Comparative Arabic Syntax

Abstract This chapter introduces key empirical issues that arise in the context of tense, negation, and agreement in Arabic dialect’> (Moroccan Arabic, MA; Standard Arabic, SA; Egyptian Arabic, EA) and their theoretical implications for current conceptions of the syntax of functional categories. In section 1.1, I lay out the main empirical generalizations that any analysis, regardless of its theoretical assumptions, must deal with. In section 1.2, I discuss the theoretical issues that arise within the minimalist framework as we try to deal with these empirical generalizations.