Empty categories in Syrian Arabic
It is a widely held view that EMPTY CATEGORIES (ECs) provide a 'window' through which to probe into the principles of Universal Grammar (UG). This work is concerned with the nature of Empty Categories in Syrian. In particular, we concentrate on their implications for the Government and Binding theory. Chapter One considers some THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES. Specifically, we introduce grammatical theory within the Chomskyan perspective, note the importance of ECs in ~GB, and highlight the principles that force their existence in certain situations. We also examine the distribution of overt and empty categories with respect to the conditions of the binding theory, as proposed in Chomsky (1981), and consider both the Lectures (1981) and the Barriers (1986b) version of the ECP. Chapter Two studies CLAUSE STRUCTURE. We discuss how VSO sentences should be analyzed, presenting evidence that VSO order derives from an underlying SVO order. We also look at the nature of verb-fronting, reviewing three analyses. Then, we concern ourselves with verbless clauses. We consider how small clauses are treated in English. We also consider Syrian verbless clauses, highlighting their distribution and provide an analysis. Then, we
Farhat, Haytham
Linguistics
Empty categories in Syrian Arabic. It is a widely held view that EMPTY CATEGORIES (ECs) provide a 'window' through which to probe into the principles of Universal Grammar (UG). This work is concerned with the nature of Empty Categories in Syrian. In particular, we concentrate on their implications for the Government and Binding theory. Chapter One considers some THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES. Specifically, we introduce grammatical theory within the Chomskyan perspective, note the importance of ECs in ~GB, and highlight the principles that force their existence in certain situations. We also examine the distribution of overt and empty categories with respect to the conditions of the binding theory, as proposed in Chomsky (1981), and consider both the Lectures (1981) and the Barriers (1986b) version of the ECP. Chapter Two studies CLAUSE STRUCTURE. We discuss how VSO sentences should be analyzed, presenting evidence that VSO order derives from an underlying SVO order. We also look at the nature of verb-fronting, reviewing three analyses. Then, we concern ourselves with verbless clauses. We consider how small clauses are treated in English. We also consider Syrian verbless clauses, highlighting their distribution and provide an analysis. Then, we
empty category syrian arabic widely_hold view empty categories provide window probe principle universal_grammar work concerned_nature empty categories syrian particular concentrate implication government_binding theory consider theoretical specifically introduce grammatical theory within chomskyan perspective note importance highlight principle force existence certain situation also_examine distribution overt empty category respect condition bind_theory propose chomsky consider version study clause_structure discuss vso sentence analyze present_evidence vso order derives underlie svo order also_look nature verb fronting review analysis concern clause consider small clause treat english also_consider syrian clause highlight distribution provide_analysis