VERBAL COMPLEMENTIZERS in ARABIC by Hossam Eldin Ibrahim Ahmed a Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty Of
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VERBAL COMPLEMENTIZERS IN ARABIC by Hossam Eldin Ibrahim Ahmed A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics The University of Utah December 2015 Copyright © Hossam Eldin Ibrahim Ahmed 2015 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Hossam Eldin Ibrahim Ahmed has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Edward J. Rubin , Chair June 3, 2015 Date Approved Patricia Hanna , Member June 3, 2015 Date Approved Aniko Csirmaz , Member June 3, 2015 Date Approved Howard Lasnik , Member June 3, 2015 Date Approved Kleanthes K. Grohmann , Member June 3, 2015 Date Approved and by Edward J. Rubin , Chair of the Department of Linguistics and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT A class of Modern Standard Arabic complementizers known as ‘ʔinna and its sisters’ demonstrate unique case and word order restrictions. While CPs in Arabic allow both Subject‐Verb (SV) and Verb‐Subject (VS) word order and their subjects show nominative morphology, CPs introduced by ʔinna ban a verb from directly following the complementizer. Preverbal subjects in ʔinna clauses show accusative case marking, while postverbal subjects show nominative morphology. Previous research explains these restrictions as default case or Multiple Case Assignment, both problematic for Case Theory as they violate the Activation Principle. This dissertation explains word order and case effects of ʔinna within the framework of Phase Theory and Feature Inheritance (FI). Morphological, historical, and usage evidence point out that ʔinna‐type complementizers have verbal properties similar to illocutionary verbs. Taking Case to be a reflection of phi features that T heads receive from higher heads (e.g. Complementizers) via Feature Inheritance, the nominative‐accusative alternation on preverbal subjects can be attributed to the selection of C heads: phi features on null complementizers and conditionals reflect as NOM, while phi features on Verbal Complementizers (VCs) reflect as ACC. VCs show similar Case behavior to the English Prepositional Complementizer for. They differ in distribution; while for only introduces a subordinate clause, and takes infinitival TP complements, VCs introduce a matrix clause and require finite TP complements, lending stronger support to Feature Inheritance theory than English for. Nominative postverbal subjects in ʔinna clauses are explained as an effect of antiagreement at Spell‐Out. Postverbal subjects and the Case probe on T are PF local, allowing for impoverished case agreement. Preverbal subjects and the Case licenser belong to different Phonological Phrases. To satisfy the Recoverability Condition, full case agreement is required between T and the subject, resulting in accusative morphology on the subject. Finally, the requirement that ʔinna‐clauses have an intervener between ʔinna and the verb is explained by associating the full phi features of ʔinna with the EPP. As the phi set is inherited from ʔinna to T, the EPP property is satisfied by the preverbal subject or by adverbial intervening between ʔinna and the verb. iv To Laila and Kareem. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ x 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................ 5 2. RESEARCH PROBLEM ................................................................................................. 10 2.1. Word Order, Case, and Agreement Under Null C.......................................................... 10 2.1.1. Arabic Word Order ................................................................................................ 11 2.1.2. Case Marking in Arabic .......................................................................................... 25 2.1.3. Agreement in Arabic .............................................................................................. 28 2.1.4. Case Marking on Fronted DPs ............................................................................... 32 2.2. Arabic Conditional Phrases ............................................................................................ 35 2.3. The ʔinna Clause ............................................................................................................ 41 2.3.1. ʔinna and Its Sisters ............................................................................................... 42 2.3.2. ʔinna and Its Sisters: Distribution .......................................................................... 46 2.3.3. ʔinna and Its Sisters: Word Order ......................................................................... 49 2.3.4. ʔinna and Its Sisters: Case Marking ....................................................................... 53 2.3.5. ʔinna and Its Sisters: Summary.............................................................................. 56 2.4. Accusative Subjects After ʔinna: The Research Problem .............................................. 57 3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................ 62 3.1. Default Case Analysis ..................................................................................................... 62 3.1.1. Mohammad (1988) ................................................................................................ 63 3.1.2. Mohammad (2000) ................................................................................................ 70 3.1.3. Ouhalla (1994) ....................................................................................................... 76 3.1.4. Soltan (2006) ......................................................................................................... 82 3.1.5. Summary of Default Case Accounts in ʔinna Clauses ............................................ 90 3.1.6. Default Case According to Schütze (1997, 2001b) ................................................ 91 3.2. Multiple Case Assignment ............................................................................................. 97 3.2.1. Multiple Structural Case ........................................................................................ 98 3.2.2. Multiple Morphological Case .............................................................................. 102 3.3. (NOM) Case Is the Realization of Another Feature ..................................................... 104 3.3.1. Mood Features as a Case Licenser ...................................................................... 105 3.3.2. Case as a T Feature (Pesetsky and Torrego 2001; Pesetsky and Torrego 2004) . 109 3.4. Summary ...................................................................................................................... 112 4. VERBAL COMPLEMENTIZERS ................................................................................... 114 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 114 4.2. Verbal Properties of ʔinna ........................................................................................... 115 4.2.1. Morphological Evidence ...................................................................................... 117 4.2.2. Evidence from Classical Arabic ............................................................................ 126 4.2.3. Other Complementizers ...................................................................................... 130 4.3. Illocutionary Properties of ʔinna ................................................................................. 132 4.3.1. Complementary Distribution with Illocutionary Verbs ....................................... 133 4.3.2. Interaction with Adjuncts .................................................................................... 135 4.3.3. Other Complementizers ...................................................................................... 137 4.4. ʔinna a Verbal Complementizer .................................................................................. 139 4.5. ʔinna Not a Verb .......................................................................................................... 142 5. CASE FROM C ........................................................................................................... 148 5.1. Case Valuation ............................................................................................................. 148 5.1.1. Accusative Subject Under Canonical ʔinna+SV Word Order ............................... 150 5.1.2. Case with Adjuncts+VS Word Order .................................................................... 153 5.1.3. Expletive Pronouns After ʔinna ..........................................................................