Studies in Semitic Syntax

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

I. TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR. A BRIEF OVERVIEW.

1. Looking At Other Linguists´ Theories

II. A STUDY OF SEMITIC SYNTAX

1. ANALYZING FASSI-FEHRI`S THEORY

1.1. How Are Words Formed In Arabic?

1.1.1. Summary

1.2. Word Order In Arabic

1.2.1. S-V-O versus V-S-O

1.2.2. Case Assignment

1.2.3. The EPP

1.3. Summary

2. SHLONSKY`S APPROACH

2.1. The Order Of Inflectional Elements In Hebrew And Arabic

2.1.1. Imperfectivity In Hebrew And Arabic

2.2. Word Order In Hebrew

2.2.1. Negation And Word Order In Arabic

- The ‘laa’ Negation

- The ‘laysa’ Negation

- The ‘maa’ Negation

2.3. Summary

III. CONCLUSION

Research Objectives and Core Themes

This work explores the application of Transformational Grammar to the syntax of Semitic languages, primarily Arabic, with comparative observations on Hebrew. It investigates how established linguistic theories, developed for Indo-Germanic languages, explain the syntactic behavior of Semitic language structures.

• Application of Transformational Grammar to Semitic languages.
• Linguistic analysis of word formation and order in Arabic.
• Comparative syntax study between Arabic and Hebrew inflectional systems.
• Examination of negation, case assignment, and the Extended Projection Principle (EPP).

Extract from the Book

Summary of Chapters

INTRODUCTION: Outlines the goal of applying Transformational Grammar to Semitic languages, focusing on Arabic syntax.

I. TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR. A BRIEF OVERVIEW.: Introduces the core principles of the syntactic theory, including X-bar theory and movement transformations.

II. A STUDY OF SEMITIC SYNTAX: Analyzes the specific syntactic structures of Arabic and Hebrew, drawing on the works of Fassi-Fehri and Shlonsky.

III. CONCLUSION: Summarizes the findings regarding the variation of syntactic parameters and agreement mechanisms in Semitic languages.

Keywords

Transformational Grammar, Semitic Syntax, Arabic, Hebrew, S-V-O, V-S-O, Agreement, Case Assignment, Negation, EPP, Fassi-Fehri, Shlonsky, Morphology, Syntax, Linguistics

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the primary objective of this publication?

The work aims to apply the syntactic theory of Transformational Grammar to Semitic languages, specifically investigating how Arabic and Hebrew structures differ from Indo-Germanic models.

What are the core thematic fields covered?

The research focuses on word formation, word order, inflectional systems, negation, and case assignment mechanisms within the Semitic language family.

Which scientific methodology is utilized?

The author employs the framework of Transformational Grammar, utilizing tree diagrams, head-movement analysis, and parametric variation theory to explain syntactic phenomena.

What does the main part of the work address?

The main part provides a critical analysis of the theories proposed by linguists Abdelkader Fassi-Fehri and Ur Shlonsky concerning the internal structure of Arabic and Hebrew clauses.

What is the significance of the "Agr" (Agreement) in this study?

Agreement (Agr) is treated as a critical parametric factor that triggers movement and dictates the surface word order (S-V-O vs. V-S-O) in Arabic and Hebrew.

What characterize the work in terms of keywords?

The study is characterized by concepts such as syntactic parameters, head movement, agreement morphology, and the cross-linguistic application of formal grammar.

How does the study explain the Arabic V-S-O vs. S-V-O word order?

The author argues that these orders are governed by the richness of the Agreement (Agr) morphology, where rich Agr triggers subject raising to an S-V-O position, while poor Agr leads to V-S-O structures.

What is the role of the 'laysa' negation in Arabic as described by Shlonsky?

The study explains that 'laysa' moves from Neg° to T° and further to AgrS°, behaving similarly to other negative particles but specifically interacting with imperfect verbs and nonverbal predicates.