Abstract
The present paper investigates agreement patterns with plural controllers in Fezzani
Arabic (southwestern Libya). During the last three decades, research has proved that the
agreement system found in Classical Arabic is the result of a process of standardization,
while agreement in the dialects feature the same type of variation observed in pre-Islamic
poetry and the Qur’an. Nonhuman plural controllers, in particular, strictly require
feminine singular agreement in Classical Arabic, while feminine singular alternates with
feminine plural agreement in the pre-Islamic texts and the Qur’an. Most contemporary
dialects exhibit a great range of variation in this field. Fezzani Arabic largely favors
plural (syntactic) agreement with plural controllers. Syntactic agreement is systematic
with human controllers and it represents the most frequent choice also with nonhuman
ones. The main factor triggering feminine singular agreement is not humanness, bu t
individuation. Within this conservative syntactic behavior, finally, masculine plural seems
to be eroding feminine plural agreement with both feminine human and nonhuman
controllers, for sociolinguistic reasons that still need to be investigated.
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