islands (e.g., *what i /*which movie i does she wonder [why he might hate __ i ]?). Learners, like native speakers, showed sensitivity to island constraints as reflected in their low acceptability ratings of wh-extractions from islands. Learners, like native speakers, were also more sensitive to strong (universal constraints) than to weak islands (language-specific constraints), as predicted by Belikova and White's (2009) proposal. Moreover, both native speakers and learners exhibited a d-linking effect on whextractions from wh-islands, rating d-linked higher than bare wh-extractions. As for the source of this d-linking effect, the results of native speakers rather than learners, who could have been misled by the semantic cues of d-linked wh-phrases, suggest that this d-linking effect is more likely caused by the d-linked wh-phrase's denotation of discrete individuals as claimed by the semantic account of d-linking effect.

show abstract

Gaps and resumptive pronouns in Modern Standard Arabic

Cited by 8 publications

References 4 publications

Pro-Drop in Hijazi Arabic: A Minimalist Perspective

Pro-Drop in Hijazi Arabic: A Minimalist Perspective

The syntax of wh-questions in unaccusative and (Un)ergative structures in Mehri language: A Phase-based approach

The D-Linking Effect on Wh-Extractions from Islands and Non-Islands in L1 Speakers and L2 Learners of English

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About