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Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXV: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Washington, D.C., 2022
Edited by Ahmad Alqassas
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 14] 2025
► pp. 110–136

Chapter 5
A- and A′-dependencies in Standard Arabic

Evidence from comparatives

 | Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence
This chapter investigates phrasal and clausal comparatives in Standard Arabic and draws inferences about structural conditions on both covert A′-movement and case assignment, a kind of A-dependency. It finds that in comparative constructions, subjects may undergo covert A′-movement, as can, more surprisingly, objects of prepositions. That is, Arabic has covert preposition stranding, something that is not possible in the overt syntax. Previous claims to the effect that sluicing constructions display overt preposition stranding are found to not be convincing, though the interpretation of comparatives implicates covert preposition stranding. This chapter also finds that in comparative constructions, genitive case may be assigned by the preposition min ‘from’ to the subject of a clausal complement, a kind of Exceptional Case Marking (ECM) configuration.
Keywords: comparative, topicalization, islands, sluicing, Exceptional Case Marking
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A′-dependencies in phrasal comparatives
    • 2.1Covert movement of subjects
    • 2.2Covert preposition stranding
    • 2.3On purported preposition stranding under sluicing
  • 3.A-dependencies in clausal comparatives
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
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