The Syntax and Semantics of Arabic Possession

dc.contributor.advisorKarimi, Simin
dc.contributor.advisorHarley, Heidi
dc.contributor.authorAlshehri, Othman
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-09T06:36:51Z
dc.date.available2023-05-09T06:36:51Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation is about the constituents that build possession sentences and the elements that compute their semantics. Through a detailed study of clausal possession formation in the Saudi variety of Arabic, this work contributes to a line of research in which possession relations are introduced in a nominal domain and establish a dependency between two nominal arguments. It argues that the domain where this dependency is fulfilled may go beyond the nominal phrase. The major theoretical claim of this work is that syntax is less deterministic of thematic roles; an object may serve as the syntactic argument of a head without being its semantic argument. Thematic roles are treated as parts of the semantic component of grammar. In the present system, the possessor thematic role is saturated in two different places, leading to differences in the range of possession meanings associated with each structure. First, the possessor thematic role may be saturated in the complement of the head that introduces it. This possessive construction is essentially attributive, and deriving clausal possession from this construction involves extracting the possessor from its base position through the DP edge. Second, the possessor thematic role may be saturated in the specifier of a higher expletive head. The present approach  ts in the contemporary literature that argues for the multiplicity of structures leading to possession sentences.
dc.format.extent191
dc.identifier.citationAlshehri, O. (2023). The Syntax and Semantics of Arabic Possession, PhD Thesis, The University of Arizona
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14154/68005
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subjectPossession
dc.subjectInalienable Possession
dc.subjectAlienable Possession
dc.subjectPossessor Extraction
dc.subjectSyntax
dc.subjectSemantics
dc.subjectPredicative Possession
dc.titleThe Syntax and Semantics of Arabic Possession
dc.typeThesis
sdl.degree.departmentLinguistics
sdl.degree.disciplineSyntax and Semantics of Possession
sdl.degree.grantorThe University of Arizona
sdl.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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