Research article | Open Access
International Journal of Language and Education Research 2026, Vol. 8(2) 102-120
The Syntax of Negation in Algerian Arabic: Discontinuous Morphology, Scope, and Clausal Architecture
pp. 102 - 120
Publish Date: August 30, 2026 | Single/Total View: 0/0 | Single/Total Download: 0/0
Abstract
This paper presents a formal syntactic analysis of negation in Algerian Arabic (AA), a variety that has attracted growing scholarly attention yet remains inadequately theorized in formal syntactic terms. The study centres on the discontinuous negation construction mā…š, in which the preverbal particle mā and the postverbal clitic -š together constitute the canonical sentential negation strategy of the variety. Drawing on naturally occurring conversational data collected through ethnographic fieldwork in the Tiaret region of western Algeria and supplemented by structured elicitation from native speaker consultants, the analysis is developed within the Minimalist Program (Chomsky, 1995, 2001) and the cartographic framework (Rizzi, 1997; Cinque, 1999). The central proposal is that mā and -š head distinct functional projections — NegP2 and NegP1 respectively — in the clausal functional sequence, with NegP2 projecting above TP and NegP1 embedded within the inflectional domain above vP. This bipartite structure accounts for word order asymmetries, the scope of negation over temporal and aspectual operators, and the positioning of -š outside the object clitic cluster. The paper further identifies three principal environments in which -š is obligatorily suppressed: the presence of negative polarity items such as ḥatta wāḥed, wālu, and ʕomr; oath-prefaced utterances introduced by wallāh; and the lexically restricted case of the stative verb ʕaraf. These environments are unified under a feature-economy account in which an uninterpretable negative feature borne by another clause-internal element enters into an Agree relation with NegP2, rendering the lower NegP1 head redundant at PF. The analysis situates AA within the broader typology of discontinuous negation and contributes to ongoing debates on Jespersen’s Cycle, the internal geometry of NegP, and the syntax of negative polarity licensing.
Keywords: Algerian Arabic, negation, discontinuous negation, NegP, Jespersen’s Cycle, Minimalist Program, cartography, negative polarity items
APA 7th edition
Bourzeg, M. (2026). The Syntax of Negation in Algerian Arabic: Discontinuous Morphology, Scope, and Clausal Architecture . International Journal of Language and Education Research, 8(2), 102-120.
Harvard
Bourzeg, M. (2026). The Syntax of Negation in Algerian Arabic: Discontinuous Morphology, Scope, and Clausal Architecture . International Journal of Language and Education Research, 8(2), pp. 102-120.
Chicago 16th edition
Bourzeg, Meymouna (2026). "The Syntax of Negation in Algerian Arabic: Discontinuous Morphology, Scope, and Clausal Architecture ". International Journal of Language and Education Research 8 (2):102-120.
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