The Syntax of Indefinite Subjects in Equative Sentences in Palestinian Arabic M. A.

Mohammad University of Florida Abstract In this paper I provide what I believe to be the most detailed description of the conditions under which equative sentences with indefinite subjects are licensed in Palestinian Arabic. I provide a detailed description of the expletive fiih in this dialect. I show that in spite of its probable historical derivation from the preposition fii 'in,' I show that it is not showing any of the usual properties that are the trade-mark of prepositions in Arabic. For example, prepositions never impose a definiteness requirement on their complements. Fiih, by contrast, with one exception, never permits a definite NP to occur after it. I also show that the internal composition of fiih is as I transcribed it, namely, that it consists of fii and the third person masculine pronoun -h. I argue that fiih is an expletive pronoun that is brought in as a subject to license an indefinite subject in an equative sentence. I study some interesting subject-verb agreement facts involving kaan 'was' and fiih, and argue that fiih can be involved in licensing agreement features on the verb. 1. Introduction Descriptively speaking there are two major sentence types in Palestinian Arabic (PA, henceforth): verbal and equative sentences. A verbal sentence is one that contains an overt verb whereas an equative sentence is a sentence that contains no verbs. This paper is primarily concerned with the latter type. Specifically, this paper is an attempt of provide a detailed description of the syntax of equative sentences with indefinite subjects . To set the stage, here are some examples that are representative of the equative type of sentences : (a) The subject is a definite NP with an indefinite adjectival predicate: (1) el-walad gaSiir

the-boy short "The boy is short." (b) (2) The subject is a definite NP with a Prepositional Phrase as its predicate: el-bent b-d-ddar the-girl in-the-house "The girl is in the house." The subject is a definite NP with the predicate an adverb of place: ?ez-zalame hoon the-man here "The man is here." The subject is a definite NP with an indefinite NP as its predicate : ?el-mara daktoora the-woman doctor The woman is a doctor."

(c) (3)

(d) (4)

(e) The subject is a definite with an indefinite construct state NP as predicate : (5) el-bent ?uxt waziir the-girl sister minister "The girl is a minister's (as in member of the cabinet) sister."

(f) The subject is a definite NP with a definite construct state NP as predicate :

(6)

el-bent ?uxt l-waziir the-girl sister the-minister "The girl is the minister's sister." "the girl, the minister's sister"

As can be seen from glosses, (6) is ambiguous between a sentence and a NP reading. To disambiguate it, PA resorts to the pronoun of separation strategy: (7) el-bent hi ?uxt l-waziir the-girl she sister the-minister "The girl is the minister's sister."

(7) has only a sentential reading. (g) (8) The subject is a definite NP with an active participle as its predicate : el-bent naayme the-girl asleep 'The girl is asleep.' The subject is a definite NP with a passive participle as the predicate : el-mara maHboose the-woman imprisoned "The woman is imprisoned."

(h) (9)

Word order in all the examples above is rigid on the readings given in their translations. As noted all the examples have a definite subject. As is

well-known in Arabic, a sentence with no verb is automatically interpreted as a sentence in the present tense. In order to obtain a past tense sentence, PA uses past tense form of the root kwn 'to be." Consider all the sentences above in the past: (10) el-walad kaan gaSiir the-boy was short "The boy was short." el-bent kaanat be-d-daat the-girl was in-the-house "The girl was in the house." ez-zalame kaan hoon the-man was here "The man was here." el-mara kaanat daktoora the-woman was doctor The woman was a doctor." el-bent kaanat ?uxt waziir the-girl was sister minister "The girl was a minister's (as in member of the cabinet) sister." el-bent kaanat ?uxt l-waziir the-girl was sister the-minister "The girl was the minister's sister." el-bent kaanat naayme

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

(16)

(17)

the-girl was asleep 'The girl was asleep.' el-mara kaanat maHboose the-woman was imprisoned "The woman was imprisoned."

The interesting thing about the sentences with the past tense verb to be is that word order is considerably free. In addition to S(ubject), V(erb) P(redicate) word order, all of them allow three other word orders: VSP, VPS, and PVS. They all disallow SPV and PSV. I.e., the constraint is that the subject and the predicate cannot precede the verb at the same time. 2.0. Equative Sentences with Indefinite Subjects1:
1I

must point the reader's attention to one important point regarding indefinite subjects in equatives sentences. The restriction on indefinite subjects to be elaborated on in the text is not absolute. If the indefinite subject is heavily focused, 'newsworthy,' then it can indeed occur in a pre-predicate position in a simple equative sentence. Consider for example the following Palestinian proverbs: (i) gerd mwaalef wa-la ghazaal mxaalef monkey affectionate and-not gazelle distant "A monkey that is affectionate is better than a distant gazelle." 9anze walaw Taarat goat even flies.3sf "(I still say that it is a goat, even it can fly."

(ii)

The first proverb is used in reference to the unimportance of appearances. The second is used when someone is so obstinate and would not budge, no matter what evidence you bring.
2I

must point the reader's attention to one important point regarding indefinite subjects in equatives sentences. The restriction on indefinite subjects to be elaborated on in the text is not absolute. If the indefinite subject is heavily focused, 'newsworthy,' then it can indeed occur in a pre-predicate position in a simple equative sentence. Consider for example the following Palestinian proverbs: (i) gerd mwaalef monkey affectionate wa-la ghazaal mxaalef and-not gazelle distant

PA imposes strict conditions on its equative sentences with indefinite subjects. Consider all the examples of the previous section but with the subject now indefinite3:

(18)* walad gaSiir boy short "A boy is short." (19)* bent be-d-daar girl iin-the-house "A girl is in the house." (20)* zalame hoon man here "A man is here." (21)* mara daktoora womandoctor "A woman is a doctor."
"A monkey that is affectionate is better than a distant gazelle." (ii) 9anze walaw Taarat goat even flies.3sf "(I still say that it is a goat, even it can fly."

The first proverb is used in reference to the unimportance of appearances. The second is used when someone is so obstinate and would not budge, no matter what evidence you bring.
3Many

of the examples below are grammatical as NP's. The point is that none is grammatical as a sentence.

(22)* bent ?uxt waziir girl sister minister "A girl is a minister's (as in member of the cabinet) sister." (23)* bent ?uxt l-waziir girl sister the-minister "A girl is the minister's sister." (24)* bent naayme the-girl asleep "A girl is asleep"

(25)* mara maHboose womanimprisoned "A woman is imprisoned." As can be seen from the paradigm above an indefinite subject induces ungrammaticality in equative sentences. When the predicate is a PP or an adverbial, the sentences improve sharply if the indefinite subject is modified. Consider: (26)? bent Tawiilebe-d-daar girl tall in-the-house "A tall girl is in the house." (27)? zalame gaSiir hoon man short here

"A short man is here." 3.0. Possessive and Locative PP's It is perhaps useful to compare PA with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The same facts described above obtain in MSA with one major difference, namely when the subject of an equative sentence is indefinite and the predicate is a PP. In such cases MSA permits permutation between the subject and the predicate. Consider4:

(28)

rajul-un fi l-bayt-i MSA man-NOM in the-house-GEN "A boy is in the house."

(28) has, the perhaps preferred, (29) as an alternative:

(29)

fi l-bayt-i rajul-un MSA in the-house-GEN man-NOM "(There is ) a man is in the house."

This option of permuting the subject and the predicate in MSA is available only when the predicate is a prepositional phrase. This permutation strategy is not available to the majority of prepositions in PA. Consider:

4Some

readers may be surprised as to why (28) is not starred. I concur with Fassi Fehri (1993) and (1989) in considering (28) grammatical. This, as the reader may know, contradicts the Arab grammarians' position that (28) is ungrammatical; and that (28) is only grammatical if the subject and the predicate are permuted as in (29). However, as Moutaouakil (1989) points out, (28) is grammatical only if it is interpreted as contrastive.

(30)(a)*

walad be-d-daar boy in-the-house "(There is) a boy in the house." be-d-daar walad in-the-house boy "(There is) a boy in the house." ktaab 9ala T-Taawle book on the-table "(There is) a book on the table." 9ala T-Taawle ktaab on the-table book "(There is) a book on the table." xarariif kthiire 9an falaSTiin stories many about Palestine "(There are) many stories about Palestine." 9an falaSTiin xarariif kthiire about Palestine stories many "(There are) many stories about Palestine." walad zay Hmad boy as Ahmed "(There is) a boy that looks like Ahmed." Hmad walad as Ahmed boy "(There is) a boy that looks like Ahmed."

(b)*

(31)(a)*

(b)*

(32)(a)?

(b)*

(33)(a)*

(b)*zay

(34)(a)*

ktaab teHt T-Taawle book under the-table "(There is) a book under the table." T-Taawle ktaab under the-table book "(There is) a book under the table." 9aSfoor foog l-HeeT bird above the-roof "(There is) a bird on the roof."

(b)*teHt

(35)(a)*

(b)*

foog l-HeeT 9aSfoor above the-roof bird "(There is) a bird on the roof." kundara janb l-baab shoe beside the-door "(There is) a shoe next to the door." janb l-baab kundara beside the-door shoe "(There is) a shoe next to the door." kundara wara l-baab shoe behind the-door "(There is) a shoe behind the door."

(36)(a)*

(b)*

(37)(a)*

10

(b)*wara

l-baab kundara behind the-door shoe "(There is) a shoe behind the door." bent been l-waladeen girl between the-two boys "(There is) a girl between the two boys." l-waladeen bent between the-two boys girl "(There is) a girl between the two boys."

(38)(a)*

(b)*been

The only prepositions that permit (in reality, require) this permutation are: ?el-/la-, ma9, and 9ind. ?el- and la are bound morphemes, where la- is used with non-pronominal lexical NPs and ?el- is used with pronominal clitics. Consider: (39)(a) la-mona to-Mona "Mona has a book." ktaab book "Mona has a book." ?el-i to-me "I have a book." ktaab book

(b)*

la-mona to-Mona

(40)(a)

ktaab book

11

(b)*

ktaab to-me "I have a book."

?el-i to-me

(41)(a)

9ind mona ktaab with Mona book "Mona has a book."

(b)* ktaab 9ind mona book with Mona "Mona has a book." (42)(a) ma9 mona ktaab with Mona book "Mona has a book with her." (b)* ktaab ma9 mona book with Mona "Mona has a book with her."

(39) means that Mona owns a book. (41) is ambiguous between two readings (i) Mona owns a book or (ii) Mona has a book, say in his house, without any implication as to the ownership of the book. Let us refer to these two interpretations as possessive and locative, respectively. (42) has only the locative meaning where Mona has the book on her, irrespective of the fact whether she owns the book or not. That is to say, the three sentences above have some kind of a continuum: (39) has the possessive reading only, (41) the locative and possessive, and (42) has only the locative meaning. Consider now what happens if the NP ktaab 'a book' is made definite: (43)(a) la-mona le-ktaab

12

to-Mona the-book "Mona has the book." (b) le-ktaab book "Mona has a book." la-mona to-Mona

(44)(a)

9ind mona le-ktaab with Mona book "Mona has the book." le-ktaab 9ind mona book with Mona "Mona has the book." ma9 mona le-ktaab with Mona book "Mona has the book with her." le-ktaab ma9 mona book with Mona "Mona has the book with her."

(b)

(45)(a)

(b)

Pragmatically speaking, the (b) sentences above are more neutral than the (a) sentences. The (a) sentences are only acceptable on a contrastive reading along the lines 'Mona has x but not y." As can be seen, these three prepositions are in a class by themselves. 4.0. Negation and Equative Sentences with Indefinite Subjects

13

Interestingly, when some of the equative sentences with an indefinite subject and a PP as a predicate are negated their grammatical status slightly improves depending on whether the preposition is marginally capable of amalgamating with negation or not. Consider: (46)(a)* ktaab ma-9alaT-Taawle book neg-on-neg the-table "(There is) not a book on the table." ma-9alaT-Taawle ktaab neg-on-neg the-table book "(There is) not a book on the table."

(b)*

(47)(a)*

xarariif kthiire ma-9anfalaSTiin stories many neg-about-neg Palestine "(There are) not many stories about Palestine." ma-9anfalaSTiin xarariif kthiire neg-about-neg Palestine stories many "(There are) not many stories about Palestine." walad ma-zayyeHmad boy neg-as-neg Ahmed "(There is) not a boy that looks like Ahmed."

(b)*

(48)(a)*

(b)*ma-zayyeHmad walad neg-as-neg Ahmed boy "(There is) not a boy that looks like Ahmed."

14

(49)(a)*

ktaab ma-teHteT-Taawle book neg-under-neg the-table "(There is) not a book under the table." ma-teHteT-Taawle ktaab neg-under-neg the-table book "(There is) not a book under the table." 9aSfoor ma-foogel-HeeT bird neg-above-neg the-roof "(There is) not a bird on the roof."

(b)?

(50)(a)*

(b)?

ma-foogel-HeeT neg-above-neg the-roof bird "(There is) not a bird on the roof."

9aSfoor

(51)(a)*

kundara ma-janbel-baab shoe neg-beside-neg the-door "(There is) not a shoe next to the door." ma-janbel-baab kundara neg-beside-neg the-door shoe "(There is) not a shoe next to the door." kundara ma-waraal-baab shoe neg-behind-neg the-door "(There is) not a shoe behind the door."

(b)?

(52)(a)*

15

(b)? ma-waraal-baab kundara neg-behind-neg the-door shoe "(There is) not a shoe behind the door." (53)(a)* bent ma-beenel-waladeen girl neg-between-neg the-two boys "(There is) not a girl between the two boys."

(b)? ma-beenel-waladeen bent neg-between-neg the-two boys girl "(There is) not a girl between the two boys." The generalization that emerges from the above examples is: negation improves the grammaticality status of an equative sentence with indefinite subject so long as the subject is placed in a post-predicate position. In so far as the three prepositions ?el-/la-, ma9, and 9end, only 9end is marginally capable of amalgamating with negation. Consider: (54)(a)* ma-lamona neg-to-neg Mona "Mona has no book." ktaab ma-labook neg-to-neg "Mona has no book." ktaab book

(b)*

mona Mona

(55)(a)? ma-9endemona ktaab neg-with-neg Mona book "Mona has no book."

16

(b)* ktaab ma-9endemona book neg-with-neg Mona "Mona has no book." (56)(a)* ma-ma9emona ktaab neg-with-neg Mona book "Mona has no book with her." ktaab ma-ma9emona book neg-with-neg Mona "Mona has no book with her."

(b)*

Negation with these prepositions marginally changed the grammaticality status of the 9end sentences. la- and ma9 do not amalgamate with negation. Hence, the ungrammaticality of (54) and (56). When a pronominal clitic is used, all the prepositions mentioned in the previous paragraphs are capable of merging with negation. This always results in producing grammatical sentences as long the prepositional phrase precedes the subject. Consider: (57)(a) ma-l-iiktaab neg-to-me-neg book "I have no book." ktaab book "I have no book." ma-9end-ooma-?el-iineg-to-me-neg

(b)*

(58)(a)

ktaab

17

neg-with-him-neg "He has no book."

book

(b)* ktaab ma-9end-oobook neg-with-him-neg "He has no book." (59)(a) ma-ma9-haaktaab neg-with-her-neg book "She has no book with her."

(b)*

ktaab ma-ma9-haabook neg-with-her-neg "She has no book with her."

The exact same situation obtains with all the prepositions mentioned so far. 5.0. The Expletive fiih and Equative Sentences with Indefinite Subjects In the previous paragraphs we have seen that whether a grammatical sentence emerges when an indefinite subject is permuted with its predicate or not depends on the preposition. We also saw that clitics play a critical role in the ability of all prepositions to amalgamate with negation. The question is, then, how does PA rescue the ungrammatical sentences? When the subject of an equative sentence is indefinite PA resorts to the use of an existential expletive: fiih. Thus, all the ungrammatical sentences

18

above become grammatical when fiih appears. Further, this fiih can co-occur with any PP. Consider the following: (60)(a) fiih bent men ?ameerka there girl from America "There is a girl from America." fiih men ?ameerka bent there from America girl "There is a girl from America." zalame hoon there man here "There is man here." fiih hoon zalame there here man "There is man here." walad be-d-daar PA there boy in-the-house "(There is) a boy in the house." be-d-daar walad PA there in-the-house boy "(There is) a boy in the house." ktaab 9ala T-Taawle there book on the-table "(There is) a book on the table."

(b)

(61)(a) fiih

(b)

(62)(a) fiih

(b) fiih

(63)(a) fiih

19

(b) fiih

9ala T-Taawle ktaab there on the-table book "(There is) a book on the table." xarariif kthiire 9an falaSTiin there stories many about Palestine "(There are) many stories about Palestine." 9an falaSTiin xarariif kthiire there about Palestine stories many "(There are) many stories about Palestine."

(64)(a) fiih

(b) fiih

(65)(a) fiih

walad zay Hmad there boy as Ahmed "(There is) a boy that looks like Ahmed." fiih zay Hmad walad there as Ahmed boy "(There is) a boy that looks like Ahmed." ktaab teHt T-Taawle there book under the-table "(There is) a book under the table." fiih teHt T-Taawle ktaab there under the-table book "(There is) a book under the table."

(b)

(66)(a) fiih

(b)

20

(67)(a) fiih

9aSfoor foog l-HeeT there bird above the-roof "(There is) a bird on the roof." foog l-HeeT 9aSfoor there above the-roof bird "(There is) a bird on the roof." kundara janb l-baab there shoe beside the-door "(There is) a shoe next to the door."

(b) fiih

(68)(a) fiih

(b)

fiih janb l-baab kundara there beside the-door shoe "(There is) a shoe next to the door." kundara wara l-baab there shoe behind the-door "(There is) a shoe behind the door." fiih wara l-baab kundara there behind the-door shoe "(There is) a shoe behind the door." bent been l-waladeen there girl between the-two boys "(There is) a girl between the two boys."

(69)(a) fiih

(b)

(70)(a) fiih

21

(b)

fiih been l-waladeen bent there between the-two boys girl "(There is) a girl between the two boys."

As the above facts show when fiih is used word order between the subject and the predicate is free. 6.0. Properties of fiih 6.1. Fiih's Internal Composition The careful reader would have noticed that I have transcribed fiih with a pronominal clitic without justification. The question is: does fiih contain the third person masculine singular pronominal clitic as my transcription claims? Two pieces of evidence can be presented in favor of my transcription. First, recall that all the prepositions were able to amalgamate with negation once they have a pronoun cliticized unto them. Recall also that none of them produced a perfectly grammatical expression when they amalgamate by themselves with negation. fiih produces perfectly grammatical sentences when amalgamating with negation. This suggests that it is patterning with prepositions that do contain a clitic. I take this as an argument in favor of treating fiih as a combination of the preposition fii 'in' and the third person singular masculine clitic -h. Second, on the assumption that fiih derives historically form the preposition fii 'in', we can show that it contains a clitic when we consider the behavior of the preposition fii 'in' PA. The proposition fii in PA has two variants, namely bi- and fi-. bi is used when it governs a non-pronominal lexical NP while fii is used with pronominal clitics. Consider:

22

(71)

mona be-d-daar Mona in-the-house "Mona is in the house." mona fe-d-daar Mona in-the-house "Mona is in the house."

(72)

It is important to note the vowel [e] between [f} and [d] in feddaar and between [b] and [d] in beddaar is short. It is even shorter in the former. When these two prepositions have a clitic suffixed to them the vowels are lengthened. Consider: (73)(a) mona bii-haa Mona in-it "Mona is in it." (b)*mona be-haa Mona in-it "Mona is in it." (74)(a) mona fii-haa Mona in-it "Mona is in it." (b)*mona fe-haa Mona in-it "Mona is in it."

23

Given that the vowel in fiih is long, I conclude that it does indeed contain a clitic. 6.2. Fiih and the Definiteness Effects With one exception to be noted below, fiih never permits a definite subject to follow it regardless of word order between the subject and the predicate. Consider: (75)(a)* fiih la-mona there to-Mona "Mona has the book." le-ktaab the-book

(b)*

fiih le-ktaab there book "Mona has a book."

la-mona to-Mona

(76)(a)* fiih 9ind mona le-ktaab there with Mona book "Mona has the book." (b)* fiih le-ktaab there the-book with "Mona has the book." 9ind mona Mona

(77)(a)*

fiih ma9 mona le-ktaab there with Mona book "Mona has the book with her."

24

(b)*

fiih le-ktaab ma9 there book with "Mona has the book with her."

mona Mona

(78)(a)*

fiih l-kundara janb l-baab there the-shoe beside the-door "There is the shoe next to the door." janb l-baab l-kundara there beside the-door the-shoe "There is the shoe next to the door."

(b)*fiih

(79)(a)*

fiih l-kundara wara l-baab there shoe behind the-door "There is the shoe behind the door." wara l-baab l-kundara there behind the-door the-shoe "(There is) the shoe behind the door." fiih l-bent been l-waladeen there the-girl between the-two boys "(There is) the girl between the two boys." been l-waladeen l-bent there between the-two boys the-girl "(There is) the girl between the two boys."

(b)*fiih

(80)(a)*

(b)*fiih

25

The only environment that I am aware of where fiih may co-occur with a definite subject is when the sentence is intended as a list of options which may include only one item. Consider the following: (81) fiih l-baaS we-t-taksi there the-busand-the-cab "There is the bus and the cab."

(81) gives a list in answer to a question, say, "How shall we go to Amman?" (82) fiih Hmad w-mona w-rasmiyye there Ahmed and-Mona and-Rasmiyye "There is Ahmed, Mona, or Rasmiyye."

(82) is an appropriate answer to a question along the lines "Who shall we send?" (83) fiih ed-d-ktoor Hmad there the-d-doctor Ahmed "There is doctor Ahmed."

(82) is an appropriate response to a remark such as "I am not feeling well and I do not know who to see?" The examples (81), (82), and (83) seem to suggest that a definite NP may follow fiih as long as this NP is not part of a sentence. Thus, the generalization is: if fiih is followed by a sentence, the subject of this sentence must be indefinite. 6.3. Word Order and fiih

26

Recall that word order in equative sentences when the subject is indefinite and when these sentences are grammatical is rigid. In this section we look more closely at word order variation with fiih. Consider: (84)(a) fiih bent be-d-daar there girl in-the-house "There is a girl in the house." be-d-daar bent there in-the-house girl "There is a girl in the house."

(b) fiih

(c)

be-d-daar fiih bent in-the-house there girl "There is a girl in the house." be-d-daar bent fiih in-the-house girl here "There is a girl in the house." be-d-daar fiih girl in-the-house there "There is a girl in the house." bent fiih be-d-daar girl here in-the-house "There is a girl in the house."

(d)*

(e)*bent

(f)*

27

The contrasts in (84) show that the only restriction on word order is that the indefinite subject may never precede fiih. 7.0. Equative Sentences with Indefinite Subjects and Past Tense As we noted earlier an equative sentence can be put in the past tense by using the past tense form of the verb to be kwn. When the verb to be is used in a sentence with an indefinite subject, the sentence behaves just like any sentence with a verb. Consider first a simple sentence with ordinary main verbs: (85)(a) weSel Hmad arrived.3sm Ahmed "Ahmed arrived." eHmad weSel Ahmed arrived "Ahmed arrived." walad arrived.3sm boy "A boy arrived."

(b)

(86)(a) weSel

(b)*walad weSel boy arrived.3sm "A boy arrived." (85) shows that when the subject is definite, the subject may either precede or follow the verb. (86), on the other hand, shows that when the subject is indefinite, the subject may not precede the verb.

28

Consider now what happens when we use past tense kwn in equative sentences with indefinite subjects: (87)(a)* kaan walad be-d-daar was boy in-the-house "(There was) a boy in the house." be-d-daar walad was in-the-house boy "(There was) a boy in the house." kaan ktaab 9ala T-Taawle was book on the-table "(There was) a book on the table." 9ala T-Taawle ktaab was on the-table book "(There was) a book on the table." kaan xarariif kthiire 9an falaSTiin was stories many about Palestine "(There were) many stories about Palestine." 9an falaSTiin xarariif kthiire was about Palestine stories many "(There were) many stories about Palestine." kaan walad zay Hmad was boy as Ahmed "(There was) a boy that looks like Ahmed."

(b) kaan

(88)(a)*

(b) kaan

(89)(a)*

(b) kaan

(90)(a)*

29

(b)*kaan

zay Hmad walad was as Ahmed boy "(There was) a boy that looks like Ahmed." ktaab teHt T-Taawle was book under the-table "(There was) a book under the table." kaan teHt T-Taawle ktaab was under the-table book "(There was) a book under the table."

(91)(a) kaan

(b)

(92)(a)*

kaan 9aSfoor foog l-HeeT was bird above the-roof "(There was) a bird on the roof." foog l-HeeT 9aSfoor was above the-roof bird "(There was) a bird on the roof." kaan kundara janb l-baab was shoe beside the-door "(There was) a shoe next to the door." kaan janb l-baab kundara was beside the-door shoe "(There was) a shoe next to the door."

(b) kaan

(93)(a)*

(b)

30

(94)(a)*

kaan kundara wara l-baab was shoe behind the-door "(There was) a shoe behind the door." kaan wara l-baab kundara was behindthe-door shoe "(There was) a shoe behind the door." kaan bent been l-waladeen was girl between the-two boys "(There was) a girl between the two boys."

(b)

(95)(a)*

(b)

kaan been l-waladeen bent was between the-two boys girl "(There was) a girl between the two boys." kaan la-mona was to-Mona "Mona had a book." kaan ktaab was book "Mona had a book." kaan ?el-i was to-me "I had a book." ktaab book

(96)(a)

(b)

la-mona to-Mona

(97)(a)

ktaab book

31

(b)*

kaan ktaab was book "I had a book."

?el-i to-me

(98)(a)

kaan 9ind mona ktaab was with Mona book "Mona had a book."

(b)* kaan ktaab 9ind mona was book with Mona "Mona had a book."

(99)(a)

kaan ma9 mona ktaab was with Mona book "Mona had a book with her." kaan ktaab ma9 mona was book with Mona "Mona had a book with her."

(b)*

The above sentences leave no doubt that when kaan is used, all equative sentences with indefinite subject are grammatical, provided that the indefinite subject follows the predicate. All the above examples are grammatical if fiih is used instead of kaan. I, therefore, conclude that only the presence of fiih permits an indefinite subject to precede its predicate. 7.1. fiih and kaan in Equative Sentences with Indefinite Subjects

32

In the previous section we established that when kaan is used, it licenses an equative sentence with an indefinite subject provided that the subject is in post-predicate position. No such constraint was imposed on fiih. In this section we explore facts of PA when both fiih and kaan are used in the same sentence. Let us take sentences with ma9 as a representative, noting that all equative sentences with indefinite subject and a prepositional predicate behave exactly like ma9. Consider: (100)(a) fiih kaan ma9 mona ktaab there was with Mona book "Mona had a book with her."

(b)

fiih kaan ktaab ma9 there was book with "Mona had a book with her." fiih ma9 mona kaan there with Mona was "Mona had a book with her."

mona Mona

(c)

ktaab book

(d)*

fiih ma9 mona ktaab kaan there with Mona book was "Mona had a book with her." fiih ktaab kaan ma9 mona there book was with Mona "There is a book which Mona had (or used to have)."

(e)

33

(f)*

fiih ktaab ma9 mona kaan there book with Mona was "Mona had a book with her."

To spare the reader of having to go all through the twenty four logically possible word orders, let me just summarize the constraints: (101)(a) The indefinite subject may never precede fiih regardless of any other word order changes that may take place. (b) There is a strong preference to keep fiih and kaan adjacent (c) kaan and fiih can never be stranded, i.e., left as the final elements in the sentence5. (d) The order between fiih and kaan is free, i.e., either can precede or follow the other. (e)There is a strong preference for kaan to precede fiih. (g) For a sentence to be interpreted in past tense, i.e., 'there was,' kaan and fiih must be kept adjacent.

Perhaps a brief comment on (f) and (g) is in order. Consider the following sentences: (102) be-l-Hafle
5The

kaan

fiih

mara

bet9allem

taariiix

only environment in which fiih can be stranded is in wh-questions with or without kaan. Consider: (i) uu fiih what there "What is up?' uu kaan fiih what was there "What was there? I.e., what happened?"

(ii)

34

in-the-party was there womanteaches.3sf history "At the party, there was a woman who teaches history." (103) be-l-Hafle fiih kaan mara bet9allem taariiix in-the-party there was womanteaches.3sf history "At the party, there was a woman who teaches history." (104) be-l-Hafle fiih mara kaanat bet9allem taariiix in-the-party there woman was.3sf teaches.3sf history "At the party, there was a woman who used to teach history." "At the party, there is a woman who used to teach history." The difference between (102)-(103), on the one hand, and (104), on the other, is that, as their respective translations indicate, we can add 'but now she teaches Arabic' only to (104) without making a contradictory statement. Furthermore, only (104) allows the ambiguity of tense in the matrix clause. I take these two points as evidence that in (102) and (103) what follows fiih and kaan is a NP. Whereas fiih and kaan are followed by a sentence in (104). 7.2. The Syntactic and Categorial Identity of fiih Recall that we have already provided evidence that fiih must contain a pronominal clitic and it is not simply a preposition. In addition to the arguments presented later we add the fact that it is showing a very unusual property which casts serious doubt on its being a simple preposition. This property is that prepositions in Arabic (in all its varieties) are never stranded, nor do they ever occur without an NP. This alone forces us to conclude that it is not a preposition. Since we say that fiih contains the preposition fii and a clitic, does it follow that it is a PP? At first sight the evidence suggests that it is indeed a PP. Recall that

35

all prepositions, without any exceptions, must merge with negation when there is clitic prefixed to them. Consider the following negative sentence: (105) l-HeeT ma-foogool-9aSfoor the-wall neg-above-neg the-bird "The roof, the bird is not on it." When the subject precedes its predicate in (105), negation may not merge with the preposition: (106)(a)* l-HeeT l-9aSfoor ma-foog-oothe-wall the-bird neg-above-it-eg "The roof, the bird is not on it."

l-HeeT l-9aSfoor me foog-oo the-wall the-bird neg above-it "The roof, the bird is not on it." The examples in (106), found in all prepositions in PA, is totally absent with fiih. Recall that fiih has an almost absolute requirement that it be not followed by a definite subject. This is unique to fiih. No other preposition in PA imposes such a requirement. This, I believe, casts serious doubt that it is a PP, in spite of its historical origin. 7.3. Is fiih a Verbal Category? In PA there are four categories that are able to merge with negation: (i) prepositions with clitics; (ii) verbs; (iii) pronouns; and (iv) the polarity item Hada 'one.' We have dismissed fiih as prepositional. Can it then be verbal? Compared with any other verb in PA, it shows the following differences and similarities. Consider first the following negative sentences:

(b)

36

(107)(a)

el-walad ma-kaanbel9ab the-boy neg-was.3sm-neg play.3sm "The boy was not playing in the garden."

be-l-Hakoora in-the-garden

(b) ma-kaanel-walad bel9ab be-l-Hakoora neg-was.3sm-neg the-boy play.3sm in-the-garden "The boy was not playing in the garden." As can be seen from (108) below, when there are two verbs in a sentence as in (107), only kaan may merge with negation:

(108)(a)*

el-walad kaan ma-bel9abebe-l-Hakoora the-boy was.3sm neg-play.3sm-neg in-the-garden "The boy was not playing in the garden." kaan el-walad ma-bel9abewas.3sm the-boy neg-play.3sm-neg "The boy was not playing in the garden." be-l-Hakoora in-the-garden

(b)*

When kaan and fiih co-occur in a negative sentence, only kaan may merge with negation and kaan must precede fiih: (109)(a)* ma-fiihkaan ma9 mona ktaab neg-there-neg was with Mona book "Mona had no book with her." ma-kaanfiih ktaab ma9 mona

(b)

37

neg-was-neg there book with "Mona had a book with her."

Mona

Recall that when the indefinite subject occurs between fiih and kaan, the sentence is interpreted as a relative clause. The correctness of that conclusion is confirmed with negative sentences. Compare the following sentence: (110) fiih ktaab ma-kaanma9 mona there book neg-was-neg with Mona "There is a book that was not with Mona."

(110) indicates that kaan overrides fiih to merge with negation if they belong to the same clause. Another verbal property that fiih seems to have is its ability to occur immediately following a wh-word; a position usually reserved for verbs. Consider: (111)(a) miin gara le-ktaab who read the-book "Who read the book?" miin le-ktaab gara who the-book read "Who read the book?" uu gara l-walad what read the-boy "What did the boy read?" uu l-walad gara

(b)*

(112)(a)

(b)*

38

what the-boy read "What did the boy read?" As (111) and (112) indicate, wh-movement in PA triggers verb fronting. The verb must move to immediately follow the wh-word. Consider the following with fiih: (113)(a) miin fiih be-d-daar who there in-the-house "Who is in the house?" miin be-d-daar fiih who in-the-house there "Who is in the house?" u u fii 9ind-ak what there at-you "What do you have?" uu 9ind-ak fii what at-you there "What do you have?"

(a)*

(114)(a)

(a)*

(113) and (114) are interesting examples since their affirmative counterparts allow the following orders: (115)(a) fiih walad de-d-daar there boy in-the-house "There is a boy in the house?" fiih de-d-daar walad

(b)

39

there in-the-house boy "There is a boy in the house?" (a) de-d-daar fiih walad in-the-house there boy "There is a boy in the house?" fii 9ind-ak there at-you "You have a book." ktaab book

(116)(a)

(b)

(c)

fii ktaab 9ind-ak there book at-you "You have a book." 9ind-ak fii ktaab at-you there book "You have a book."

However, in these sentences, when questioned, fiih must immediately follow the whword. Thus, it seems that it also shares this property with verbs. The above are the similarities between fiih and other verbs. Next, we turn our attention to differences. Consider first the following sentences in the past: (117)(a) el-walad kaan bel9ab be-l-Hakoora the-boy was.3sm play.3sm in-the-garden "The boy was playing in the garden." el-walad was.3sm bel9ab the-boy be-l-Hakoora play.3sm in-the-garden

(b) kaan

40

"The boy was playing in the garden." As the examples above show the verb kaan can precede or follow its subject. The absolute restriction here when there is an auxiliary and a main verb, the main verb can never precede the auxiliary: (118)(a)* el-walad bel9ab kaan be-l-Hakoora the-boy play.3sm was in-the-garden "The boys was playing in the garden." bel9ab el-walad kaan be-l-Hakoora play.3sm the-boy was in-the-garden "The boys was not playing in the garden."

(b)*

No matter which word order we choose, if the main verb precedes the auxiliary the sentence is ungrammatical. Now, compare fiih when it is accompanied by the auxiliary kaan with (118): (119)(a) fiih kaan be-d-daar walad there was in-the-house boy "There was a boy in the house." kaan fiih be-d-daar walad was there in-the-house boy "There was a boy in the house." fiih kaan walad be-d-daar there was boy in-the-house "There was a boy in the house."

(b)

(c)

41

(d)

kaan fiih walad be-d-daar was there boy in-the-house "There was a boy in the house." fiih walad kaan be-d-daar there boy was in-the-house "There was a boy in the house." kaan walad fiih be-d-daar was boy there in-the-house "There was a boy in the house."

(e)

(f)*

The important point that can be deduced from the paradigm in (119): fiih can precede or follow kaan. This property shows that if fiih is a verbal element, then it is unusual since verbs cannot ever precede kaan. Let us now look at wh-questions that contain the auxiliary and a main verb. It is impossible for the main verb to precede kaan. Consider: (120)(a) uu kaanat l-bent btegra what was.3sf the-girl read.3sf "What was the girl reading?" uu btegra kaanat what read..3sf was.3sf "Where was the girl playing?" l-bent the-girl

(b)*

Compare (120) above with (121) below where the sentence contains the auxiliary kaan, and fiih: (121)(a) miin kaan fii 9ind-ak

42

who was there at-you "Who was with you (at your place)?" (b) miin fii kaan 9ind-ak who there was at-you "Who was with you (at your place)?"

In (119) and (121) fiih shows a dual character in that it can occur immediately after a wh-word, and it can precede kaan even in wh-questions. I say dual, since only verbs must occur after a wh-word, and only non-verbal categories can precede kaan. This casts doubt on considering fiih a verbal element. In addition to the above, the following arguments can be mustered against considering fiih a verbal element. Recall that we have established that fiih requires an indefinite subject: a property that , to the best of knowledge, is not shared by any other verb in PA. Another unusual property for a verbal element that fiih has is the total absence of any agreement features that are always shown on verbs. Furthermore, if fiih is a verbal element, it means that it is a predicate. As a predicate, it is behaving in a very unusual manner, namely that it must always precede its subject. Added to that is the fact that if fiih is a verbal element, it is very hard, if at all possible, to identify a subject for fiih. 7.4. What is fiih? Above, I have argued against considering fiih prepositional or verbal. In this section I identify it. fiih seems to belong to an extremely closed class of elements which do not seem to be verbal. Yet, they merge with negation. Consider the following example: (122) ma-Hadaabe-d-daar neg-one-neg in-the-house

43

"Noone is in the house." There can be no doubt that Hada is a noun. It dictates its agreement features of third person masculine singular on the verb when it the subject. Consider: (123) ma-Hadaabe9ref neg-one-neg know.3sm "Noone is in the house." 9rarabi Arabic

What is so interesting about Hada is the fact that it is unique among all nouns in PA in that it is the only noun that not only merges with negation but it can merge with negation even when a verb is present as in (123) indicates. This merger is optional: negation may merge with either the verb or with Hada6. Consider: (124) ma-be9refHada know.3sm neg-one-neg "Noone is in the house." 9rarabi Arabic

As we saw earlier, fiih, unlike Hada, cannot merge with negation if kaan is present. This is probably due to the fact that Hada is so intimately related with negation: Hada owes its very existence to negation, so to speak. Consider now how Hada and fiih interact. Recall from footnote (4) that Hada, independently of fiih, can only occur in either a negative or an interrogative

6The absolute restriction on Hada is that it can never precede negation:

(i)*

Hada ma-be9refknow.3sm neg-one-neg "Noone is in the house."

9rarabi Arabic

(i) can be grammatical if given a yes-or-no question intonation contours. This is so since Hada can only be licensed by either negation or interrogation. The non-polarity counterpart of Hada is incidentally waaHad 'one.ms' or waHade 'one.fs.' Notice that there is no feminine counterpart for Hada.

44

sentence. When both fiih and Hada co-occur, there seems to be a strong preference for fiih to precede. Consider: (125) ma-fiihHada be-d-daar neg-there-neg one in-the-house "There is noone in the house."

While (125) is perfectly grammatical, (126) below is marginal: ma-Hadafiih be-d-daar neg-one-neg there in-the-house "There is noone in the house." While (126) is marginal, if, however, fiih precedes Hada and negation, then the sentence is hopelessly ungrammatical: (127)* fiih ma-Hadaabe-d-daar there neg-one-neg in-the-house "There is noone in the house." (126)?

The same absolute constraint with fiih and kaan if negation is present: fiih may never precede both Hada and negation if negation has fiih in its scope: (128)* fiih ma-kaanwalad be-d-daar there neg-was-neg boy in-the-house "There is no boy in the house."

Compare (128) with (129) below where fiih is outside the cope of negation: (129) fiih there walad ma-kaanbe-d-daar boy neg-was-neg in-the-house

45

"There is a boy who was not in the house." Hada behaves in a way similar to fiih when it, kaan, and negation co-occur: kaan may not precede both Hada and negation: (130)* kaan ma-Hadaabe-d-daar was neg-one-neg in-the-house "There was noone is in the house." The only grammatical versions of (130) are for either Hada and negation to precede kaan or for kaan and negation to precede Hada. If kaan, fiih, Hada and negation co-occur, we have the following: (131) ma-Hadaakaan fiih be-d-daar neg-one-neg was there in-the-house "There was noone in the house. (132) ma-fiihHadaa kaan be-d-daar neg-there-neg one was in-the-house "There was noone who was in the house." (133) ma-kaanfiih Hadaa be-d-daar neg-was-neg there one in-the-house "There was noone in the house. (134) be-d-daar ma-kaanfiih in-the-house neg-was-neg there "There was noone in the house. Hadaa one

46

These are the only grammatical word orders permitted. Thus fiih and Hada share the following properties: (i) They both are able to merge with negation; (ii) they are both capable of preceding kaan; and, as we shall see below, (iii) they both interact with verbal agreement. Given, (i)-(iii) above, I find it plausible to conclude that fiih an Hada belong to the same syntactic category: they are both nominal.

8.0. fiih and Verbal Agreement7 In PA when a subject precedes its verb, the verb must necessarily agree with the subject in all its features. When the verb follows the subject, it seems that the verb agrees fully with the closest member of the subject NP. To clarify consider: (135) ajat mona w-el-banaat arrived.3sf Mona and-the-girls "Mona and the girls arrived." ajen l-banaat w-mona arrived.3pf the-girls and-Mona "The girls and Mona arrived."

(136)

7For

detailed discussions of agreement, both in terms of fact and theory, the reader is referred to Aoun, Benmamoun, and Sportiche (1994), Bahloul and Harbert (1992), Benmamoun (1992), Fassi Fehri (1993), Mohammad (1990, 1998), and van Gelderen (1996). 8For detailed discussions of agreement, both in terms of fact and theory, the reader is referred to Aoun, Benmamoun, and Sportiche (1994), Bahloul and Harbert (1992), Benmamoun (1992), Fassi Fehri (1993), Mohammad (1990, 1998), and van Gelderen (1996).

47

(137)* aja

mona w-el-banaat arrived.3sm Mona and-the-girls "Mona and the girls arrived." l-banaat w-mona ajen the-girls and-Mona arrived.3pf "The girls and Mona arrived."

(138)

(139)* l-banaat w-mona ajat the-girls and-Mona arrived.3sf "The girls and Mona arrived." (135) and (136) show that when the verb precedes it agrees fully with the left-most conjunct of a conjoined subject. (137) shows that when the verb precedes agreement cannot be suspended with the default third person singular masculine used. (139) shows that when the subject precedes the verb, the verb must agree fully with features associated with the matrix subject NP. With this brief background in mind let us examine how agreement operates when fiih is present in a sentence. Consider: (140) fiih kaan xams zlaam be-d-daar there was.3sm five men in-the-room "There were five men in the room." (141) fiih kaan xams neswaan there was.3sm five women "There were five women in the room." (142) fiih kaan be-d-daar in-the-room

xams kutub be-d-daar

48

there was.3sm five books in-the-room "There were five books in the room." (143) fiih kaan xams bagaraat there was.3sm five cows "There were five books in the room." be-d-daar in-the-room

As can be seen from (140) through (143) the verb kaan need not agree at all with any of the features associated with the following NP. The option of agreement, however, is available:

(144) fiih kaan-u xams zlaam be-d-daar there was-3pm five men in-the-room "There were five men in the room." (145) fiih kaan-en xams neswaan there was.3pf five women "There were five women in the room." be-d-daar in-the-room

(146) fiih kaan-u xams kutub be-d-daar there was-3pm five books in-the-room "There were five books in the room." (147) fiih kaan-en xams bagaraat there was.3pf five cows "There were five books in the room." be-d-daar in-the-room

49

The same options are available if kaan precedes both fiih and the lower subject: (148) kaan fiih xams zlaam be-d-daar was.3sm there five men in-the-room "There were five men in the room." (149) kaan fiih xams neswaan be-d-daar there was.3sm five women in-the-room "There were five women in the room." (150) kaan fiih xams kutub be-d-daar there was.3sm five books in-the-room "There were five books in the room." (151) kaan fiih xams bagaraat there was.3sm five cows "There were five books in the room." be-d-daar in-the-room

(152) kaan-u fiih xams zlaam be-d-daar was-3pm there five men in-the-room "There were five men in the room." (153) kaan-en fiih xams neswaan was.3pf there five women "There were five women in the room." be-d-daar in-the-room

(154) kaan-u fiih xams kutub be-d-daar was-3pm there five books in-the-room "There were five books in the room."

50

(155) kaan-en fiih xams bagaraat was.3pf there five cows "There were five books in the room."

be-d-daar in-the-room

When the lower subject precedes kaan, there is only one option: the verb must necessarily agree with the subject: (156)(a) fiih xams zlaam kaan-u be-d-daar there five men was-3pm in-the-room "There were five men in the room." fiih xams zlaam kaan be-d-daar there five men was-3sm in-the-room "There were five men in the room." fiih xams neswaan kaan-en there five women was.3pf "There were five women in the room." fiih xams neswaan kaan there five women was.3sm "There were five women in the room." be-d-daar in-the-room

(b)*

(157)(a)

(b)*

be-d-daar in-the-room

The claim that I would like to put forward is that when fiih is present, there are two subjects: fiih and the other NP in the sentence. As far as subject-verb agreement is concerned, I assume that the verb has the option of either agreeing with fiih which is third person singular masculine, or with the post verbal subject. 9.0. The Empty fiih

51

In this section I look at agreement facts that pattern with those described in the immediately preceding section. The difference is in this section we look at sentence where fiih is not lexically present. Consider: (158) kaan 9end was.3sm with "Ahmed had a car." (159) kaanat 9end was.3sf with "Ahmed had a car." Hmad Ahmed car sayyara

Hmad Ahmed car

sayyara

(160) been-na w-been-ku kaan 9adaaweh between-us and-between-you.pm was.3sm enmity.sf "Between you and us there is enmity." (161) been-na w-been-ku kaan-at9adaaweh between-us and-between-you.pm was-3sf enmity.sf "Between you and us there is enmity." (162) kaan 9en-na xams zlaam was.3sm with-usfive men "We had five men (visiting us)." (163) kaan-u 9en-na xams zlaam was-3pm with-usfive men "We had five men (visiting us)." (164) kaan 9en-na xams neswaan was.3sm with-usfive women "We had five women (visiting us)."

52

(165) kaan-en 9en-na xams neswaan was-3pf with-usfive women "We had five women (visiting us)." The same set of facts obtains if we use other prepositions. As I mentioned earlier, the facts here are identical to those with fiih. The one difference being here is that the indefinite subject can never precede kaan. How do we explain these agreement facts? I submit that there is an empty fiih present in these examples that is responsible for two things (i) the subject-verb agreement facts, and (ii) the appearance of an indefinite subject. The account above leaves one important question unanswered, namely, why can fiih allow the indefinite subject to precede the verb or the PP, but its empty counterpart cannot? I.e., why is the following contrast? (166) fiih mara kaanat beteHki 9arabi there womanwas.3sf speak.3sf Arabic "There was a woman who spoke Arabic." (167)* mara kaanat beteHki womanwas.3sf speak.3sf "A woman spoke Arabic." 9arabi Arabic

Recall that we have already claimed that when the indefinite subject precedes its predicate with fiih, this subject is the head of a relative clause. If this claim is correct, then (166) is actually an equative sentence. The latter claim provides us with the answer to our question regarding the contrast above. There is a general constraint in PA: empty subjects cannot appear in equative sentences unlike the so-called verbal sentences. Consider:

53

(168) ajat arrived.3sf 'She arrived." (169) aju arrived.3pm "They arrived." (170) ajen arrived.3pf "They arrived."

Compare the above with the following: (171)* ta9baan9 tired.ms "I am, he is, you.ms are, tired." (172)* ta9baaneh tired.fs
9I

am aware of the fact, irrelevant in my opinion, that (171)-(173) are perfectly grammatical as responses to the question "How is x?" The difference between (171)-(173) and sentences that contain a verb, is (171)-(173) are ungrammatical unless they are immediate responses to this question. That is to say, the fact that once the identity of the person in question is identified, a few sentences down the discourse, one must repeat the lexical pronoun. Thus, it ungrammatical to come back in the discourse with: (i)* sa9iiid happy.3sm "he is happy."

54

"She is, you.fs are, tired." (173)* ta9baanaat tired.fp "You.ms are, they.fp are tired." Thus the ungrammaticality (167) is due to the general constraint in Palestinian syntax that bars empty pronouns in equative sentences10. 10. Conclusion In this paper I have given what I believe to be the most detailed description of the properties of the expletive fiih in PA (and to the best of knowledge, in any other dialect of Arabic) to date. I have argued that, in spite, of its appearance, fiih is not a PP. I have shown that fiih and the negative polarity item Hada occupy a class of their own in that they are the only two nominals in PA that are able to merge with negation. I have also shown that this expletive plays a crucial role in licensing indefinite subjects in equative sentences. References Aoun, Joseph, Elabbas Benmamoun, Dominique Sportiche. 1994. Agreement, Word Order, and Conjunction in Some Varieties of Arabic. Linguistic Inquiry 25:195-220. Bahloul, Maher, and Wayne Harbert. 1992. , Agreement Asymmetries in Arabic, Proceedings of the Eleventh West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics.

10Mohammad

(1990) claims that the feature person is crucial in licensing an empty pronoun. This feature is always present in verbs but is always missing in adjectives and nouns.

55

Benmamoun, Elabbas. 1992. Functional Categories, Problems of Projection, Representation and Derivation. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Southern California . Fassi Fehri, Abelkader. 1993. Issues in the Structure of Arabic Clauses and Words. Kluwer, Dordrecht. Mohammad, Mohammad A. 1998. Word Order, Agreement, and Pronominalization in Standard and Palestinian Arabic. ms., University of Florida. Mohammad, Mohammad A. 1990. The Problem of Subject Verb Agreement: Towards a Solution. In Mushira Eid (ed.) Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics I, John Benjamins, Amsterdam & Philadelphia. Moutaouakil, Ahmed. 1989. Pragmatic Functions in a Functional Grammar of Arabic. Foris, Dordrecht. van Gelderen, Elly. 1996. Parametrizing Agreement Features in Arabic, Bantu Languages, and Varieties of English. Linguistics 34.

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