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Case in Standard Arabic: the Untraveled Paths

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Case in Standard Arabic: the Untraveled Paths CASE IN STANDARD ARABIC: THE UNTRAVELED PATHS by Rashid Ali Al-Balushi A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Linguistics University of Toronto © Copyright by Rashid Ali Al-Balushi 2011 Case in Standard Arabic: The Untraveled Paths Rashid Ali Al-Balushi Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Department of Linguistics University of Toronto This thesis proposes a novel theory to account for the structural Case facts in Standard Arabic (SA). It argues that structural Nom and Acc Cases are licensed by Verbal Case (VC). Thus it argues against the proposal that structural Case in SA is licensed as a reflex of φ-agreement (Schütze 1997 and Chomsky 2001 crosslinguistically, and Soltan 2007 for SA), and also against the view that structural Case is a [ uT] feature on the DP (Pesetsky & Torrego 2001, 2004). After arguing against these two approaches, it is shown that verbless sentences, where the verb is not licensed (by VC), do not witness the licensing of structural Case. Thus verbless sentences provide a context where verbs are not licensed, similar to the embedded subject position of control verbs like ‘try’ (where lexical DPs are not licensed). Investigation of the SA verbal system reveals that SA verbs are licensed through Case checking/assignment by verbal particles. Thus, like DPs, verbs receive a form of Case, which I call VC, represented as unvalued [VC] features on I 0 and v* 0. Since the VC-assigning particles are Comp elements, I propose that [VC] is valued on I 0 and v* 0 by a valued [VC] feature on Fin 0 (via Agree), which enables I 0 and v* 0 to value the [Case] features on the subject and object as Nom and Acc, respectively. Thus the DP is licensed by the same feature that licenses the verb, which is VC. Given the observation that [T], [φ], and [Mood] do not license Case in SA, I argue for two types of finiteness, Infl-finiteness, related to [T], [Mood], and [ φ], and Comp-finiteness, related to [VC]. To account for the Case facts in various SA sentence types, I propose that Fin0 has a [VC] feature iff it selects an XP that has (at least) one I-finiteness feature ([T], [Mood], [ φ]) and a categorial [V] feature. ii Acknowledgments Before I started my Ph.D., I thought that the acknowledgments section would be the easiest to write. After finishing my dissertation, I have discovered that this section is the most difficult one to write, perhaps because it is now time to give credit to the people who taught me linguistics, inspired me, nurtured my powers of observation and reasoning, and tolerated my false starts and lack of knowledge and answers. Many of the ideas in this dissertation would not have seen light were it not for my desire to earn the respect of my committee members after having received so much support and encouragement from them. Regardless of whether or not they totally endorse my proposals, their feedback has always had a great impact on my intellect and therefore on my reasoning. From Diane Massam, Elizabeth Cowper, and Alana Johns, as well as from a 1997- 1998 undergraduate assignment on the role of intuition in scientific research, I learnt that “[i]n the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary” (Chomsky 2001:2), one can argue for what one believes, hence the arguably controversial claims in this dissertation. Interaction with the members of my committee transformed me from a student to a researcher. In the following lines, I will try to give credit to the people who were behind this achievement, warning from the outset that words will not depict the reality of their influence on my academic life. I would like to start by expressing my most sincere gratitude to my advisor, Diane Massam, who tolerantly and patiently supervised the development of every idea in this dissertation. Interaction with Diane was the most intellectually stimulating aspect of my living experience. Meetings with her were productive, even hours after the meeting. Some of the ideas were born during the discussion, others on my way to the meetings, and others on my way home, and yet others when I recalled her words and comments on my work. It was a pleasure to work with someone as supportive and genuinely interested in Case theory as Diane. Discussion with Diane gave me confidence and made me feel that I can contribute to syntactic theory in my own way. On so many occasions when I had no clue on where to head with my proposal, Diane provided direction and advice on how to proceed. Whatever insight this thesis might provide must be attributed to Diane’s high standards, ever-lasting support, and 30 years long experience with Case theory. I owe much of this achievement to her direction. iii It is my pleasure to thank one of my favorite mentors ever, Elizabeth Cowper. Not only did Elizabeth supervise my thesis, but also my other Ph.D. research. Whenever I was thinking of an aspect or a topic in this dissertation or analyzing a given construction, I was anticipating her reaction, which always resulted in providing better evidence and stronger arguments for my claims. I am much obliged to her for introducing me to Minimalist syntax, both in the classroom setting and through research supervision. One of the special moments that I experienced at the University of Toronto campus was the thrill of discovering that my work is in agreement with her expertise and up to her standards. I benefited from Elizabeth’s guidance based on her research on Case, which proved to be similar to my proposal. I owe a special debt to Elizabeth for doing whatever it took to make sure that my work was going from good to better. As well as her dedication to her students and advisees, I admire Elizabeth’s sweet company, gentle character, and always positive presence. It has really been a privilege to work with someone who has witnessed many of the developments that linguistic theory has seen. To Elizabeth goes my utmost appreciation. I would also like to thank Alana Johns who was the first of my Ph.D. mentors to call me ‘a syntactician’. She played a major role in transforming me from a student to a scholar by encouraging me and giving me the impression that she could learn from my knowledge and reasoning. Alana has repeatedly told me that we can learn a lot from the work of scholars working in other traditions and frameworks, and so deserves the credit for my seeking explanations and answers in the tradition of medieval Arabic grammar. Alana played the coach that would let me sail and then would make something beneficial out of my last destination; at the very least, she would tell me that what I observed in Standard Arabic has also been observed in one of the languages she knows, and that my reasoning is not as crazy as I might think. I am also grateful to Elan Dresher for serving on my defense committee. Expecting Elan at the defense strengthened my self-critiquing powers. Not being a phonologist, I took only one course with Elan (Intro. to Analysis and Argumentation), and have always wished I could take it again. Being in Elan’s class is like being at a Mozart concert; you just do not want time to pass. Gratitude is also due to Howard Lasnik for agreeing to be my external examiner. It was a privilege and a life-long honor to have Howard contribute to my thesis. I am indebted to him for iv his input and interest in my work. I should perhaps not spend much time praising Howard and expressing my admiration of his work since this will definitely not make him shine any brighter; if anything, it will just reveal the fact that I am a big fan of him. I have been telling friends and family that my external examiner is the world’s second biggest syntactician, especially when it comes to Case theory. In addition to my committee members, I had the honor of working long-distance with some brilliant linguists during the last twenty months. The first one for me to contact was Usama Soltan. The topic of this thesis started as a response to Soltan’s (2007) thesis, and later turned into a full endorsement of his thesis and a response to the ‘Case’ aspect of it, namely his claim that Case in Standard Arabic is licensed by φ-agreement. I think it is fair to say that the main idea in this thesis was inspired by Soltan’s thesis. I am very grateful to him for his prompt replies to my questions about his work and issues related to it, as well as to other questions about Standard Arabic morphosyntax. His replies were much clearer then textbooks could be and more instructive than interactive classes could be. It is difficult to state how nice, helpful, and patient Usama has been since my first days with this topic. The second for me to contact was Gary Miller. In some long and instructive emails, Gary explained to me many of the issues and problems surrounding the different proposals about Case. He pointed out the crosslinguistic challenges each one of these proposals has to deal with, and introduced me to the position that Case is licensed by mood. His thought-provoking discussion, which reveals profound knowledge, convinced me that none of the available proposals is trouble- free, which led me to the new discovery and the controversial claims in this thesis.
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