scholarly journals Non-restrictive relative clauses in Arabic

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman A Alqurashi
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relatives ◽  
Modern Standard ◽  
Minimalist Syntax

This paper discusses the syntax of non-restrictive relative clauses in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). It provides a thorough description of their structures and attempts to offer a preliminary analysis within the transformation framework: Minimalist syntax. Two relativization strategies are available for Arabic non-restrictive relative clauses. The first strategy is similar to that of definite restrictive relatives in which the relative clause is initiated by ʔallaðiwhich is a relative complementizer, whereas the second strategy is a unique one in which the relative clause is initiated by the special particle wa, appears to be a specifying coordinator, along with the complementizer ʔallaði. The paper also argues that De-Vries’s (2006) coordinate approach to appositive relatives can provide a straightforward account for some the facts of non-restrictive relative clauses in Arabic.

scholarly journals Resumption and Optionality in Arabic Definite Restrictive Relatives

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Issa Abdel-razaq
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Resumptive Pronouns ◽  
Restrictive Relatives ◽  
Modern Standard ◽  
Free Variation ◽  
Minimalist Syntax

The present study examines the claim that definite relative clauses in Modern Standard Arabic exhibit free variation between resumptive pronouns and gaps. The implication of such a claim presents a problem for minimalist syntax that does not tolerate true optionality. To solve this problem, the study argues that the original claim is incorrect and that despite similarities in the PF outputs, resumptive relatives are syntactically different from gapped relatives. While the latter is derived from a standard VSO structure, I propose, the former is derived from a topic-comment structure that already contains an RP. Thus, the fact that resumptive relatives contain resumptive pronouns has nothing to do with relativization, as is generally assumed. The study demonstrates that both resumptive relatives and gapped relatives are derived by movement in contexts that do not involve islands. As it turns out, resumption in relatives is used only as a last resort strategy to save structures in which movement is genuinely blocked, such as islands, from crash. Altogether the study concludes that the variation observed does not reflect true optionality, a finding that supports robust economy principles of minimalist syntax. 

scholarly journals Agreement in Modern Standard Arabic constructions with cardinal numerals over ten

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-88
Author(s):  
Marcin Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Classical Arabic ◽  
Number Case ◽  
Modern Standard

Abstract In Modern Standard Arabic constructions with cardinal numerals over ten in which the noun denoting the counted object follows the numeral, e.g. al-ḫamsūna ǧundiyyan ‘the fifty soldiers’ (as opposed to al-ǧunūdu l-ḫamsūna ‘idem’), the noun is indefinite singular. When a property of the object counted is to be expressed by means of an attribute: an adjective, participle, or a relative clause, it agrees with the noun in gender, but agreement in the three remaining categories, i.e. number, case and definiteness, may be distributed between the noun and the numeral. The present study analyzes examples of such constructions found in contemporary journalistic texts. Four agreement configurations are distinguished, out of which three were described by Classical Arabic grammarians, while one is non-classical. In some instances, due to the syncretism of declension forms, agreement in case is indeterminate. The analysis of the examples shows that apart from variation in agreement that can be observed with some types of the qualifier, the choice of a particular agreement configuration depends on phraseology and/or the lexico-syntactic properties of the qualifier: whether it is a proper adjective, a nisba adjective, a participle, or a relative clause.

scholarly journals Arabic relativization patterns: A unified HPSG analysis

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hahn
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Adjectival Modification ◽  
Uniform Manner ◽  
Classical Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic have several relativization patterns, including relative clauses with and without relativizers and adjectival modification patterns. Previous generative work has targeted several phenomena, but there is no analysis which covers all relativization patterns in any generative framework. We present an HPSG analysis that covers these phenomena in a uniform manner. Based on Doron and Reintges (2005), we show that the crosslinguistically unusual syntax of adjectival modifiers is a language-internally expected variant of participial modifiers as found in English. We also present the first HPSG analysis of Arabic broad subjects and argue that they are selected as specifiers, accounting for the similarities between broad subjects and ordinary subjects.

scholarly journals Acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic by Speakers of Different Arabic Colloquial Varieties: Resumption in Object Relative Clauses *1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Sami Alresaini
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
First Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Object Relative ◽  
Modern Standard

It is often claimed that there are no native speakers of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) due to possible effect of late age of first exposure (AoE) and possible effect of the acquired colloquial variety ofArabic, which is considered as the first language (L1). This empirical study examined the impact of AoE and knowledge of the L1on the ultimate attainment of resumption in MSA object relative clauses. 147adolescent participants from Egypt, the Levant, and the gulf regions, were recruited to examine their underlying knowledge ofresumption in MSA through completing an Acceptability Judgment Task. Using ANOVAand planned comparisons, the differences in participants' judgments to resumptionwere evaluated across 5 groups corresponding to different AoE and the colloquialvarieties they speak. The analysis of the data showed no significant effect of AoEnorof the L1, and post hoc tests showed no significant differences between the groups ofparticipants. These results were discussed in relation to theories on L1 influence and tothe critical period hypothesis.

scholarly journals An HPSG approach to free relatives in Arabic

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman Alqurashi
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Branching Structures ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Modern Standard

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.

scholarly journals Arabic relative clauses in HPSG

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman Alqurashi ◽  
Robert D. Borsley
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

In HPSG relative clauses have been analyzed in terms of phonologically empty heads in Pollard and Sag (1994) and in terms of a complex system of phrase types in Sag (1997). Modern Standard Arabic has a distinction between relative clauses with a definite antecedent, which are introduced by a special complementizer, and relative clauses with an indefinite antecedent, which are ‘bare’ clauses. Analyses eschewing empty heads and assuming a complex system of phrase types face a number of problems. An analysis in which relatives with an indefinite antecedent are headed by a phonologically empty complementizer is more satisfactory. Thus, in the case of Arabic, the approach of Pollard and Sag (1994) seems preferable to the approach of Sag (1997).

scholarly journals To Raise or Not to Raise: the Case of Finnish Restrictive Relative Clauses

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.32 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Satu Manninen
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relatives

Relative clause constructions have received very little attention in Finnish grammars. The purpose of this paper is to provide some tools for distinguishing between restrictive and appositive relatives in Finnish, and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the “standard” and raising analyses of restrictive relatives in that language. It shows that both lines of analysis are problematic for the analysis of a highly inflectional language like Finnish. The paper also contains a brief account of relative clause extraposition constructions: it points out problems in Kayne’s (1994) and Bianchi’s (1999) analysis of such data, and proposes instead that extraposition constructions, just like possessive constructions, contain a D head selecting another DP as its complement.

Extraposition of restrictive relative clauses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relatives ◽  
Definiteness Effect

Chapter 3 deals with the extraposition of restrictive relative clauses. It demonstrates that different languages and different stages of the same language may differ with respect to the three main properties of extraposition: definiteness effect; extraposition from pre-verbal positions; and extraposition from prepositional phrases. The main descriptive findings are: (1) that earlier stages of Portuguese contrast sharply with Contemporary European Portuguese with respect to the extraposition of restrictive relative clauses; and (2) the extraposition of restrictive relatives in earlier stages of Portuguese is, to a large extent, Germanic-like, unlike Contemporary European Portuguese. From a theoretical point of view, it is argued that the same structural analysis cannot alone derive the contrasting properties of restrictive relative clause extraposition. To account for the variation found in the diachronic and cross-linguistic dimensions, it is claimed that the extraposition of restrictive relatives might involve two different structures: specifying coordination plus ellipsis and VP-internal stranding.

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