Towards a typology of attributive adjectives in Arabic dialects

Abstract

Arabic is a typical noun-attribute language with head-driven agreement in gender and number. As for definite attributive NPs, the default in most spoken Arabic varieties is definite marking of both the noun and the adjective – a feature that is rarely found cross-linguistically. This article shows that there are also cases of reversed word order, lacking agreement in gender, and dialects with definite marking on the nominal head. In dialects at the northern fringe of the Fertile Crescent, definiteness is by default only marked on the adjective. In these dialects, adjectival attributes are structurally identical to nominal attributes, including the use of the construct state with feminine heads.