On the Syntax of Existential Sentences in Standard Arabic

Abstract

Existential sentences are noncanonical sentences that express the (non)existence of an entity. They have not received considerable attention in Standard Arabic (SA). This paper, thus, aims to propose a syntactic analysis of SA existential sentences. We first discuss the key grammatical properties of the four syntactic items, namely the copular verb, the expletive hunaaka, the pivot, and the coda phrase, that comprise the SA existential sentence. The expletive and the pivot are obligatory items in the structure, whereas the copular verb and the coda are optional. In our proposed analysis, we assume that the expletive is inserted in the Spec-TP to satisfy the EPP feature on T. We argue for the presence of a predicate phrase headed by Pred which hosts the pivot in its specifier and takes a null existential predicate as its complement. The fact that the expletive must precede the pivot and the locality requirement of the predication relation support locating the pivot in the Spec-PredP. We also assume that the coda is an adjunct, which is supported by its optionality and its inability to function as an NP. The conclusions reached may contribute to the ongoing discussion of existential constructions by presenting the perspective of SA.

Keywords:

• coda
• existential sentences
• expletive
• pivot
• Standard Arabic

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 The following abbreviations are used in this paper: 1 = First Person, 2 = Second Person, 3 = Third Person, Acc = Accusative Case, AP = Adjectival Phrase, DE = Definiteness Effect, EA = Egyptian Arabic, EPP = Extended Projection Principle, ExplP = Expletive Phrase, f = Feminine, Gen = Genitive Case, Ind = Indicative, Int = Interrogative, JA = Jordanian Arabic, LA = Lebanese Arabic, m = Masculine, NA = Najdi Arabic, Nom = Nominative Case, s = Singular, PA = Palestinian Arabic, pl = Plural, PredP = Predicate Phrase, SA = Standard Arabic, SAA = Spoken Arabic of Aleppo, SC = Small Clause, TA = Tunisian Arabic, VP = Verb Phrase.

2 There is another SA item that can be used as an expletive in ESs, which is θamatta ‘there’. However, in this paper, only hunaaka ‘there’ is considered, and the other expletive will be left for future research.

3 Chomsky (1993, 2000) uses the term ‘the associate’ for the pivot NP.

4 A chain is a syntactic term used to refer to a sequence of two copies, often created by the movement of a syntactic element (Bobaljik 2002).

5 It is also known as a specificational copular sentence.

6 Many linguists have discussed the idea that ESs have a strong correlation with locatives (see, e.g., Freeze 1992; Kimball 1973).

7 McNally (1997) and Hazout (2004) assume a base-generated adjunction to V′, whereas Francez (2007) assumes that it is a sentential modifier adjoined to S.

8 In this paper, the orthography of the examples from other sources is not modified.

9 In the literature, the expletive and proform items are used interchangeably (see, e.g., Franco and Lorusso 2018; Freeze 1992).

10 It further raises to F to obtain the verb-subject order (see, Aoun and Benmamoun 1999; Aoun, Benmamoun, and Choueiri 2010; Aoun, Benmamoun, and Sportiche 1994).

11 See also Alharbi (2022a) for further discussion on the definiteness effect in NA ESs.