The structure of Argobba nominal phrase

Abstract This paper analyzes the internal structure of Argobba nominal phrase in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) formalism. Argobba is a seriously endangered Semitic language in Ethiopia. Unlike its sister languages in the Ethio-Semitic subfamily, Argobba nouns qualified by a demonstrative, possessive pronoun and genitive NP bear a definite article. It is argued in this paper that the definite article is not an independent syntactic element, but an affix, which is attached to indefinite nouns lexically. It is argued that the derivation of Argobba definite common nouns is captured by the Definite Lexical Rule (DLR). The paper also claims that the NP internal agreement of specifiers and modifiers with the head noun is accounted for by the SPEC and MOD features that impose certain constraints on the morphosyntactic features of the head noun.