The Adjectival Relative Construction in Egyptian Arabic

Abstract

The present paper investigates a type of broad-subject construction in Egyptian Arabic in which an adjective or participial structurally qualifies the head noun (or subject) but logically qualifies a subsequent noun, as in ir-raagil [il-ħilwiin banaat-u] 'the man the beautiful.PL his daughters'. This Adjectival Relative Construction is interesting in that it incorporates properties of both relative clauses and adjectival phrases. I evaluate the main analytical approaches in the literature and conclude that it must be analyzed as a hybrid type of nominal modifier that has adjectival and relative characteristics. Binding to the head noun is accomplished through a semantically motivated resumptive pronoun.