SACM - United States of America
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9668
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Restricted Scope and Word Order: Evidence from Najdi Arabic(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Alhammami, Fatemah M; Schreiner, SylviaThis thesis investigates a phenomenon at the syntax-semantics interface in Najdi Arabic (NA, henceforth): the scopal interaction between the prenominal universal quantifier /kilː/ and the negative particle /maː/ negating verbs. Based on NA native speaker judgments of interpretations, this interaction results in either scope ambiguity or scope rigidity, depending on the syntactic word orders specifically, VS(O) versus SV(O) constructions. Scope interpretations across VS(O) constructions in this study are analyzed within the frameworks of Quantifier Raising (QR, henceforth) as proposed by May (1977, 1985) to explain the potential presence of scope ambiguity within these constructions that are constrained by Fox’s (2000) Scope Economy and Shortest Move principles. Additionally, the study applies Chomsky’s (1973, 1981) Ban on Improper Movement (BIM, henceforth) to explain why preverbal quantifier phrases in SV(O) constructions, functioning as topics derived through movement, are blocked from undergoing further movement to yield alternative scope interpretations at Logical Form (LF, henceforth), resulting in scope rigidity. The study also notes that base-generated topics in SV(O) constructions do not reconstruct at LF, which also accounts for scope rigidity in this case. This study contributes to understanding the syntax-semantics interface in Arabic dialects by offering a principled account of the behavior of scope in relation to word order in NA, an area that has not been addressed within the existing literature on the dialect.36 0Item Restricted A Sociolinguistic Study of Subject-Verb Word Order Variation in Najdi Arabic(2023-05-04) Alharbi, Talal Mutlaq S.; Schilling, NatalieThis dissertation employs variationist and discourse analytic approaches to examine subject-verb word order variation in the Najdi Arabic dialect, spoken in the north of Saudi Arabia, which can be realized as either VS(O) or SV(O). The aims of this dissertation are to explore the linguistic and social conditioning of subject-verb word order in the Najdi dialect and to provide viable interpretations for the observed patterns. Drawing on a corpus of 20 sociolinguistic interviews with locals from the city of Arar, the speech community under examination, this dissertation demonstrates that subject-verb word order is linguistically and socially conditioned in Najdi Arabic, illuminating similar patterns to those found in the relevant literature on other Arabic varieties (Al-Shawashreh, 2016; Owens et al., 2013; Owens et al., 2009). Utilizing a multivariate analysis of the interview data, I find that these two word orders hold different pragmatic meanings: VS mainly constitutes presentation, while SV mainly indexes available referentiality. The social findings indicate that age is the main predictor, with younger participants using SV more than their older counterparts, who use VS at a higher rate. Explanations of the social patterns often present challenges in the context of syntactic variation, since syntactic variables may carry referential and pragmatic meanings in addition to associations with social group membership. Therefore, I explore such patterns by applying discourse analytic approaches, specifically the approach pioneered by Gumperz (1982) known as interactional sociolinguistics, employing stance (Ochs, 1993), positioning (Davies & Harré, 1990), and framing (Tannen, 1993a) and considering the local context of the interaction and the larger cultural norms of the speech community. Findings from the discourse analysis show that the different age groups frame the situated context of the sociolinguistic interview differently, with older participants framing it as a formal event where they are expected to provide information, and younger participants framing it as a casual conversation where they are building interpersonal connections with the interviewer, thus resulting in a difference in interactional styles and meaningfully impacting usage patterns of the two word orders. By highlighting the age-specific framing patterns, I argue that the higher use of SV in the speech of the younger participants reflects the variant’s interpersonal functions (e.g., communicating attitudes), while the higher use of VS in the speech of the older participants is connected to the variant’s function of communicating new information. This dissertation furthers our understanding of subject-verb word order variation in Arabic, which has received minimal attention in variationist literature. In addition, this study tackles the well-documented challenge of interpreting the social conditioning of syntactic variation by highlighting the utility of exploring variable phenomena, especially at the level of syntax, through a variety of analytic lenses.115 0Item Restricted Loanword Adaptation in Najdi Arabic(2023) Alhomidan, Majid Suliman; Wiltshire, CarolineThe interest in studying loanword adaptation has been accompanied by a long- standing debate on how to approach such phenomena. Various phonological and phonetic approaches have been proposed to account for such phenomena (Paradis & LaCharité 1997; Uffmann 2001; Steriade 2001; Peperkamp & Dupoux 2003; Silverman 1992, and Yip 1993), among others. Therefore, the goal of this study is to contribute generally to the field of loanword phonology and to the phonology of the Najdi Arabic dialect in particular. The study investigates the adaptations of English consonantal and syllabic structures into Najdi Arabic. Moreover, it examines whether the adaptations employed by Najdi speakers are phonologically or phonetically grounded. Therefore, 1,234 tokens were elicited from 12 Najdi participants divided in two groups: 6 monolingual and 6 bilingual Najdi speakers. Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004) is implemented as an analytical tool in this study. The primary results of this dissertation show that no deletion is applied in Najdi Arabic consonantal adaptation since four English consonants are adapted by substituting them with native Najdi consonants and two English consonants are imported. With respect to syllabic adaptation, the results reveal that NA speakers adapted illicit clusters by epenthesis, i.e., inserting a vowel to break up clusters and without any instance of deletion. Both consonantal and syllabic adaptations in NA show that they are phonologically guided. In conclusion, this study favors the phonological approach (Paradis & LaCharité 1997) over the phonetic approach (Peperkamp & Dupoux 2003).24 0