Synopses & Reviews
This collection spans diverse themes in the syntax of Arabic, Modern Arabic dialects and Hebrew. The original contributors are written by specialists with an eye to both broad theoretical and conceptual issues as well as empirical detail. The editors' introduction sets in Generative Grammar. Among the topics discussed in this collection are VSO and SVO, cliticization and agreement, questions and the syntax of wh-movement, cognate objects, adjectival Construct State , Though construction, Gapping, causatives, the syntax of negation and the semantics of the Nominal sentence. It is the only collection of its kind targeting theoretical linguists and specialists in Semitic language alike.
Synopsis
The aim of this enterprise is to assemble together in one volume works on various syntactic aspects of Arabic and Hebrew, in the hope that it will spur further comparative work within the Semitic family at the level of richness achieved in other language families such as Germanic and Romance. Although a substantial amount of work on the syntax of Arabic and Hebrew already exists in various forms, volumes of the type we have attempted are still practically non-existent. Moreover, apart from some notable exceptions, existing studies rarely take a systematic within-family comparative stance towards the phenomena they discuss, although cross-references between studies on Arabic and Hebrew are not uncommon. Obviously, we would ideally have preferred the volume to include papers on numerous other Semitic languages, including the languages of the Ethio Semitic branch as well as numerous spoken varieties of Arabic that have yet to be explored. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to circumstances beyond our control. We very much hope that the existence of this volume will make more inclusive volumes on the syntax of the Semitic languages only a matter of time."
Table of Contents
List of Contributors. Preface.
Introduction; J. Ouhalla, U. Shlonsky.
Postverbal Subjects in Arabic and the Theory of Agreement; W. Harbert, M. Bahloul.Agreement, Clitics and Focus in Egyptian Arabic; E. Jelinek.
Cognate Objects in Modern and Biblical Hebrew; A. Pereltsvaig.
Constituent Questions in Palestinian Arabic; U. Shlonsky.
Adjectival Constructs and Inalienable Constructions; T. Siloni.
Nominal Tough-Constructions; M. Engelhardt.
Gapping and VP-Deletion in Moroccan Arabic; I. Kortobi.
Hebrew Lexical Causatives; M. Arad.
The Manifestation of Genericity in the Tense Aspect System of Hebrew Nominal Sentences; Y. Greenberg.
The Structure and Logical Form of Negative Sentences in Arabic; J. Ouhalla.
Index.