An agree-based account of verbless copula sentences in Standard Arabic

Abstract

This paper presents an account of Standard Arabic (SA) verbless copula sentences with a nominal or adjectival predicate (DP-DP and DP-AP structures) in terms of the basic notions of the Minimalist Program – Merge, Move and Agree. The proposed account posits a functional projection, nominal phrase (NomP) headed by Nom located between NP and TP. The functional head, Nom, in ways akin to C, T and v, serves as a Probe initiating an Agree relation with a nominal Goal complement which leads to valuing of nominative Case on the complement and of φ features on the Nom Probe. The initiated Probe-Goal relation observes the claims of Agree Theory in the sense that the relation holds at a distance without having to move the Goal from its base position. Further, the relation also observes the activity condition in that Nom is an active Probe by virtue of carrying uninterpretable φ features of person, number and gender, and the nominal predicate Goal is likewise active in view of its uninterpretable Case feature. It will be argued that the nominative Case in copular sentences is not a default Case but is the consequence of normal Agree. The analysis provides support for eliminating Case-driven movement and consequently eliminating the Spec head configuration requirement on Case assignment.