NegP Located Above TP: Evidence from Standard Arabic (SA) and Saudi Northern Region Dialect of Arabic (SNRDA)

Abstract

The paper examines the properties of sentential negation in Standard Arabic (henceforth SA) and Saudi Northern Region Dialect of Arabic (henceforth SNRDA), focusing on similarities and differences in use and distribution (Note 1). In this paper, I propose that that the sentential negation facts of standard and dialectal versions of Arabic receive a unified account despite their apparent differences. I provide some empirical and conceptual evidence of the workability for the Neg-Above-T analysis over the Neg-Below-T analysis. NegP cannot remain lower than TP in Standard Arabic as the language employs V-to-T raising to drive the VSO from SVO word order. NegP in SNRDA should be higher than TP as it precedes non-verbal predicates (nominals, adjectivals, prepositionals, and adverbials) and some TP/CP located elements (expletive/ (indefinite) pronominal subjects and the future tense expressing element raaħ, and adverbials hosting pronoun subject clitics like ʕumri/uh.