Al-Rawi, M: Structure of Determiner Phrases in Standard Arab

The Structure of Determiner Phrases in Standard Arabic employs Chomsky‘s Minimalist Program to support the ‘Determiner Phrase‘ hypothesis, which states that that the determiner (D) is the head of the noun phrase. Due to its rich agreement features, Standard Arabic is selected to manifest the features of the category D. Author Maather Al-Rawi establishes a DP analysis of a number of nominals in Standard Arabic including possessives, pronouns, proper names, verbal nouns, and adjectives. The DP analysis accounts for the structure of nominals that have been unaccounted-for under the traditional analysis where N is the head. Under the DP analysis, Al-Rawi resolves a number of problems in the syntax of Arabic nominals. Her discussion leads important conclusions concerning the difference between two word order possessives in Arabic: D-NP and NP-D, the position of Arabic pronouns and proper names, the verbo-nominal nature of Arabic action nominals, the dual category of Arabic adjectives, and Comp(limentizer)-like nature of the Arabic article ¿al- ‘the‘.