On Tense and Agreement in the Realization of Negation in Standard Arabic
Ayoub Loutfi
May 2018 

This paper addresses two issues that characterize the (morpho)-syntax of sentential negation in Standard Arabic (SA) and modern Arabic varieties. The first one is parametric and addresses the location of negation in the clause structure. The second issue concerns the agreement markers realized on the negative particle laysa along with the temporal interpretation that some of the negative markers in SA encode, namely lan and lam. Two views have been contrasted in the literature: the Low-Neg analysis, according to which Neg is the complement of TP, and the High-Neg analysis whereby Neg is higher than T. In this study, I will argue that while the two views account form a good range of empirical facts, Low-Neg analysis lacks empirical adequacy. Similarly, the High-Neg view is hard to reconcile within the Spec-head agreement and the standard Agree approach. However, I will show that the High-Neg analysis can be still maintained under the Feature-Inheritance approach, in which T inherits its ø-features and Tense feature from C.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/004034 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Issues in Applied Linguistics, Culture and Translation Studies
keywords:	negation; agreement; standard arabic; negative projection; feature inheritance; tense phrase., syntax
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