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Topicalization and object drop in Jordanian Arabic
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2025
Abstract
This article investigates the observation that the object of obligatorily transitive verbs in Jordanian Arabic cannot drop in VSO clauses but can in SVO clauses as long as its referent is already mentioned in the previous discourse of an accompanying utterance. When object drop takes place, the subject of the accompanying clause should be a [+definite] or [+specific] element. This article provides an account of this generalization, based on the topic nature of the subject and the object, their structural positions in the high and low peripheries and the effect of relativized minimality in ruling out movement of one over the other.
Résumé
Cet article étudie le constat que l'objet des verbes obligatoirement transitifs en arabe jordanien ne peut pas tomber dans les phrases VSO mais le peut dans les phrases SVO à condition que son référent ait déjà été mentionné dans le discours précédent d'un énoncé d'accompagnement. Lorsque la chute d'objet a lieu, le sujet de la phrase d'accompagnement doit être un élément [+défini] ou [+spécifique]. Cet article rend compte de cette généralisation, en se basant sur la nature topicale du sujet et de l'objet, sur leurs positions structurelles dans les périphéries haute et basse et sur l'effet de la minimalité relativisée qui exclut le mouvement de l'un par rapport à l'autre.
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- Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2025
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