Cover not available
Part of
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXIV: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Tucson, Arizona, 2020
Edited by Mahmoud Azaz
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 12] 2023
► pp. 105–124

Morphological case, ɸ-agreement, and overt movement interactions in Arabic grammar

ORCID logo | The University of Jordan

Following Alshamari (2017) and Jarrah (2019), this article offers evidence in favor of systematic interactions of morphological case, ɸ-agreement and overt movement in Arabic grammar. It essentially argues that these three aspects of grammar serve one specific purpose, namely to record (i.e., express) Agree dependencies (of the Agree operation; cf. Chomsky, 2001) at the interface level of Phonetic Form (PF). To this end, constructions that include subject-verb agreement, (non-)agreeing discourse markers, and complementizer agreement in Standard Arabic and Arabic dialects (particularly Jordanian Arabic and Najdi Arabic) are examined. The study proposes that Agree dependencies, which occur in the narrow syntax (before spellout), are recorded at PF through morphological case (assigned by the probe on the goal), and if not, then by ɸ-inflections (of the goal on the probe) or, if not, by overt movement of the goal to (Spec of XP headed by) the probe. Such interactions imply that morphological case bleeds ɸ-agreement which in turn is found to bleed overt movement. Exceptions to this rule are discussed and independently motivated.

Keywords: agree, case, interface conditions, overt movement
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Morphological case, ɸ-agreement, and movement interactions
    • 2.1Case and ɸ-agreement interactions
    • 2.2ɸ-agreement and movement interactions
  • 3.Recording syntactic dependencies at the interface
  • 4.No A-movement
  • 5.Challenging phenomena
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 6 January 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.12.05jar
References
Ahmed, H.
(2015) Verbal complementizers in Arabic. Diss. The University of Utah.
Al-Balushi, R.
(2018) The Relationship between Agreement and Morphological Case: Evidence from Arabic. Concentric: Studies in Linguistics, 44, 69–109.Google Scholar
Alshamari, M.
(2017) Topic particles in the North Hail dialect of Najdi Arabic. Diss. Newcastle University.
Aoun, J., Benmamoun, E., & Choueiri, L.
(2010) The syntax of Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baker, M.
(2008) The syntax of agreement and concord. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) On the relationship of object agreement and accusative case: evidence from Amharic. Linguistic Inquiry, 43, 255–274. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) On agreement and its relationship to case: Some generative ideas and results. Lingua, 130, 14–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Béjar, S.
(2003) Phi-syntax: A theory of agreement. Diss. University of Toronto.
Benmamoun, E.
(2000) The feature structure of functional categories: a comparative study of Arabic dialects. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berwick, R., & Chomsky, N.
(2011) The biolinguistic program: The current state of its development. In D. Sciullo, A. Boeckx, & C. Boeckx. (eds.), The Biolinguistic Enterprise: New Perspectives on the Evolution and Nature of the Human Language Faculty (pp. 19–41). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cecchetto, C., & Oniga, R.
(2004) A challenge to null case theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 351, 141–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N.
(2001) Derivation by phase. In M. Kenstowicz. (ed.), Ken Hale. A Life in Language (pp. 1–52). Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
(2007) Approaching UG from below. In M. Gärtner, & U. Sauerland. (eds.), Interfaces+ recursion= language? Chomsky’s minimalism and the view from syntax-semantics (pp. 1–29). De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Coon, J., & Parker, C.
(2019) Case interactions in syntax. In Oxford research encyclopedia of linguistics. Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davies, W.
(2005) Madurese Prolepsis and Its Implications for a Typology of Raising. Language, 81, 645–665. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fassi Fehri, A.
(1993) Issues in the Structure of Arabic Clauses and Words. Kluwer, Dordrecht. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frascarelli, M., & Hinterhölzl, R.
(2007) Types of Topics in German and Italian. In S. Winkler, & K. Schwabe. (eds.), On Information Structure, Meaning and Form. (pp. 87–116). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heck, F., & Müller, M.
(2007) Extremely local optimization. In Proceedings of WECOL, 26, 170–183.Google Scholar
Holmberg, A., & Hróarsdóttir, T.
(2003) Agreement and movement in Icelandic raising constructions. Lingua, 113, 997–1019. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jarrah, M.
(2019) Record your Agree: A case study of the Arabic complementizer ʔinn. Journal of Linguistics, 55, 83–122. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jarrah, M., & Abusalim, N.
(2021) In favour of the low IP area in the Arabic clause structure. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 39, 123–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Landau, I.
(2006) Severing the distribution of PRO from case. Syntax, 9, 153–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Markman, V.
(2005) The syntax of case and agreement: its relationship to morphology and argument structure. Diss. Rutgers University.
Miyagawa, S.
(2009) Why agree? Why move?: Unifying agreement-based and discourse-configurational languages. MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mohammad, M.
(1988) Nominative Case, I-subjects and Subject-verb Agreement. In D. Brentari, G. Larson, & L. MacLeod. (eds.), Proceedings of CLS Parasession on Agreement and Grammatical Theory (pp. 223–235). Chicago: CLS.Google Scholar
(2000) Word order, agreement, and pronominalization in Standard and Palestinian Arabic (Vol. 181). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999) The syntax of indefinite subjects in equative sentences in Palestinian Arabic. Unpublished ms., University of Florida.Google Scholar
Mukherji, N.
(2003) Is C HL linguistically specific? Philosophical Psychology, 16, 289–308. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, G.
(2010) On deriving CED effects from the PIC. Linguistic Inquiry, 41, 35–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ouhalla, J.
(1994) Verb Movement and Word Order in Arabic. In D. Lightfoot, & N. Hornstein. (eds.), Verb Movement (pp. 41–72). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1997) ‘Remarks on focus in Standard Arabic’. In M. Eid. and R. R. Ratcliffe. (eds.), Perspectives on Arabic linguistics X: papers from the Tenth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics (pp. 9–45). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Owens, J., & Elgibali, A.
(eds.) (2013) Information structure in spoken Arabic. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Parkinson, D.
(1981) VSO to SVO in Modern Standard Arabic: A study in diglossia syntax. al-’Arabiyya, 14, 24–37.Google Scholar
Peled, Y.
(2008) Sentence types and word-order patterns in written Arabic: Medieval and modern perspectives. Brill.Google Scholar
Polinsky, M., Potsdam, E.
(2001) Long distance agreement and topic in Tsez. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 19, 583–646. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rizzi, L.
(1997) ‘The fine structure of the left periphery’. In L. Haegeman. (ed.), Elements of Grammar (pp. 281–337). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rizzi, L. and Shlonsky, U.
(2007) ‘Strategies of subject extraction’. In H. Gartner and U. Sauerland. (eds.), Interfaces + recursion = language? Chomsky’s minimalism and the view from syntax-semantics (pp. 115–160). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Ryding, K. C.
(2005) A reference grammar of modern standard Arabic. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shlonsky, U.
(1997) Clause structure and word order in Hebrew and Arabic: An essay in comparative Semitic syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sigurðsson, E.
(2017) Deriving case, agreement and voice phenomena in syntax. Diss. University of Pennsylvania.
Soltan, U.
(2007) On Formal Feature Licensing in Minimalism: Aspects of Standard Arabic Morphosyntax. Diss. University of Maryland.
Tanaka, T.
(2005) C, T, and case/agreement: A unified analysis of finite and nonfinite clauses. Journal of the School of Letters, 1, 91–105.Google Scholar
Uriagereka, J.
(2006) Complete and partial Infl. In C. Boeckx. (ed.), Agreement systems (pp. 267–298). John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar