The syntax of adjectival genitive constructions in Standard Arabic

Abstract

This research investigates the syntactic derivation of the so-called adjectival genitive constructions in Standard Arabic. Adjectival genitive constructions are formed by an adjective followed by a DP that is assigned genitive case by the adjective itself as in qawijju lqalbi ‘lit. strong the heart’ that idiomatically means ‘a brave man’. In this research, we show that the adjective does not agree with the following DP but with a hidden element (i.e., pro) whose Φ-content controls that of the adjective. We propose that the adjective as well as the following DP enters the derivation as an adjunct to NP whose head is filled with the pro. We propose that the adjective head-moves to adjoin the head D⁰ that c-commands the whole construction. Movement of the adjective to the head D⁰ is assumed to operate at PF, following Chomsky’s (2001) claim that head movement is a PF operation and never applies in the narrow syntax. This helps us account for the fact that the adjective is assigned a structural case which is variant, based on the function of the adjectival genitive construction in the host sentence (i.e., a subject, an object, an object of preposition, etc.).