Metalinguistic negation in Jordanian Arabic: Clause-initial miš/mū as a high objection operator
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper argues that clause-initial miš/mū in Jordanian Arabic (JA) instantiates a dedicated objectional/metalinguisticoperator, distinct from truth-functional negation ma…-š. Building on Horn’s diagnostics and subsequent work on clause-edge negation, I show that miš/mū under the objectional construal licenses rectificatory continuations (“not X, Y”), supports scalar strengthening and presupposition-cancelling denial, is restricted to root contexts, fails to license negative concord and NPIs, and can co-occur with lower ma…-š. Further properties (its tight association with contrastive focus, its degradation with oath particles (e.g., wallāhi) in corrective configurations, and its availability with fragment ellipsis) point to a clause-edge locus. I propose that JA realizes objection/metalinguistic negation in an Objection head (Obj) above ForceP, distinct from low Neg in the TP domain. The analysis supports a height-based model of negation in which only low truth-functional negation participates in negative concord, while the higher objection operator targets utterance-level commitments. Empirically, the paper adds independent Jordanian Arabic evidence to the Arabic record, complementing the Egyptian Arabic facts previously discussed in the literature, and formalizes the contrast as a height split with height-sensitive spell-out: clause-edge miš/mū realizes Obj, while descriptive negation is realized by ma…-š in verbal clauses and by miš/mū in nonverbal predication.
Author: Eman M. Al Khalaf
Institution: University of Jordan
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $551
OpenAlex ID: W7201864441