Abstract

This succinct paper primarily examines the discoursal impact proper on the morpho-syntactic behavior of reflexives in Arabic. It specifically explores the interrelatedness between topicalization as well as morpho-syntactic interaction that can delineate the movement of these reflexives within the Government and Binding framework and its crucial bearings on the subsequent minimalist approach. The study shows how this morphosyntactic interaction is subtly active in licensing DP movement in Standard Arabic unlike Jordanian Arabic where the lack of inflectional morphology often aborts such relevant movements. The study, furthermore, provides tangible syntactic evidence that this kind of movement, though pragmatically and discoursally motivated in the first place, does comply with syntactic constraints that restrict its operations within the CP domain; thus excluding any proposals that advocate stacking argument in Arabic.

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