Negation and the Subject Position in San’ani Arabici Elabbas Benmamoun Khalid Al-Asbahi Introduction In this paper, we discuss a topic that has not received extensive attention within the lively debate about the syntax of sentential negation in Arabic varieties. The topic concerns the interaction between the subject of the sentence, particularly the pronominal subject, and the sentential negative. In most Arabic varieties, the pronominal subject precedes the sentential negative on a par with its lexical subject counterpart. San’ani Arabic, however, allows for the pronominal subject to follow the sentential negative. Assuming that the structure of sentential negation, and of the clause in general, is to a large extent uniform across dialects, we will provide an account that derives the somewhat peculiar pattern in San’ani Arabic and contrast it with a different pattern in Moroccan Arabic that illustrates a different manifestation of the interaction between negation and the pronominal subject. San’ani relies on cliticization (without movement) while Moroccan Arabic relies on head movement. In the course of the paper, we introduce data that have not figured prominently in the debate about sentential negation in Arabic varieties and also draw diachronic parallels between San’ani Arabic and Classical Arabic, where cliticization may have been the process that gave rise to the negative laysa. Morpho-Syntax of Sentential Negation in Arabic Varieties Most of the research on sentential negation in Arabic varieties, including both the so-called colloquial varieties and Standard Arabic, has focused on the position of the sentential negative and its interaction with the verb and its extended functional domain, particularly tense (Ouhalla, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2002; Eid, 1993, Benmamoun, 1992, 2000; Fassi Fehri, 1993; Shlonsky, 1997; Brustad, 2000; Onizan, 2005; Bahloul 2007, Lucas, 2007; Soltan, 2007, 2011; Hoyt, 2010; Aoun, Benmamoun & Choueiri, 2010; among many others). The paradigm cases of the intimate connection between sentential negation and the verb come from Standard Arabic, where the form of the sentential negative co-varies with tenseii. (1) a. yanbaħu l-kalb-u bark.3ms the-dog-nom ‘the dog is barking/barks’ b. nabaħa l-kalb-u barked.3ms the-dog-nom ‘The dog barked’ c. sa-yanbaħu l-kalb-u fut-bark.3ms the-dog-nom ‘the dog will bark’ (2) a. laa yanbaħu l-kalb-u neg bark.3ms the-dog-nom ‘the dog is barking/barks’ b. lam yanbaħ l-kalb-u neg.past bark.3ms the-dog-nom ‘The dog did not bark’ c. lan yanbaħa l-kalb-u neg.fut bark.3ms the-dog-nom ‘the dog will not bark’ The fact that the form of the negative varies according to tense even though the form of the verb remains relatively the same has led to the analysis whereby negation and tense merge with each other, assuming an analysis where tense and negation head their own phrases in the syntax as illustrated in (3). (3) Benmamoun (2000) argues that the reason the verb does not carry tense in Standard Arabic is due to its inability to move across the negative head which is a closer host. On the other hand, in the spoken Arabic dialects, the verb does carry tense in the context of sentential negation. This is the case for example, in Moroccan Arabic and Jordanian Arabic in the present, past, and future tensesiii: (4) a. ma-kəydir-š lli ʕlih (MA: native speaker) neg-do.3ms-neg what on.him ‘he does not do what he is supposed to do’ b. ma-ħdərti-š f-lwəqt (MA: native speaker) neg-arrive.3ms -neg in-time ‘you did not arrive on time’ c. ma-ɣadi-š yaʕqəl ʕlik (MA: native speaker) neg-fut-neg remember.3ms on-you ‘he will not remember you’ (5) a. maa-bnokil ʔilla beyd baladi (LDC Levantine CallHome) neg-eat.1p but eggs organic ‘we do not eat but organic eggs’ b. wallah maa-rtaħit yom (LDC Levantine CallHome) by god neg-rested.1s day ‘by god, I did not rest one single day’ The Moroccan Arabic negative is interesting in that it is made up of two parts, a proclitic and an enclitic. The two occur together and independent of other hosts, which suggests that their realization as enclitic and proclitic on a head could be due to merger of the head with sentential negation. In Moroccan Arabic, this merger certainly applies to verbs and could also be due to the movement of the verb through the negative projection. Unlike Standard Arabic, the negative actually merges with the verb, and the whole complex ends up in tense. The main patterns are summarized in Table 1. Tense Standard Moroccan Jordanian/Levantine Future lan ma-š maa or maa-š Present laa ma-š maa or maa-š Past lam ma-š maa or maa-š Imperative laa ma-š maa or maa-š Table 1: The distribution of the sentential negation in verbal contexts in Arabic varietiesiv In addition to the negation that occurs mostly in the context of verbs, there is another negation that occurs in the context of non-verbal predicates. This is illustrated by Moroccan Arabic in (6). (6) l-wəld maši hna the-boy neg here ‘the boy is not here’ This pattern arises because there is no head that moves to sentential negation and merges with itv. Table 2 summarizes the main distribution of negation in Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Levantine Arabic. Verbal Example Non-Verbal Example Negation Negation Levantine maa…(š) ma-ʔižat(-š) Nadia miš huwe miš hon ‘Nadia did not he neg come’ here ‘he is not here’ Moroccan maa…š(i) ma-žat-š Nadia maaši huwa maši hna he neg here ‘he is not here’ Standard laa/ lam/ lan/ lam ta’ti Nadia laysa huwa laysa maa neg.came Nadia huna “Nadia did not He not here come” “he is not here” Table 2. The distribution of sentential negation in Arabic varieties in verbal and non-verbal contexts Thus, the structure in (3) and the attendant syntactic analysis in terms of head movement and the related constraints helps account for the distribution of sentential negation in Standard Arabic and a number of spoken modern Arabic dialects. However, this is by no means the consensus within approaches to the syntax of sentential negation in Arabic varieties. For example, Soltan (2007) provides very plausible arguments that the negative projection is located higher than tense, an analysis adopted by Benmamoun et al. (2012) as an alternative to (3) for all Arabic varieties. One such argument that Soltan provides comes from the location of the future marker in Egyptian Arabic, which clearly precedes the future tense marker as illustrated in (7): (7) miš ha-yiskut-u ʕala kida Ɂabadan (Egyptian blog) neg fut-silent-3p on this ever ‘they will never remain silent about it’ According to this analysis, the negative head precedes the temporal projection of the clause as illustrated in (8). (8) In (7), Egyptian Arabic deploys the negative that we find in the context of non-verbal predicates, but the temporal marker precedes sentential negation, contrary to the prediction of the structure in (3). Benmamoun et al. (forthcoming) provide numerous arguments to support the analysis that the negative projection is located higher than the tense projection across Arabic varieties (including Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic and San’ani Arabic). Suffice it to say that the interaction between tense, the predicate, and negation requires an alternative account if it turns out that the structure in (8) is correct, which we assume it is. Sentential Negation and the Subject In all previous analyses, the status of the subject did not figure prominently in the debate about the syntax of sentential negation. However, there is interesting evidence in Arabic that the subject does interact with negation and that this interaction can shed further light on the issue of the position of the subject and the location of sentential negation. Two pieces of evidence are critical in this regard. First, Standard Arabic has a negative laysa that agrees with the subject and assigns accusative Case to the predicate: (9) a. laysa l-bayt-u kabiir-an neg.3ms the-house-nombig-acc ‘the house is not big’ b. lays-at l-madiinat-u kabiirat-an neg.3fs the-city-nom big-acc ‘the city is not big’ In fact, laysa patterns with verbs in that it agrees with the subject in number, person, and gender and can license null subjectsvi: (10) a. lays-uu fii l-bayt-i Neg-3mp in the-house-gen ‘they are not in the house’ b. las-na fii l-bayt-i neg-3fp in the-house’ ‘they are not in the house’ Second, in the so-called verbless sentences in Arabic dialects such as Moroccan Arabic, the subject must precede sentential negation regardless of whether it is a lexical noun phrase or a pronoun. (11) a. l-wəld maši hna the-boy neg here ‘the boy is not here’ b. huwa maši hna he neg here ‘he is not here’ (12) a. *maši l-wəld hna Neg the-boy here ‘the boy is not here’ b. *maši huwa hna he neg here ‘he is not here’ In (9-12) we see a striking contrast between Moroccan Arabic and Standard Arabic. In Standard Arabic, the subject can follow sentential negation but it cannot do so in Moroccan Arabic. If the structure in (8) is correct, the movement of the subject in Moroccan Arabic may have nothing to do with tense, as argued in Benmamoun (2000). Rather, it could be due to some property of negation that requires its specifier to be filled by the subject; or to some property of the clause that prefers the highest specifier position to be filled by the subject, or for the head to carry subject agreement (so called EPPvii).