On the Syntax of ʔanna and ʔan in Modern Standard Arabic: A Phase-based Approach

Abstract

This study seeks to identify the syntactic motivation and problems of the associations of the complementizers ʔanna and ʔan with word order and case marking in Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth MSA) with reference to the Minimalist Program (MP), the updated version of MP Phase Theory, and the split CP hypothesis of Rizzi (1997. “The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery.” In Elements of Grammar, edited by Liliane Haegeman, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2001. “On the Position ‘Int(Errogative)’ in the Left Periphery of the Clause.” In Current Studies in Italian Syntax, edited by Guglielmo Cinque, and Giampaolo Salvi, 287–296. Amsterdam: Elsevier). The clause following ʔanna must take SVO word order, while ʔan requires VSO word order. This study analyzes not only the syntactic motivation for the word order governed by ʔanna and ʔan but also related syntactic [issues and reasons for ʔanna and ʔan complementizers in both SVO and VSO word order] based on a minimalist approach and Rizzi's approach, especially for the problem of double case marking; a generative approach is needed to solve certain syntactic problems (e.g., assigning accusative case and subjunctive mood). Finally, this study argues that in MSA, ʔan sits in a non-phasal phrase, whereas ʔanna occurs in ʔannaP and FinitenessP (FinP). Furthermore, case marking assignment is based on ECM for ʔanna and on locality for ʔan.

Keywords:

• word order
• phase theory
• cartography approach
• ʔanna and ʔan complementizers
• case markers

Acknowledgements

This Publication was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).