A Minimalist Account of Arabic ‘Verbless’ Sentences: Towards a Null Copula Hypothesis

Abstract

This paper offers a critical analysis of Arabic null copular sentences or what is referred to as ‘verbless’ sentences. Building on Errguig and Jmila (2025), aspects of the limitation of the non-null hypothesis are discussed based on UG principles. First, we argue, drawing on X-bar theory that only a null copula structure [CP[C[TP[T[VP[V_[e][NP/PP/AP]]]]] seems to be possible. Second, we demonstrate that T is specified for [+D, ±V], in addition to a [+finite] feature, following Rizzi (1997). Furthermore, tracing the directional mapping in a derivation having the structure [CP[C[TP[T[NP/PP/AP]]]]] is not feasible. As per learnability, facts show that children acquire null copular sentences before T and without any learning effort. Further evidence for the VP nature of the predicate, particularly through the coordination constituency test, strengthens the hypothesis of a null copula. Consequently, we suggest a fully-fledged null copula hypothesis upon exploring formal licensing and identification principles. The empty copula is formally licensed and identified under head government by strong [+finite] T. The significance of this study lies in proposing a uniform, and minimally constrained grammar for the Arabic T system. The findings imply that further research is needed to investigate the applicability of the null copula hypothesis to other languages.