A Cartographic Analysis of Subject Status in Root SV(O) and VS(O) Orders in Algerian Arabic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1301.24Keywords:
Algerian Arabic, topics typology, contrastive focus, information focus, low Ip areaAbstract
This paper investigates word order derivation in root clauses in Algerian Arabic (AA) with a focus on preverbal and postverbal constituents. The data is collected from audio typed recordings of natural ongoing speeches of 40 Algerian informants. Four cartographic frameworks are applied: Rizzi’s (1997) Split-CP system, Frascarelli and Hinterhölzl’s (2007) topic typology, Kiss’s (1998) contrastive-information focus dichotomy and Belletti’s (2004, 2005) model of the low periphery. Empirical evidence shows that preverbal elements can have three readings: genuine subject reading, topic reading, or focus reading. Unlike Rizzi (1997) who assumes that topic is a unique category, and in line with Frascarelli and Hinterhölzl’s (2007), three kinds of topics are licensed in the AA left periphery: non-recursive aboutness topic, recursive familiar topics and non-recursive contrastive topic. AA left periphery hosts only contrastive focus, and informational focus occurs in lower positions. Empirical evidence also shows that AA manifest a low IP area containing low topic and low focus. Different arguments are used to support this view: the behavior of the copula ‘ka:na’, floating quantifier and the behavior of the exclusive particle ‘bark’.
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