A Syntactic Account of the Particle giid- in Hijazi Arabic

Abstract

This paper analyzes the particle giid- (or gidd-) in Hijazi Arabic (HA) within the framework of Chomsky’s (1995, 2000, 2001) Minimalist Program and Rizzi’s (1997) split CP hypothesis. While another variant has been the subject to numerous studies, this particle remains poorly understood. The current paper proposes that giid- (or gidd-) has undergone an irregular development from the aspectual qad in Standard Arabic. Although the particle semantically parallels qad indicating precedence, syntactically, it does not only combine with verbal projections, but also with adjectival and prepositional ones. Also, it interacts with negation in such a way that can freely occur before and after the particle ma- unlike qad which interacts with la but not ma. Giid- (or gidd-) is argued to be an adverb that merges in Spec of AspP, which dominates vPs, aPs or PPs. This paper also provides an account for the fact that giid- (or gidd-) can occur clause-initially. It suggests, based on the semantic and syntactic properties, that the particle moves as high as Foc(us)P in the CP area. It induces a focal interpretation in the contexts where it occurs and re-merges higher than T(ense)P, Mod(al)P, and Neg(ative)P, but lower than ForceP and Top(ic)P. It is incompatible with focused expressions located in FocP.