Abraham, Agar e Ismael en la tradición musulmana

Los relatos acerca de Abraham, cuya base es el Corán, aparecen en varios generos literaios de literatura musulmana. En esta aportación, me he basado en los textos de qisas al-Anbiya o relatos de profetas para presentar la marcha de Abraham con Agar e Ismael a al-Haram donde se describen los celos de Sara, cómo surgió el pozo de zanzam) el say o cómo empezó a poblarse el lugar en que está hoy La Meca, ect.Algunos de estoss datos se consideran el origen de los ritos de la peregrinación a La Meca, que están hoy día en vigor

On the impossibility of impersonal passives in English

En este artículo se defiende que las pasivas impersonales son agramaticales en inglés (véase *There was danced / *It was danced (= There was dancing), pero no así en el resto de las lenguas germánicas, debido a que los participios pasivos del inglés se legitiman en Y, esto es, en el mismo nódulo que combina en la derivación con el llamado objeto lógico, mientras que los participios propios de las pasivas impersonales se legitiman en la proyección superior del verbo ligero v, al igual que ocurre con los llamados participios perfectos. Se propugna la existencia de una proyección funcional entre YP y vP, encargada de cotejar los rasgos de concordancia del participio y del objeto, y asimismo el rasgo categorial -en del propio participio. La discusión incluye una revisión crítica de la bibliografía que defiende que los participios pasivos de las lenguas germánicas, pero no así los de la lengua inglesa, tienen la capacidad de seleccionar objetos cognados implícitos o encubiertos, y asimismo se critican los análisis que defienden que los auxiliares de dichas lenguas, pero no los del inglés, pueden cotejar rasgos de concordancia por defecto. Se defiende un análisis del expletivo inglés there donde éste contrasta con los expletivos de las pasivas impersonales germánicas, tanto de las lenguas TEC (Transitive Expletive Construction) como de las lenguas que no admiten este fenómeno. De forma específica, argumento que el expletivo inglés there se inserta o acopla directamente en la posición de Especificador de v, debido a sus propiedades locativas, mientras que los expletivos de las restantes lenguas germánicas se insertan en posiciones no argumentales, como son la posición de Especificador de C(omplementante), o de T(iempo).In this paper I argue that impersonal passives are impossible in English (*There was danced / *It was danced (= There was dancing)) but not in the rest of the Germanic languages because English passive participles must necessarily be licensed in Y, at the site where they merge with a logical object, whereas participles in impersonal passives merge in the light verb v position, in a parallel fashion to perfect participles. A functional projection in charge of checking the agreement features of both the participle and the object and also, crucially, the -en feature of the participle is argued to be available in between YP and vP. I criticise previous analyses in the literature that support the view that passive participles of Germanic languages other than English can actually merge with covert cognate objects, or that they can check nominative case, or otherwise that the auxiliary can check default agreement features. Further, I defend an approach to expletives that distinguishes English there from the expletives introducing impersonal passives in both TEC languages and non- TEC languages within the Germanic family. The English expletive there is claimed to merge in Spec,v because of its locative properties. By contrast, expletives in the other Germanic languages merge in pure non-theta positions as are Spec,C or Spec,T

Against vP-pied piping as a way to derive head-final structures

En este artículo intento demostrar que el mecanismo conocido como vP-pied piping o ‘movimiento de atracción de Fv’ no es un mecanismo adecuado para derivar estructuras de núcleo final. Utilizo para ello dos tipos de argumento: por una parte, defiendo el hecho de que las estructuras de cuantificador flotante en una lengua OV como el alemán parecen demostrar que el Sujeto debe elevarse (esto es, fusionarse internamente) a la posición de Especificador de T de forma independiente, y no como parte integrante de Fv; por otra parte, arguyo que el desencadenante de la citada fusión interna en el Especificador de T no puede corresponder a Fv en su totalidad. El trabajo es parte de un proyecto de investigación más amplio en el que defiendo que el Sujeto es el primer constituyente que es procesado y linealizado en la secuencia lingüística, tanto en estructuras de núcleo inicial (SVO/SAuxVO) como en estructuras de núcleo final (SOV/SOVAux), hipótesis que estaría en consonancia con los postulados básicos de la teoría de la Antisimetría del trabajo de Kayne (2011/2013). En el presente artículo, analizo la posibilidad de que la derivación de estructuras de núcleo final a partir de estructuras de núcleo inicial se lleve a cabo mediante el movimiento de remanente de FV y Fv a una segunda posición de Especificador de v y de T, respectivamente (al margen del movimiento más básico de O a un segundo Especificador de v).This paper provides two arguments against vP-pied piping as an appropriate mechanism to derive head-final structures; on the one hand, arguing that floating quantifier structures in an OV language like German give evidence that S(ubject) must raise (i.e. merge internally) on its own in Spec,T, and not as part of vP; on the other hand, the trigger of the internal merge of S in Spec,T cannot seem to be accommodated to the full vP. The present work is part of a wider research project in which I contend that S is the first constituent to be processed and linearised in both head-initial (SVO/SAuxVO) structures and head-final (SOV/SOVAux) structures, in accord with the claims in the recent work of Antisymmetry theory by Kayne (2011/2013). In this paper, I suggest that the derivation of head-final structures from head-initial structures be accomplished through remnant movement of VP and vP to a lower Spec of v and T, respectively (aside from the more simple movement of O to a lower Spec of v)

The neural signature of syntactic processing.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding about the processing of syntax in the brain and/or mind of speakers. The focus is specifically on the neural signature of the processing of tense features and of agreement features on the one hand, and on the neural signature of the stage that argua-bly antecedes the processing of tense features and of agreement features on the other. Neuroimaging studies of the last two decades or so have come to establish that parts of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) are responsible for syntactic computing proper, and that the left posterior middle/superior tem-poral gyrus (MTG/STG) appear to be in charge of the projection of phrase structure. Based upon such findings, I defend the convenience of establishing specific goals or tasks that can contribute to their refinement, and that can lead to the acknowledgment of the topography and timing of neural activity at the very first stages of the processing of a sentence

The binary vs. privative status of verbal inflectional morphology: The case of Germanic.

This paper argues that the binary opposition [+/-past] entails that Tpast contrasts with Tpres in computing a more complex kind of t- or tense-feature in the morpho-syntax and in exhibiting one more Vocabulary Item or marker in the morpho-phonology. It is argued that this situation used to be the case for all Germanic languages generally speaking, but that it is no longer the case for Present Day English or Mainland Scandinavian.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The derivation of verbs in Old English and Middle English.

Within the framework of minimalist syntax, it is argued that the core-syntax derivation of verbs in OE and ME (up to approx. 1450) is regulated by two licensing T(ense) heads (that is, two T Probes) plus a licensing v head (or v Probe), all of which are in charge of interpreting τ–features. v acts as Probe of v-0 (its Goal) in order to interpret [+/–past] τ–features for strong verbs. This capacity of v is argued to rely on the ablaut distinction between Pret. 1 and Pret. 2, since ablaut is determined by the specific [person] of the subject and must therefore be syntactically derived. This situation comes to an end in the period ca. 1450. Of the two T Probes, [T T] is in charge of interpreting [past] τ–features for weak verbs, and it expones as a /d/ suffix. The other T Probe is labelled here [TAgrT] and is in charge of interpreting [+/–past] τ–features with an additional φ–interpretation. A proof for the existence of this Probe is for the agreement (person and number) endings to co-vary with Present tense and Past tense, despite cases of syncretism between exponents or Vocabulary Items. [TAgrT] is the Probe that is obligatorily present in the licensing of any kind of verb in OE (and also in ME) –whether weak or strong– and therefore it must be held responsible for the configurational status of the latter as a T language

On linearization as part of narrow syntax. The case of OSV/OVS structures.

In this paper I explore an approach to linearization where this is part of core or narrow syntax. Based upon Kayne´s (2011/2013) algorithm that processing follows the order of production, that is from left-to-right, and upon the timing condition that there be as little delay as possible between external Merge and eventual Spell-Out, I conclude that the constituent that appears linearized to the left-most extreme for any given sequence is the constituent that has actually completed the valuation of all corresponding features (Probe-Goal framework) before any other constituent. The evidence that I provide for such an approach relates to the accusative Case feature that O fails to value in (OSV) object-topicalization structures in English, and the accusative Case feature that O similarly fails to value in certain subordinate whstructures (OVS) in Spanish. I defend the theory that Merge applies bottom-up, as in standard minimalist accounts, though I point out that it is perhaps necessary to rethink the concept of (successive) cyclic movement

Aportación a la mítica historia de Adán y Eva (II)

Es continuación de: Castillo Castillo, C. "Aportación a la mítica historia de Adán y Eva (I)". Miscelánea de estudios árabes y hebraicos. Sección Árabe-Islam. Vol. 29 (1980). ISSN 0544-408X, p. 35-52. [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/33730]

El "Arca" de Noé en las fuentes árabes

El conocido tema bíblico del Arca de Noé fue asimilado, como otros tantos, por la tradición musulmana. Espigando en las distintas fuentes árabes hemos reunido unos datos acerca del Arca bajo los apartados de descripción, habitantes, y recorrido y asentam.Umto, llegando a la conclusión de cómo a través de los siglos la tradición musulmana se ha encargado de añadir datos que en la mayoría de los casos se alejan bastante de su punto de origen.The well known biblical theme of Noah's Ark Noé, like so many others, was incorporated into Moslem tradition. Looking into various Arab sources we have found sorne information about the Arch under the headlines of description, inhabitants, route, and final settlement. We have reached the conclusion that throughout centuries Moslem tratition has added sorne data which in most cases move away a great deal from the original starting point