Bare nominals, information structure and word order

Abstract

Existentially interpreted bare nominals in English have been argued to be in focus; generic bare nominals, topical. In distributional terms, these nominals distribute more freely as compared to, e.g. Romance bare nominals. Arabic bare nominals pattern with the latter in interpretation and distribution. This paper proposes that Arabic bare nominals, which can only be interpreted existentially, are foci, on a par with their English counterparts, and that this plays a key role in their licensing. More importantly, the present paper seeks to derive the surface differences seen in the distribution of these nominals in Arabic and English from deeper differences between these two languages in the focus system facts and word order possibilities. Arabic has a freer word order, but is more constrained in its focus system. The reverse holds in English, a fact that explains why English bare nominals are more freely distributed than their Arabic counterparts.