Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation

This article provides a systematic investigation of serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic, reporting the results of two experiments. Experiment 1 (n = 86) involves an acceptability judgment task where participants rated serialized and non-serialized verbs on a 5-point Likert scale. The resul...

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Main Authors: Eman Al Khalaf, Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh, Bassil Mashaqba
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Cogent Arts & Humanities
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2024.2405251
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author Eman Al Khalaf
Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh
Bassil Mashaqba
author_facet Eman Al Khalaf
Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh
Bassil Mashaqba
author_sort Eman Al Khalaf
collection DOAJ
description This article provides a systematic investigation of serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic, reporting the results of two experiments. Experiment 1 (n = 86) involves an acceptability judgment task where participants rated serialized and non-serialized verbs on a 5-point Likert scale. The results of this experiment indicate that speakers of Jordanian Arabic find the serialized verbs to be as attested as their non-serialized counterparts. Experiment 2 (n = 61), a picture truth-value judgment task, tested sentences with negation in the context of SVCs to test previous claims about semantic scope ambiguity in SVCs. The results show that SVCs in Jordanian Arabic exhibit negative scope ambiguity. The article then sketches an analysis of the results of the empirical investigation in terms of generative syntax, building on an introspective investigation. This study offers new empirical material from Jordanian Arabic, an under-documented language in this respect. It also provides important insights into the syntax of verb serialization and how this structure interacts with negation in natural languages.
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spelling doaj-art-ae612c4aa3bc4a389ea15ffbbce47f0a2025-08-20T02:39:32ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Arts & Humanities2331-19832024-12-0111110.1080/23311983.2024.2405251Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigationEman Al Khalaf0Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh1Bassil Mashaqba2Department of English Language and Literature, The University of Jordan, Amman, JordanDepartment of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, JordanDepartment of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, JordanThis article provides a systematic investigation of serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic, reporting the results of two experiments. Experiment 1 (n = 86) involves an acceptability judgment task where participants rated serialized and non-serialized verbs on a 5-point Likert scale. The results of this experiment indicate that speakers of Jordanian Arabic find the serialized verbs to be as attested as their non-serialized counterparts. Experiment 2 (n = 61), a picture truth-value judgment task, tested sentences with negation in the context of SVCs to test previous claims about semantic scope ambiguity in SVCs. The results show that SVCs in Jordanian Arabic exhibit negative scope ambiguity. The article then sketches an analysis of the results of the empirical investigation in terms of generative syntax, building on an introspective investigation. This study offers new empirical material from Jordanian Arabic, an under-documented language in this respect. It also provides important insights into the syntax of verb serialization and how this structure interacts with negation in natural languages.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2024.2405251Serial verb constructionsJordanian Arabicacceptability judgment tasknegative scope ambiguitysyntaxnegation
spellingShingle Eman Al Khalaf
Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh
Bassil Mashaqba
Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation
Cogent Arts & Humanities
Serial verb constructions
Jordanian Arabic
acceptability judgment task
negative scope ambiguity
syntax
negation
title Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation
title_full Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation
title_fullStr Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation
title_full_unstemmed Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation
title_short Negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in Jordanian Arabic: an experimental investigation
title_sort negative scope ambiguity in serial verb constructions in jordanian arabic an experimental investigation
topic Serial verb constructions
Jordanian Arabic
acceptability judgment task
negative scope ambiguity
syntax
negation
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2024.2405251
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AT nisreenalkhawaldeh negativescopeambiguityinserialverbconstructionsinjordanianarabicanexperimentalinvestigation
AT bassilmashaqba negativescopeambiguityinserialverbconstructionsinjordanianarabicanexperimentalinvestigation