A Minimalist-Based Approach of Tense and Subject Features in Standard Arabic and Yemeni Arabic

: The present study is an investigation of the syntactic issues of Tense and Subject features in SA and YA. This study is cast within the MP advocated by Chomsky (1993, 1995). The main objective of the study is to examine the structural properties of the subject in SA and YA and its relationship with its verb. More specifically, the study shows that the subject in SA and YA has two forms, namely lexical noun, and suffixed pronoun. Therefore, the suffixed morphemes within the verb have been proved to be real pronoun subjects of the verb whether they occur alone within the verb or followed by a lexical DP as the case in some of YA sentences. Based on empirical evidence, the preverbal DP was affirmed to be a topic that occupies the [Spec TopP] while the post-verbal DP, which occurs after a suffixed pronoun, was proved to be a noun in apposition that occupies a position below VP.


Introduction
As a sentential argument, the subject in Arabic syntax has been studied by many Arabic grammarians (Hariry, 2017; Ibn Ajroom, 2013; Al Galayani, 1994; Khefajy and Azzayni 1961); and Al Azhary (2011 among others). Indeed, many modern researchers have proposed new perspectives based on Generative Grammar (GG) (Fassi Fehri, 1993) Although the issue of T(ense)-subject has been widely studied with regard to word order, and licensing features, the debate on such issues is still ongoing. Indeed, Modern syntacticians agree that the lexical subject in SA occurs in two alternative positions, namely, post-verbal position or preverbal position (see Fassi Fehri, 1993 andFakih, 2017). However, these alternative positions of the subject led Modern syntacticians to argue that verbs show two types of agreement, namely partial agreement, and full agreement (see Fakih, 2016).
Partial agreement occurs solely in SA syntax in the usual case when a lexical subject follows the verb. On the other hand, full agreement, according to the modern analysis, is displayed in both SA and its varieties, when the subject occurs preverbally and the verb is followed by a suffixed morpheme. Nevertheless, it is also assumed that the latter type of agreement also occurs in SA dialects, when the subject appears post-verbally along with a suffixed morpheme attached directly to the verb. From this point, the suffixed morphemes were always shown as number agreements of the subject.
Based on empirical evidence, we will argue, in this paper, that the subject in SA and YA appears in two forms, namely lexical DP or suffixed pronoun. The lexical subject will be assumed to bear interpretable features that match with other uninterpretable features on the T, then a [T, Subj] relationship results. While the verb bears uninterpretable features, which are also checked with other interpretable features on T so that a [T, v] relationship results. This separate relationship between [T, Subj] and [T, v] will lead us to propose that the verb in SA and YA shows technically partial agreement whenever the lexical subject occurs.
Moreover, we will argue that the suffixed morphemes are real subject pronouns because they bear interpretable features of nouns rather than features of verbs. In consequence, we posit that the suffixed morphemes are suffixed subjects of the verb whether they appear alone within the verb or followed by a full lexical DP as the case in YA sentences Concerning the position of the subject, we will show that the subject in SA and YA, either lexical DP or suffixed pronoun, is base generated on the Spec of the light vP. In this regard, the preverbal DP in both SA and YA will be considered a Topic that occupies the specifier position of the Topic Phrase [TopP] while the postverbal DP along with the suffixed pronoun as the case in YA will be considered a noun on apposition (badle). This paper is organized as follows: section two is a brief sketch of the minimalist program in light of the current study. Section three provides a preliminary consideration of the Subject in SA. This section is a pavement for the minimalist analysis of the subject on both SA and YA. Section four is a minimalist account of [T-subject] in SA and YA. Section five illustrates the subject projection and tense features, and section six is a conclusion.

Theoretical framework
The MP is a syntactic theory proposed by Chomsky (1993). It has undergone several developments and many revisions have popped up since Chomsky's Minimalist Program (1995) emerged. According to this theory, "structures are built up in the derivation and are assumed to project as Tense Phrases (TP)" (1) . In other words, the properties of sentences are essentially projections of the properties specified on T as in (1).  (3) . Accordingly, we get the following structure of TP represented as in (2) below:

Preliminary considerations
According to the traditional Arab grammarians, the subject is always considered a nominative noun that follows its verb (4) . Therefore, the important property of the subject that distinguishes it from other DPs in a clause is its close adjacency to the verb. Indeed, the subject inevitably appears in two forms, namely a Noun Phrase or a suffixed pronoun. The former may occur as a lexical noun or 'an estimated verbal noun'. The latter, on the other hand, has two forms; overt/visible pronoun or covert/invisible pronoun. For purposes of the current paper, show that the subjects appear as lexical nouns in (3a) and (3b), but as suffixed pronouns in (4 a,b,c, and d). Nevertheless, according to the kufi grammarians perspective (5) , the subject may precede its verb if the verb keeps its singular form and is not affected by the number of the preceded subject just as (5 and 6) below show (6) . With regard to (5) and (6), if the subject occurs preverbally and the verb is affected by its number as the case in YA and other SA's dialects, the DP loses its function as a subject and is transformed to a topic (7) building a novel nominal sentence that consists of the topic and the verbal predicate (8) . Consider (7) for clarification of a subject realization as Topic in YA:

7.
Al-ʕial kharaj-uu YA the boys-topic-Nom went out-3pl.m pro-3 pl.m. Nom 'The boys, (they) went out.' Concerning the traditional Arab grammarians' accounts, (8a) and (8b) below are novel structures, which occur among an ancient era of Arabic language known as /Lugat albaragith/ 'the baragith language' (9) . Consider the following sentences from SA and YA, respectively. For the analysis of (8a/b), the traditional Arab grammarians suggest two fold analyses.
The first view assumes that (8a/b) are verbal sentences. The suffixed morpheme /-uu/ is considered to function as a subject pronoun while the post verbal lexical DP /al-awlaad, or aljahal/ 'the boys' is a 'noun in apposition' (10) . The second view proposes that (8a/b) is a nominal sentence, where the suffixed morpheme /-uu/ is treated as a subject pronoun and the lexical DP /al-awlaad, or al-jahal/ 'the boys' as an extraposed topic 'mubtadaʔ moʔakhar' (11) . For the same reason, the verb and its subject pronoun /nam-uu or ragad-uu/ 'they slept' are considered together as an advanced predicate (dislocated predicate) for the extraposted topic /al-awlaad, or al-jahal/ 'the boys'.

A minimalist account of T-subject
Under a minimalist approach, the subject is an argument that holds two important features, namely nominative case feature, and noun phi-features. It occurs in two forms; namely lexical noun and pronoun. For purposes of this paper, we devoted two sections for the analysis of each form separately. The first section discusses the features of the subject as a lexical noun and demonstrates the relationship between subject features on the specifier of the verb and subject features on T; while the second section examines the subject pronouns in both SA and YA respectively.

Subject as a lexical noun
In this section, we will examine the lexical subject, in SA and YA, and its relationship with the verb. Following Chomsky (2005) The analytical view for (9) and (10) show that the subjects appear in the form of lexical nouns. Each subject determines different gender and number features. Although the dual number in SA is restricted as (9b-10b) show, the dual number in YA is lost completely (12) .
Indeed, as it is clear in (9b-10b) the conjoined Lexical DPS are used to express the dual number yet the plural DP can also be used as an indicator of the dual.
With respect to the bottom-up derivation in MP, we argue that the subjects in (9,  That is either the subject holds a singular, dual, or plural feature, the verb holds the same singular features except for the change in the gender feature if needed. For example, apart from the Aspect (13) nature in YA, the above sentences in (9, and 10) show that the verbs /yalʕab/ and ta-lʕab 'he/she is playing' have solely a singular form regardless of the gender feminine feature specified in the prefix 'ta-'. That is, the verb /ya-lʕab/ 'he is playing' in (9 a, b, c) triggers all third masculine persons, while the verb / ta-lʕab/ 'she is playing' in ( (11):

Subject as a suffixed pronoun
Following the Arab traditional syntacticians, we claim that the suffixed morphemes are real subjects of the verb. However, we will assume under the minimalist approach that the suffixed morphemes are suffixed pronouns because they are interpretable features of nouns. Each sentence consists of a verb and its suffixed-subject pronoun. Indeed, each subject pronoun either visible as (-t, -aa, -uu, -n, -i, and -na) in (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) or invisible (whose pronouns features are estimated from the context) as in (12) (14) as illustrated in (19).
A noteworthy mention in (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) is that the suffixed pronouns in SA are marked for specific number and gender while the number distinction in YA (15) has been reduced and the gender distinction has been disappeared. In that, the dual-plural distinction has been lost with the plural replacing the dual. For example, the suffixed morpheme /-aa/ in (13a) and (16a) is a subject, which indicates a dual person interpretation, while YA uses the suffixed morpheme /uu/ to indicate the subject with a dual person interpretation as (13b) and (16b) show.
However, the suffix /-uu/ in general, as in (14 a/ b) is a subject pronoun for a masculine plural person in SA, and YA. On the other hand, the suffix /-n/ in (17 a) indicates a third feminine plural subject in SA, while YA interprets the third feminine plural subject via the plural suffix /uu/. Finally, the suffix /-na/ in (18 a, b) is a suffixed pronoun that indicates the first plural subject in both SA and YA respectively.
In this regard, we confirm that the suffixed morphemes are real subjects of the verbs and not just mere agreement markers of number or even resumptive pronouns (16) as it is assumed by some modern syntacticians exemplified in (Musabhien, (2008) and Fakih (2016)) among others. Indeed, the suffixed subject pronouns as we noticed in the above sentences are formal features (17)  In contrary to modern analysis, which assumes that the suffixed morphem/-uu/ in (20) is a number marker, and the DP /al-ʕial/ is a subject of the verb that occupies the spec of the vP  (20) is the real subject of the verb that occupies the spec of vP while the lexical noun /al-ʕial/ 'the boys' is a dislocated noun to the right (an extraposted DP) that occupies the spec of DP below the VP as in (22) below: Under a minimal analysis, the suffixed morpheme /-uu/ and the noun phrase /al-ʕial/ 'the boys' receive a single interpretation given that they show a third plural masculine feature.
Thus, following the Feature Economy principles (18) , we propose that the suffixed morpheme /uu/ is a formal feature because it has a semantic meaning and a phonological interpretation.
The noun phrase, on the other hand, represents the informal features in the sentence because it follows the suffixed pronoun and receives the same features.
Indeed, Geldren, (2017) confirms that, "if a specific feature appears more than once, one of these features is interpretable and the other is uninterpretable" (19) . The interpretable features represent the suffixed morpheme /-uu/ in (22), and match with the other feature on T. Meanwhile, the uninterpretable features represent the one on the noun phrase /al-ʕial / in (22) and are checked by the interpretable features on the suffixed morpheme (20). Based on this reasoning, we posit that the pronoun /-uu/ receives the subject nominative case while the noun phrase /al-ʕial/ becomes caseless.
Nevertheless, we assume that (21)  (2019) has put forward a proposal in which the preverbal DP in SVO is argued to be either a topic based-generated in Spec-Cp or a Focus Phrase (FP). According to Albuhayri (2019), the topic DP projects in a position higher than wh-questions while the focus projects in FP. In either case, the subject is in Ā-position: In this paper, we argue that the DP /al-ʕial/ ' the boys' is a topicalized (21)  The clause / raћ al-ʕial / 'the boys went' in (24a) is essentially a TP. The verb is 'raћ' and the subject is the DP /al-ʕial/. In (24b), the DP /al-ʕial/ left its domain to a Topic Phrase at an Ā position. Therefore, with respect to the EPP which does not allow an empty position as (24c) shows, the DP /al-ʕial/ leaves visible phonological features of its features represented in the suffixed morpheme /-uu/. This morpheme is co-referential with it (i.e. al-ʕial) and functions as a subject pronoun for the verb 'raћ' in the A position. Consequently, the clause, /raћ-uu/ 'they went' is considered a completely separate TP just like (24 a). The verb is / raћ/ and the subject is the suffixed pronoun /-uu/.
To sum up, reflecting back on the relationship between the verb and the subject, and on contrary to the Modern analyses, which argue that the verb shows two types of agreements, namely full agreement, and partial agreement, we confirm that the verb always shows a partial agreement with its subject. The minimal reasoning analysis is that the verb and the subject always perform separate agreement operations. Accordingly, the verb is always checked by the features on T for tense and verb phi-features to get [T, v] relationship while the subject matches with noun phi-features on T to get [T, subj] relationship. As a result, we get a partial agreement between the verb and the subject. Another important finding is that SA has two different word orders rather than two alternative word orders. The first word order is a VS order or SV as in (3-5-6) and the second word order is a Topic-predicate (22) order as (24c) shows.

The subject projection and tense features
An interesting fact to recall is that the suffixed morphemes are intrinsic features of nouns, exemplified in person features and number features. Indeed, the suffixed pronouns have clear semantic interpretations in the Arabic cognitive system. Therefore, they are considered interpretable features of nouns rather than uninterpretable features of verbs.
Consider the following sentences for more clarifications: As it is noted, in (25a/b) the subjects in both SA and YA are an invisible pronoun estimated in the pronoun /hwa/ 'he', which indicates the third masculine singular pronoun or the independent pronoun /nahnu/ in (29a-b) to substitute it.
The invisible pronouns by the consensus of the Arab grammarians (23) are classified according to their concealment to necessary concealment (24) pronouns, and permissible concealment (25) pronouns. The necessary concealment pronouns, on one hand, are the ones, which do not permit a noun or an independent pronoun to stand in their positions just as (28) and (29) show. On the contrary, the permissible concealment pronouns are the ones that permit a noun or a pronoun to replace it as (25) above shows.
Given this close adjacency of the suffixed pronoun to its verb in the above example and not allowing the DP /at-talaamið-u/ 'the students' or the independent pronoun /nahnu/ 'we' in (28 and 29) to stand in its position, we confirm that the subject either lexical or pronoun in both SA and YA are base-generated at the specifier of the vP. They have interpretable noun features that will be checked with another uninterpretable noun features on T. For more illustration, consider the following derivations: As (30 a/ b) show, both the invisible pro and the noun phrase /Saʕid-un/ are basegenerated at the specifier of the vP in (30a) and (30b) respectively. Since the invisible pro bears meaningful features, this means that its features are interpretable and match with the other uninterpretable features on T. Likewise, the noun /Saʕid-un/ bears interpretable features that match with those uninterpretable features on T.

Conclusion
This paper examines the issues of Tense and Subject in SA and YA using the Minimalist  (5) The position of the subject was a controversial debate between two ancient schools, namely the Baṣri School and the Kufi School. The Baṣri's perspective emphasizes the existence of the subject postverbally as it is explained in (3 a and b) above, while the kufi's perspective emphasizes the potentiality of the subject to existence preverbally as in (5 a,b and 6 a,b) . However, the Kufi's builds up their assumption on a condition that the subject could occur preverbally if and only if the verb preserves its singular form and was not affected by the number of the proceeded subject.  . (10) The badal in SA is a grammatical rule which means in English 'nouns in apposition'. This phenomenon occurs when the same entity mentions twice in a juxtaposed form. Thus, one entity will receive the nominative case while the other will remain caseless. Ryding (13) YA is considered as an aspect language since it is based on the aspectual system in creating the present tense (Qafisheh, 1990). However, the aspectual system in YA and other SA dialects is a reaction toward the disappearance of Mood in SA present tense verbs (Clive, 2004). (14) Aoun et al., Agreement and Conjunction in some Varieties of Arabic: 199. (15) In the case of YA, the nominative suffixed pronouns function as SA pronouns do. More specifically, the suffixed morphemes (-t, -aa, -uu, -n, -i, and -na) are always suffixed to verbs and function as the subject of the verb. In principle, the only distinction realized in all YA dialects is the reduction of gender distinctions. That is, the numbers of gender distinctions in the second and third persons have disappeared in the plural forms, thus the generalization of the masculine form in all Yemeni dialects except in the San'ani dialect. In fact, the latter still reserves the gender distinctions in the second and the third person although there is a slight difference from the one in SA forms. That is to say, the San'ani dialect indicates the second-person feminine plural with ''-tayn'' instead of ''-tn and the masculine with ''-tuu'' instead of ''-tum''. Likewise, the third person pronoun feminine plural in San'ani dialect is indicated with ''ayn'' instead of ''-n'' and the masculine with ''-uu'' as the case in SA. (16) Resumptive pronouns refer to bound pronouns, which are associated with co-referential pronouns (Haegman 2001). These resumptive pronouns occur in relative clauses as spellouts of traces. Shlonsky (1992) and Hornstein (2001) add that the resumptive pronoun is a last resort strategy that is required when movement is not allowed as the case of Relative clauses and wh-clauses. For example: i-That is the girl that I do not know [what t did]. ii-That is the girl that I do not know [what she did]. According to (Mckee and Mcdaiel, 2001) (ii) shows a resumptive pronoun, namely 'she'. Since the movement of the resumptive pronoun in (i) is not allowed, the resumptive pronoun 'she' in (ii) has necessarily been used. (17) For Chomsky (1995: 230, 381) "formal features have semantic correlates and reflect semantic properties (accusative Case and transitivity, for example)". This means that, if a language has nouns with semantic phifeatures, the learner will be able to hypothesize uninterpretable features on another functional head and will be able to bundle them there, Geldren, Syntax: An introduction to minimalism: 153. (18) The Feature Economy principle states, "Features which are doubly expressed (...) but receive a single interpretation, must be functional", Muysken, Functional: 46. (19) Geldren, Syntax: An introduction to minimalism: 153. (20) see the Affix-hop: Geldren, Syntax: An introduction to minimalism: 153-155 (21) Topicalized element according to Cinque (1990) is characterized by the appearance of a clitic in the embedded clause. For more information about Topicalization see Haegeman (2004). (22) It also called Topic-comment order. The necessary concealment pronoun occurs within the command verb, which indicates the second masculine singular person such as /ʔuktub!/ ' write!', where the estimated pronoun is 'you', and the estimated phrase will be /ʔuktub anta/ to mean 'you write'.
The permissible concealment pronouns occur naturally within the present tense verbs, which indicate the third masculine and feminine singular persons. These verbs can be exemplified in /y-ktubu/, and /t-ktubu/ to mean literary he writes, and 'she writes'.