Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic

This paper empirically and theoretically investigates the syntax of split topicalization in Jordanian Arabic, a previously undiscovered phenomenon. The results of a large-scale acceptability judgment task (n = 463) reveal that Jordanian Arabic displays split topicalization of various categorial type...

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Main Author: Eman Al Khalaf
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Cogent Arts & Humanities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2024.2333599
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author Eman Al Khalaf
author_facet Eman Al Khalaf
author_sort Eman Al Khalaf
collection DOAJ
description This paper empirically and theoretically investigates the syntax of split topicalization in Jordanian Arabic, a previously undiscovered phenomenon. The results of a large-scale acceptability judgment task (n = 463) reveal that Jordanian Arabic displays split topicalization of various categorial types. Building on the labeling framework, the remnant movement analysis and the idea that there exists an IP-internal focus position below T and above the vP phase, I propose a unified analysis of all the categorial types of ST in Jordanian Arabic, where ST is reduced to remnant movement of a constituent (NP, VP, AP, etc.), from which a subconstituent has undergone focus movement to an IP-internal focus position. The analysis captures all cases of ST in Jordanian Arabic, such as splitting with ditransitives. It accounts for the fact that ST in JA is only grammatical with bridge-contour intonation: the intonation is read off the syntactic structure in which functional projections such as TopP and FocP are encoded. The analysis provides insights into the structure of the left periphery of the vP phase: it lends support to the view that this area could have a more elaborate structure than previously thought, parallel to that of the left periphery of the CP phase.
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spelling doaj-art-6a18f843b0754b44a74db2c862ca0e612025-08-20T02:39:32ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Arts & Humanities2331-19832024-12-0111110.1080/23311983.2024.2333599Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian ArabicEman Al Khalaf0Department of English Language and Literature, The University of Jordan, Amman, JordanThis paper empirically and theoretically investigates the syntax of split topicalization in Jordanian Arabic, a previously undiscovered phenomenon. The results of a large-scale acceptability judgment task (n = 463) reveal that Jordanian Arabic displays split topicalization of various categorial types. Building on the labeling framework, the remnant movement analysis and the idea that there exists an IP-internal focus position below T and above the vP phase, I propose a unified analysis of all the categorial types of ST in Jordanian Arabic, where ST is reduced to remnant movement of a constituent (NP, VP, AP, etc.), from which a subconstituent has undergone focus movement to an IP-internal focus position. The analysis captures all cases of ST in Jordanian Arabic, such as splitting with ditransitives. It accounts for the fact that ST in JA is only grammatical with bridge-contour intonation: the intonation is read off the syntactic structure in which functional projections such as TopP and FocP are encoded. The analysis provides insights into the structure of the left periphery of the vP phase: it lends support to the view that this area could have a more elaborate structure than previously thought, parallel to that of the left periphery of the CP phase.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2024.2333599Split topicalizationremnant movementfocus movementlocalitylabelingJordanian Arabic
spellingShingle Eman Al Khalaf
Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic
Cogent Arts & Humanities
Split topicalization
remnant movement
focus movement
locality
labeling
Jordanian Arabic
title Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic
title_full Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic
title_fullStr Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic
title_full_unstemmed Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic
title_short Split topicalization as remnant movement: the case of Jordanian Arabic
title_sort split topicalization as remnant movement the case of jordanian arabic
topic Split topicalization
remnant movement
focus movement
locality
labeling
Jordanian Arabic
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2024.2333599
work_keys_str_mv AT emanalkhalaf splittopicalizationasremnantmovementthecaseofjordanianarabic