Abstract

This research paper investigates the syntax of idiomatic expressions consisting of the verb and the object/accompanying adjunct (VP idiomatic expressions, henceforth) in two Arabic varieties: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Jordanian Arabic (JA). It shows that in order for VP idiomatic expressions to obtain their idiomatic reading, the predominate pattern of the word order in each variety (i.e., the VSO word order in MSA, but the SVO word order in JA) should be used; otherwise idiomaticity is not possible (with few exceptional cases discussed in the paper). We offer evidence that this restriction on the idiomaticity of VP idiomatic expressions in Arabic varieties follows from a proposed condition that the subject (even if it is not part of the idiomatic expression) and the verb (in addition to the object) should maintain a structurally local relation with each other in the narrow syntax, i.e. they should be included in the vP phase before the spell-out point. The paper shows that the movement of the verb to T0 in MSA and JA or lack thereof does not break idiomaticity, nor does the movement of the subject to Spec,TP in JA. These facts are taken as an indication that a distinction between narrow-syntax and post-spellout movements should be made. This provides evidence for proposals that distinguish between pre- and post-spellout movements (cf. Chomsky 2001, among others).

Highlights

  • Idiomatic expressions are regarded as a significant area of linguistic research, where different theories attempt to use them in favour of their plausibility or, at the same time, against the application or the rationale of competing theories (O'grady, 1998; Ifill, 2003; Bruening, 2010; Espinal and Mateu, 2010; and Larson, 2017; among many others)

  • We demonstrate that the formation of the word order of idiomatic expressions consisting of the verb and the object (VP idiomatic expressions, ) in these two varieties fares well under the Minimalist Program that argues for an intermediary procedure that connects the lexicon with the interface systems of language which are the Phonetic Form (PF) and the Logical Form (LF) (Chomsky, 1995)

  • In this research and based on evidence from VP idiomatic expressions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Jordanian Arabic (JA), we provide evidence for the presence of CHL and PF movements that have no impact on CHL

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Summary

Introduction

Idiomatic expressions are regarded as a significant area of linguistic research, where different theories attempt to use them in favour of their plausibility or, at the same time, against the application or the rationale of competing theories (O'grady, 1998; Ifill, 2003; Bruening, 2010; Espinal and Mateu, 2010; and Larson, 2017; among many others) Such a premium is placed on idiomatic expressions due to their property being non-compositional, i.e. their meaning is not determined through the calculous of their individual parts. VP idiomatic expressions are a direct manifestation of the workings of CHL This does not suggest that MSA and JA have a different CHL, but they do not share the same application of syntactic operations that generate word orders on the surface.

Theoretical background
Movement at PF
Word order of predicate VP idiomatic expressions in MSA
Word order in predicate idiomatic expressions in JA
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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