The Syntactic Agreement of Verbs with Enumerated Controller Subjects in Najdi Arabic: An HPSG Approach (Published)
Agreement is a complex linguistic phenomenon that draws attention to language’s subtle aspects. Its complexity arises from both its nature and the fact that it interrelates with various linguistic components such as syntax, semantics, morphology, and lexicology. While there is a wealth of literature on the topic of agreement, previous studies have primarily focused on the fundamental aspects of agreement, providing a solid foundation that could help uncover new insights into the idiosyncratic aspects ofthis phenomenon. Hence, this paper attempts to contribute to the current research on the topic of agreement by providing an in-depth analysis of a particular topic in Najdi Arabic subject-verb agreement, namely the agreement of verbs with enumerated controller subjects. It also aims to investigate the factors that may play a role in the idiosyncratic agreement patterns observed in such constructions. This will be accomplished using the framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, which is one of the main non-transformational theories in generative syntax.
Keywords: HPSG, Najdi Arabic, agreement, enumerated controllers
An HPSG Approach to Free Relatives in Arabic (Published)
This paper describes free relative constructions in Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth, MSA) and aims to provide an HPSG analysis for them. MSA has two types of free relative constructions. One, which is introduced by the complementizer ʔallaði , looks just like a relative clause. The other, which is introduced by the elements man and maa, which also appear to be complementizers, does not look like a relative clause. Both types can be analysed in term of unary-branching structures (as NPs consisting just of a CP). In ʔallaði free relatives, the NP and the value of SLASH can be coindexed via the value of MOD on the CP. In man and maa free relatives, the NP and the value of SLASH must be coindexed directly.
Keywords: Arabic, Free Relative, HPSG, SLASH