Accusative Case-Assignment in Double Object Constructions in Standard Arabic: A Minimalist Approach

Mostapha Thabit Mohamed

doi:10.5539/ass.v10n1p95

Abstract

The study investigates the issue of Double object constructions (DOCs) in Standard Arabic (SA). The investigation is conducted within the framework of Chomsky’s Minimalist Program (MP) (1995, 2000, 2004), and Radford's proposals of accusative – case assignment (2004, 2009) in DOCs. The study aims to provide an account for two objectives. The first objective is to show how DOCs in SA are derived within MP. The second objective is to justify how accusative case is assigned to the first and second objects of these constructions. To achieve the first objective, the study shows that the structure of DOCs in SA can be derived by the adoption of the VP shell, one of the principles of MP, as introduced by Chomsky (1995, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008). The analysis of VP in SA reflects the fact that in DOCs the main verb has the first object as its specifer and the second object as its complement. The adoption of Radford's proposals (2004, 2009) provides a solution for the second objective of the study, the accusative – case assignment in DOCs in SA. According to Radford' proposals, the first object is assigned the accusative case by the accusative light-v whereas, the second object checks its accusative case against that of the main V. The study suggests further research on the application of MP principles on other linguistic features of SA.

Highlights

There are certain verbs in Arabic that are followed by two noun phrases (NPs)
To achieve the first objective, the study shows that the structure of Double object constructions (DOCs) in Standard Arabic (SA) can be derived by the adoption of the VP shell, one of the principles of Minimalist Program (MP), as introduced by Chomsky (1995, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008)
The purpose of this study is to investigate DOCs in Standard Arabic (SA), which is a variety of Arabic language used in formal written or oral discourse (Badawi, Carter & Gully, 2004; al-Batal, 1990).The analysis conducted in this study addresses two issues

Summary

Introduction

There are certain verbs in Arabic that are followed by two noun phrases (NPs). The former NP1 functions as the first object and the latter NP2 functions as the second object. The study attempts to show how far MP can provide an adequate analysis for the derivation of DOCs and how the first and second objects are assigned accusative case in these constructions. Galal (2004) discusses the structure of the relative clause in Modern Standard Arabic by the application of the principles of MP. Assiri (2011) accounted for the agreement (a) symmetries between nouns and adjectives in Modern Standard Arabic with the application of agre-based approach. Despite the fact that the studies surveyed above dealt with different linguistic features of SA under the principles of MP, none of these studies dealt with the linguistic features of DOCs, their derivation or the assignment of accusative case to the objects of these constructions

Problem of the Study

Double-Object Constructions in Standard Arabic

Basic Principles of Minimalism

Derivation of DOCs in SA

Case-assignment of DOCs in SA

Conclusion