(Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic

The study explores the morphosyntactic properties of the elliptical structure of sluicing in Ta'izzi Arabic, a dialect spoken in the southwestern part of Yemen, with a particular focus on sluicing in preposition-stranding contexts within the generative grammar paradigm. The Arabic dialect...

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Main Author: Mustafa Ahmed Al-humari
Format: Article
Language:Arabic
Published: Taez University 2025-02-01
Series:مجلة العلوم التربوية والدراسات الإنسانية سلسلة الآداب والعلوم التربوية والإنسانية والتطبيقية
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Online Access:https://hesj.org/ojs/index.php/hesj/article/view/1311
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author Mustafa Ahmed Al-humari
author_facet Mustafa Ahmed Al-humari
author_sort Mustafa Ahmed Al-humari
collection DOAJ
description The study explores the morphosyntactic properties of the elliptical structure of sluicing in Ta'izzi Arabic, a dialect spoken in the southwestern part of Yemen, with a particular focus on sluicing in preposition-stranding contexts within the generative grammar paradigm. The Arabic dialect under study seems to allow sluicing with preposition stranding, thus constituting, in principle, counterevidence to Preposition Stranding Generalization (PSG) proposed by Merchant (2001). That is, Arabic permits a preposition to be stranded under sluicing, though this is not allowed in regular wh-movements. The paper demonstrates that what gives the impression of sluicing in P-stranding contexts is actually pseudosluicing. Such a structure is not generated from a typical wh-question. Instead, it is originally derived from a wh-cleft source in which the relative clause containing the preposition and the copular pronoun are elided. This suggests that the language has two potential elliptical structures: true sluicing, which originates from regular wh-questions and TP ellipsis at PF, and pseudosluicing, which stems from a wh-cleft source where the ellipsis of the relative clause containing the preposition and the copular pronoun occurred at PF. It also suggests that, despite their distinct origins, the two elliptical derivations can be straightforwardly derived through the movement of the remnant wh-phrase from the specifier position of TP (Spec; TP) to the specifier position of CP (Spec; CP) in the sluiced clause.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2617-5908
2709-0302
language Arabic
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher Taez University
record_format Article
series مجلة العلوم التربوية والدراسات الإنسانية سلسلة الآداب والعلوم التربوية والإنسانية والتطبيقية
spelling doaj-art-7acb166c53ba4589a10e6bd3bf0d81d72025-02-11T14:34:09ZaraTaez Universityمجلة العلوم التربوية والدراسات الإنسانية سلسلة الآداب والعلوم التربوية والإنسانية والتطبيقية2617-59082709-03022025-02-014410.55074/hesj.vi44.1311(Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi ArabicMustafa Ahmed Al-humari0Assistant Professor of Linguistics Department of Languages and Translation College of Humanities and Social Sciences Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1054-4752 The study explores the morphosyntactic properties of the elliptical structure of sluicing in Ta'izzi Arabic, a dialect spoken in the southwestern part of Yemen, with a particular focus on sluicing in preposition-stranding contexts within the generative grammar paradigm. The Arabic dialect under study seems to allow sluicing with preposition stranding, thus constituting, in principle, counterevidence to Preposition Stranding Generalization (PSG) proposed by Merchant (2001). That is, Arabic permits a preposition to be stranded under sluicing, though this is not allowed in regular wh-movements. The paper demonstrates that what gives the impression of sluicing in P-stranding contexts is actually pseudosluicing. Such a structure is not generated from a typical wh-question. Instead, it is originally derived from a wh-cleft source in which the relative clause containing the preposition and the copular pronoun are elided. This suggests that the language has two potential elliptical structures: true sluicing, which originates from regular wh-questions and TP ellipsis at PF, and pseudosluicing, which stems from a wh-cleft source where the ellipsis of the relative clause containing the preposition and the copular pronoun occurred at PF. It also suggests that, despite their distinct origins, the two elliptical derivations can be straightforwardly derived through the movement of the remnant wh-phrase from the specifier position of TP (Spec; TP) to the specifier position of CP (Spec; CP) in the sluiced clause.https://hesj.org/ojs/index.php/hesj/article/view/1311SluicingPseudosluicingPreposition strandingWh-movementWh-cleft
spellingShingle Mustafa Ahmed Al-humari
(Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic
مجلة العلوم التربوية والدراسات الإنسانية سلسلة الآداب والعلوم التربوية والإنسانية والتطبيقية
Sluicing
Pseudosluicing
Preposition stranding
Wh-movement
Wh-cleft
title (Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic
title_full (Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic
title_fullStr (Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic
title_full_unstemmed (Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic
title_short (Pseudo) sluicing in Preposition Stranding Contexts: The Case of Ta'izzi Arabic
title_sort pseudo sluicing in preposition stranding contexts the case of ta izzi arabic
topic Sluicing
Pseudosluicing
Preposition stranding
Wh-movement
Wh-cleft
url https://hesj.org/ojs/index.php/hesj/article/view/1311
work_keys_str_mv AT mustafaahmedalhumari pseudosluicinginprepositionstrandingcontextsthecaseoftaizziarabic