About the Book
In light of recent generative minimalism, and comparative parametric theory of language variation, the book investigates key features and parameters of Arabic grammar. Part I addresses morpho-syntactic and semantic interfaces in temporality, aspectuality, and actionality, including the Past/Perfect/Perfective ambiguity akin to the very synthetic temporal morphology, collocating time adverb construal, and interpretability of verbal Number as pluractional. Part II is dedicated to nominal architecture, the behaviour of bare nouns as true indefinites, the count/mass dichotomy (re-examined in light of general, collective, and singulative DP properties), the mirror image ordering of serialized adjectives, and N-to-D Move in synthetic possession, proper names, and individuated vocatives. Part III examines the role of CP in time and space anchoring, double access reading (in a DAR language such as Arabic), sequence of tense (SOT), silent pronominal categories in consistent null subject languages (including referential and generic pro), and the interpretability of inflection. Semantic and formal parameters are set out, within a mixed macro/micro-parametric model of language variation. The book is of particular interest to students, researchers, and teachers of Arabic, Semitic, comparative, typological, or general linguistics.
Table of Contents:
1. Foreword; 2. Provenance of Chapters; 3. Part I. Temporality, aspect, voice, and event structure; 4. Chapter 1. Tense/Aspect interaction and variation; 5. Chapter 2. Transitivity, causativity, and verbal plurality; 6. Chapter 3. Synthetic/analytic asymmetries in voice and temporal patterns; 7. Chapter 4. Arabic Perfect and temporal adverbs; 8. Part II. DP, np, bareness, and count/mass structures; 9. Chapter 5. The grammar of count and mass; 10. Chapter 6. Synthesis in Arabic DPs; 11. Chapter 7. Bare, generic, mass, and referential DPs; 12. Chapter 8. Determination parameters in the Arabic and Semitic diglossia; 13. Part III. Clausal structure, silent pronouns, and Agree; 14. Chapter 9. Time/space anchors, logophors, finiteness, and (un)interpretability of inflection; 15. Chapter 10. Arabic silent pronouns, person, and voice; 16. Chapter 11. Plural verbs and Agree; 17. References; 18. Index
Review :
Fassi Fehri’s work and ideas have been prominent for the past 25 years in the study of Semitic formal grammar for their capacity of bringing Arabic evidence to bear on ever new forefront issues of general syntactic theory. His proposals are a constant source of reference for my comparative work on nominal structures, and for many years I had looked forward eagerly to seeing them published in a single source easily accessible to the many readers they deserve.
This outstanding study is a major contribution to Arabic and general theoretical linguistics. Solidly grounded in scholarship ranging from the rich Arabic linguistic tradition to inquiries at the forefront of current research, the author provides incisive and compelling accounts of central features of Semitic languages, placing them in a revealing comparative framework, and also develops stimulating new ideas about semantics and syntax of broad import and reach. A very significant and welcome achievement.
Like no-one else Abdelkader Fassi Fehri combines profound knowledge of traditional Arabic grammar with equally profound knowledge and understanding of current generative linguistics. His new book Key features and parameters in Arabic grammar deals with a variety of novel and intriguing issues in the structure of Arabic, including syntactic and semantic properties of noun phrases and DPs, the count/mass distinction, indefiniteness, genericity, tense, aspect, and voice, logophoric anchoring, and pluractionality in the verbal domain. Like its early predecessor, Issues in the Structure of Arabic Sentences and Words, which stands as a milestone in the exploration of Arabic grammar, and set the agenda for generative study of Arabic for years afterwards, the present work will no doubt contribute a new agenda for research on Arabic, with ripple effects on parametric theory and general linguistic research.
From the late 1970’s, Fassi Fehri’s contributions to the syntax of Arabic, from word order issues, to temporal, aspectual, and modal categories, to the architecture of nominal phrases, have been ground-breaking and highly influential in the generative linguistic community. The current volume contributes an organic presentation of the main syntactic features of Arabic that will surely become an indispensible reference work in the field for years to come.
