Elabbas Benmamoun
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 736303 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Elabbas Benmamoun |
| NOMBRES | Elabbas |
| APELLIDO | Benmamoun |
| FIRMA | BENMAMOUN E |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| VERIFICADO | No |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 22 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 164 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 21 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1997 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Wh-questions in the grammar of heritage Egyptian speakers
Aims and objectives: Despite the growth in research on heritage grammars, very few studies focused on heritage speakers’ knowledge of the syntax of wh-questions. This paper examines heritage Egyptian speakers’ knowledge of wh-questions in their L1 with particular focus on their knowledge of (1) the four main strategies of wh-question formation (three movement strategies and one in situ strategy) and (2) the unmarkedness of the in situ strategy co…
The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics
VSO Word Order, Primarily in Arabic Languages
Arabic varieties, such as Classical Arabic, allow the verb to precede the subject and object. As in other verb‐initial languages, a number of issues arise that concern the proper configuration for the VSO order, the surface position of the subject and the verb, how agreement between the verb and the subject obtains, how to account for the agreement asymmetries that arise in the SVO and VSO orders, how Case gets assigned/checked, and whether the v…
Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics
Arabic plurals and root and pattern morphology in Palestinian and Egyptian heritage speakers
This study investigates heritage speakers’ knowledge of plural formation in their colloquial varieties of Arabic, which use both concatenative and non-concatentative modes of derivation. In the concatenative derivation, a plural suffix attaches to the singular stem ( muhandis ‘engineer-sg.’ → muhandis-iin ‘engineer-pl’); in the non-concatenative, the relation between the singular ( gamal ‘camel’) and the plural ( gimaal ‘camels’) typically involv…
Aspects of second-language transfer in the oral production of Egyptian and Palestinian heritage speakers
The nature and extent of the impact of language transfer in majority–minority language contexts have been widely debated in both second- and heritage-language acquisition. This study examines four linguistic areas in three oral narratives collected from Egyptian and Palestinian heritage speakers in the United States (namely, plural and dual morphology, possessive constructions, and restrictive relative clauses), with a special focus on how the se…
The Location of Sentential Negation in Arabic Varieties
This paper revisits the issue of the representation of sentential negation in Arabic varieties with particular reference to Standard Arabic and four colloquial varieties, Egyptian Arabic, Gulf/Kuwaiti Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Jordanian Arabic/Levantine Arabic. The goals are both empirical and conceptual. Empirically, the paper incorporates data from different Arabic varieties including varieties that have not figured prominently in recent deb…
Defining an “ideal” heritage speaker
(Article begins on next page) The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters
The Administration of Heritage Language Programs
This paper grew out of a presentation given by Elabbas Benmamoun at the Sixth Heritage Language Research Institute held at UCLA in June, 2012. On the last day of the institute, Benmamoun participated in a panel entitled Lessons Learned: The Implications for Flagship Programs. The Language Flagship, which co-sponsored the 2012 institute together with the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC), aims to prepare a cohort of university gra…
Heritage languages and their speakers
In this paper, we bring to the attention of the linguistic community recent research on heritage languages. Shifting linguistic attention from the model of a monolingual speaker to the model of a multilingual speaker is important for the advancement of our understanding of the language faculty. Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in an environment where the native language is dominant in various …
Closest conjunct agreement in head final languages
We discuss the phenomenon of closest conjunct agreement with a special focus on head-final languages; we present data from two such languages, Hindi and Tsez, which allow agreement with the rightmost conjunct when the verb follows the conjoined phrase. This contrasts with head-initial languages, such as Arabic, where close conjunct agreement is with the leftmost conjunct in clauses with VS order. In addition, both languages exhibit certain flexib…
Clause Structure and the Syntax of Verbless Sentences
This chapter examines clause structure and the syntax of so-called verbless sentences, focusing on a key issue in the theory of clause structure that also engages the interface between syntax and morphology: whether both tense and verb are universally projected elements in every clause. Drawing on a study of verbless sentences in Arabic, it argues that tense is universally projected but verb is not and proposes that tense is categorially defined …
Featureless Expressions
Ackema and Neeleman (2003) discuss three phenomena that arise in the context of agreement and pronominals: agreement asymmetries, cliticization, and null subjects. They develop a unified analysis for these phenomena, claiming that they all involve a process of weakening within prosodic domains. While we agree with their important insight that the PF interface is responsible for some of these phenomena, we will argue against their weakening analys…
Licensing Configurations
January 01 2006 Licensing Configurations: The Puzzle of Head Negative Polarity Items In Special Collection: CogNet Elabbas Benmamoun Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Online ISSN: 1530-9150 Print ISSN: 0024-3892 © 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2006 Lin…
Agreement parallelism between sentences and noun phrases
The Feature Structure of Functional Categories
Focusing on the relation between functional categories and lexical and phrasal categories in Arabic dialects, Benmamoun proposes that universally functional categories are specified for categorial features which determine their relation with lexical categories. Language variation is attributed to differences with respect to the categorial feature specifications of functional categories and how they interact with lexical categories. The book bring…
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XI
Further Remarks on First Conjunct Agreement
Aoun, Benmamoun, and Sportiche (ABS, 1994) propose an analysis of first conjunct agreement in VS sentences in Lebanese Arabic and Moroccan Arabic. On the basis of the distribution of number-sensitive items, they argue that this type of agreement is due to clausal coordination. Munn (1999) argues against ABS's account and proposes that first conjunct agreement in the Arabic dialects arises because coordination of NP subjects is semantically plural…
The Syntax of Quantifiers and Quantifier Float
The Arabic quantifier kull displays a Q___NP and NP___Q alternation. Shlonsky (1991) argues that in both patterns Q heads a QP projection with the NP as a complement that may undergo movement to [Spec, QP] or beyond to yield the NP___Q pattern and Q-float structures. On the contrary, I argue on the basis of evidence from reconstruction, Case, and agreement that the two patterns are radically different. In the Q___NP pattern Q is indeed the head o…
Arabic morphology
Minimality, Reconstruction, and PF Movement
We investigate the interaction of clitic left-dislocation (CLLD), wh-interrogatives, and topicalization in Lebanese Arabic. A wh-phrase or a topicalized phrase can be fronted across a CLLDed element derived by movement but not across a base-generated one. A CLLDed element cannot be fronted across another CLLDed element, a wh-phrase, or a topicalized phrase. These interception effects are accounted for only if Minimality is construed as a constrai…
Licensing of Negative Polarity Items in Moroccan Arabic
Heritage languages and their speakers
In this paper, we bring to the attention of the linguistic community recent research on heritage languages. Shifting linguistic attention from the model of a monolingual speaker to the model of a multilingual speaker is important for the advancement of our understanding of the language faculty. Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in an environment where the native language is dominant in various …
Minimality, Reconstruction, and PF Movement
We investigate the interaction of clitic left-dislocation (CLLD), wh-interrogatives, and topicalization in Lebanese Arabic. A wh-phrase or a topicalized phrase can be fronted across a CLLDed element derived by movement but not across a base-generated one. A CLLDed element cannot be fronted across another CLLDed element, a wh-phrase, or a topicalized phrase. These interception effects are accounted for only if Minimality is construed as a constrai…
Further Remarks on First Conjunct Agreement
Aoun, Benmamoun, and Sportiche (ABS, 1994) propose an analysis of first conjunct agreement in VS sentences in Lebanese Arabic and Moroccan Arabic. On the basis of the distribution of number-sensitive items, they argue that this type of agreement is due to clausal coordination. Munn (1999) argues against ABS's account and proposes that first conjunct agreement in the Arabic dialects arises because coordination of NP subjects is semantically plural…
Arabic morphology
The Syntax of Quantifiers and Quantifier Float
The Arabic quantifier kull displays a Q___NP and NP___Q alternation. Shlonsky (1991) argues that in both patterns Q heads a QP projection with the NP as a complement that may undergo movement to [Spec, QP] or beyond to yield the NP___Q pattern and Q-float structures. On the contrary, I argue on the basis of evidence from reconstruction, Case, and agreement that the two patterns are radically different. In the Q___NP pattern Q is indeed the head o…
Licensing of Negative Polarity Items in Moroccan Arabic
Featureless Expressions
Ackema and Neeleman (2003) discuss three phenomena that arise in the context of agreement and pronominals: agreement asymmetries, cliticization, and null subjects. They develop a unified analysis for these phenomena, claiming that they all involve a process of weakening within prosodic domains. While we agree with their important insight that the PF interface is responsible for some of these phenomena, we will argue against their weakening analys…
Licensing Configurations
January 01 2006 Licensing Configurations: The Puzzle of Head Negative Polarity Items In Special Collection: CogNet Elabbas Benmamoun Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Online ISSN: 1530-9150 Print ISSN: 0024-3892 © 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2006 Lin…
Agreement parallelism between sentences and noun phrases
Licensing of Negative Polarity Items in Moroccan Arabic
Minimality, Reconstruction, and PF Movement
We investigate the interaction of clitic left-dislocation (CLLD), wh-interrogatives, and topicalization in Lebanese Arabic. A wh-phrase or a topicalized phrase can be fronted across a CLLDed element derived by movement but not across a base-generated one. A CLLDed element cannot be fronted across another CLLDed element, a wh-phrase, or a topicalized phrase. These interception effects are accounted for only if Minimality is construed as a constrai…
Further Remarks on First Conjunct Agreement
Aoun, Benmamoun, and Sportiche (ABS, 1994) propose an analysis of first conjunct agreement in VS sentences in Lebanese Arabic and Moroccan Arabic. On the basis of the distribution of number-sensitive items, they argue that this type of agreement is due to clausal coordination. Munn (1999) argues against ABS's account and proposes that first conjunct agreement in the Arabic dialects arises because coordination of NP subjects is semantically plural…
The Syntax of Quantifiers and Quantifier Float
The Arabic quantifier kull displays a Q___NP and NP___Q alternation. Shlonsky (1991) argues that in both patterns Q heads a QP projection with the NP as a complement that may undergo movement to [Spec, QP] or beyond to yield the NP___Q pattern and Q-float structures. On the contrary, I argue on the basis of evidence from reconstruction, Case, and agreement that the two patterns are radically different. In the Q___NP pattern Q is indeed the head o…
Arabic morphology
The Feature Structure of Functional Categories
Focusing on the relation between functional categories and lexical and phrasal categories in Arabic dialects, Benmamoun proposes that universally functional categories are specified for categorial features which determine their relation with lexical categories. Language variation is attributed to differences with respect to the categorial feature specifications of functional categories and how they interact with lexical categories. The book bring…
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XI
Agreement parallelism between sentences and noun phrases
Featureless Expressions
Ackema and Neeleman (2003) discuss three phenomena that arise in the context of agreement and pronominals: agreement asymmetries, cliticization, and null subjects. They develop a unified analysis for these phenomena, claiming that they all involve a process of weakening within prosodic domains. While we agree with their important insight that the PF interface is responsible for some of these phenomena, we will argue against their weakening analys…
Licensing Configurations
January 01 2006 Licensing Configurations: The Puzzle of Head Negative Polarity Items In Special Collection: CogNet Elabbas Benmamoun Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Elabbas Benmamoun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Online ISSN: 1530-9150 Print ISSN: 0024-3892 © 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2006 Lin…
Clause Structure and the Syntax of Verbless Sentences
This chapter examines clause structure and the syntax of so-called verbless sentences, focusing on a key issue in the theory of clause structure that also engages the interface between syntax and morphology: whether both tense and verb are universally projected elements in every clause. Drawing on a study of verbless sentences in Arabic, it argues that tense is universally projected but verb is not and proposes that tense is categorially defined …
Closest conjunct agreement in head final languages
We discuss the phenomenon of closest conjunct agreement with a special focus on head-final languages; we present data from two such languages, Hindi and Tsez, which allow agreement with the rightmost conjunct when the verb follows the conjoined phrase. This contrasts with head-initial languages, such as Arabic, where close conjunct agreement is with the leftmost conjunct in clauses with VS order. In addition, both languages exhibit certain flexib…
The Location of Sentential Negation in Arabic Varieties
This paper revisits the issue of the representation of sentential negation in Arabic varieties with particular reference to Standard Arabic and four colloquial varieties, Egyptian Arabic, Gulf/Kuwaiti Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Jordanian Arabic/Levantine Arabic. The goals are both empirical and conceptual. Empirically, the paper incorporates data from different Arabic varieties including varieties that have not figured prominently in recent deb…
Defining an “ideal” heritage speaker
(Article begins on next page) The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters
The Administration of Heritage Language Programs
This paper grew out of a presentation given by Elabbas Benmamoun at the Sixth Heritage Language Research Institute held at UCLA in June, 2012. On the last day of the institute, Benmamoun participated in a panel entitled Lessons Learned: The Implications for Flagship Programs. The Language Flagship, which co-sponsored the 2012 institute together with the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC), aims to prepare a cohort of university gra…
Heritage languages and their speakers
In this paper, we bring to the attention of the linguistic community recent research on heritage languages. Shifting linguistic attention from the model of a monolingual speaker to the model of a multilingual speaker is important for the advancement of our understanding of the language faculty. Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in an environment where the native language is dominant in various …
Arabic plurals and root and pattern morphology in Palestinian and Egyptian heritage speakers
This study investigates heritage speakers’ knowledge of plural formation in their colloquial varieties of Arabic, which use both concatenative and non-concatentative modes of derivation. In the concatenative derivation, a plural suffix attaches to the singular stem ( muhandis ‘engineer-sg.’ → muhandis-iin ‘engineer-pl’); in the non-concatenative, the relation between the singular ( gamal ‘camel’) and the plural ( gimaal ‘camels’) typically involv…
Aspects of second-language transfer in the oral production of Egyptian and Palestinian heritage speakers
The nature and extent of the impact of language transfer in majority–minority language contexts have been widely debated in both second- and heritage-language acquisition. This study examines four linguistic areas in three oral narratives collected from Egyptian and Palestinian heritage speakers in the United States (namely, plural and dual morphology, possessive constructions, and restrictive relative clauses), with a special focus on how the se…
The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics
VSO Word Order, Primarily in Arabic Languages
Arabic varieties, such as Classical Arabic, allow the verb to precede the subject and object. As in other verb‐initial languages, a number of issues arise that concern the proper configuration for the VSO order, the surface position of the subject and the verb, how agreement between the verb and the subject obtains, how to account for the agreement asymmetries that arise in the SVO and VSO orders, how Case gets assigned/checked, and whether the v…
Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics
Wh-questions in the grammar of heritage Egyptian speakers
Aims and objectives: Despite the growth in research on heritage grammars, very few studies focused on heritage speakers’ knowledge of the syntax of wh-questions. This paper examines heritage Egyptian speakers’ knowledge of wh-questions in their L1 with particular focus on their knowledge of (1) the four main strategies of wh-question formation (three movement strategies and one in situ strategy) and (2) the unmarkedness of the in situ strategy co…
Linguistics (19 obras) · Philosophy (18 obras) · Computer Science (14 obras) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (12 obras) · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis (10 obras) · Natural language processing (10 obras) · Arabic (9 obras) · Syntax (8 obras) · Psychology (7 obras) · Agreement (6 obras)