First Conjunct Agreement is an Illusion: Evidence from Arabic

First Conjunct Agreement is an Illusion: Evidence from Arabic
Eman Al-Khalaf
November 2017

Natural languages exhibit two patterns of conjunct agreement (CA). Some languages show first conjunct agreement (FCA; e.g., Welsh). Other languages show last as well as first conjunct agreement (closest conjunct agreement (CCA); e.g., Hindi-Urdu). I investigate three FCA-languages (Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, and Welsh), and argue that FCA is an illusion: it is not the first conjunct that values agreement. Alternatively, I propose that a null pro values its unvalued features by agreeing with the linearly closest NP before it Agrees with the verb in a left to right derivational model, resulting in what appears to be illusive conjunct agreement. The proposal leads to the conclusion that FCA as in Welsh is actually not conjunct agreement; there is real conjunct agreement, but it is always closest conjunct agreement.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/003250 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	under review
keywords:	coordination, conjunct agreement, linear order, little pro
previous versions:	v2 [February 2017] v1 [December 2016]
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