The Syntactic Properties of Negatives

Abstract

This paper aims at describing the syntactic properties of the Hijazi Arabic negative particles. It presents the basic hierarchy within which the negatives under study occur. It then shows the properties of the Hijazi Arabic negatives and that they project a NegP that has scope over the proposition. It scopes over perfective, imperfective verb forms.It also modifies non-verbal clauses. Thus, NegP may select for a verbal or non-verbal predicate according to the negative element generated in NegP. The NegP interacts with the functional categories (TP, AspP, Tax-AspP, and VP/PredP) and this interaction is witnessed in the incorporation process that takes place in NegP.

A Syntactic Account of the Particle giid- in Hijazi Arabic

“…Based on the word order, giid-u moves higher than ModP (or EMod, in Al Zahrani"s (2013) term) which lexicalizes epistemic modals such as iḥtimaal "may", yuḥtamal "may", yimkin "may", etc. As for its landing site, giid-seems to move even higher than NegP, which dominates TP in verbal sentences (Al Zahrani, 2015). The fronted giid-moves to a position prior to ma-as in (26b) but not following it as in (26c):…”