Abstract

Studies on the syntax of Arabic have produced considerable literature dealing with a number of syntactic phenomena in spoken and Standard Arabic (MSA) such as the syntax of subjects, agreement, the construct state, etc. Other syntactic phenomena such as Negative Sensitive Items (NSIs) have received much less attention within the traditional approaches. There are, however, recent studies, particularly in the generative approach, that have taken up this topic in spoken Arabic. This chapter is an overview of the state of the art on this important category of expressions.