The focus function and derivation of object displacement in Standard Arabic

Alazzawie, Abdulkhaliq

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03792

Cited by 1 publication

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(16 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Adopting the split CP hypothesis, the paper aims at providing an account for object cliticization in SA as an instance of object displacement. The proposed analysis builds on and extends the object displacement analysis (Alazzawie, 2020) of lexical DP's to object cliticization. Kayne's (1975) proposal on cliticization argues that clitics are base-generated, syntactically-independent arguments in French, and this is the proposal we use here to account for the type of object displacement in SA.…”

Section: Objectives and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12. One issue left unresolved is the syntactic and pragmatic status of the displaced full DP objects, but it is not totally excluded from this study as this construction proves useful in the comparison between full DP objects pronominal objects. For details, the reader is referred to Alazzawie (2018, 2020).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The topic nature of this DP can be accommodated for in the split CP system as being base-generated within the specifier position of TopP. Using Rizzi's Topic-Criteria, it can be said that the topic DP is compelled to merge in this position to be interpreted as a topic (see Alazzawie, 2020 for further details). On a list of tests to distinguish between Topic and Focus, see Alazzawie (2019).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alazzawie (2020) treatment of focus and object displacement in SA is also relevant to the present study. The author argues that “the clause in SA has two designated focus positions – one projected in the upper layer of the clause (clause-initial) and the other in the lower part above v P” (p. 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There have been several recent studies on various aspects of Standard Arabic (SA) syntax which have adopted the split complementizer phrase (CP) hypothesis (Alsager, 2017;Alazzawie, 2018Alazzawie, , 2019Alazzawie, , 2020Alnajadat, 2020). However, previous studies have not dealt with displaced pronominal objects of SA in much detail, particularly within the split CP hypothesis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Focus position below TP in Standard Arabic

Alazzawie

Abdelaal

2022

SJLS

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeAdopting the split complementizer phrase (CP) hypothesis, the paper aims at providing an account for object cliticization in Standard Arabic (SA) as an instance of object displacement. Kayne's proposal on cliticization is adopted here to account for the type of displacement in SA that objects clitics in SA, like full determiner phrases (DPs), obligatorily move from their base position as independent complements of the verb to the specifier of Foc first before attaching to the verb under the tense node.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a qualitative interpretive research design (Creswell, 2007, 2010). The majority of the samples chosen for the study involve dependent pronominal objects obligatorily attached to the verb. The samples were judged to be grammatical based on the author's judgment as an native speaker of Arabic. Moreover, all the examples were checked for grammaticality by two full professors of Arabic grammar who are native speakers.FindingsThe analysis proposed that, like lexical DP's, pronominal objects originate as separate maximal projection (XP) constituents and move from their base position as verbal complements to the focus position [Spec, Foc]. In other words, both are able to move out of VP, targeting the same specifier position of a functional projection. This movement is focus-driven, that is, triggered by the edge feature on Foc. Pronominal objects at a later phase crucially higher than V0 (possibly in phonetic form (PF)) get cliticized to the verb which has adjoined to T.Originality/valueUnlike displaced lexical DP objects in SA syntax, displaced pronominal objects, however, have received less critical attention especially within Rizzi's (1997, 2004) left periphery theory and, therefore, some areas of these constructions remain poorly understood.

show abstract

Section: Objectives and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%