This dissertation examines the category of Verb Phrase (VP) in Egyptian Arabic (EA) within the framework established by the goals and methodology of generative grammar. More specifically, the theoretical framework of the dissertation is that of the X-bar Theory, introduced by Chomsky in 1970 and further developed by Jackendoff in 1977, as the basis for the Phrase Structure Rules (PSR) of language. The more recently developed theory of Government and Binding (GB) (Chomsky 1981), will also be part of this framework, since it has incorporated the X-bar Theory as one of its components. To set the ground for my work, I have investigated the traditional distinction in EA between Equational and non-Equational sentences, giving evidence for the existence of VP as an obligatory syntactic category in EA. The inverted subject construction, together with the PSR for sentences in EA, is shown to be sufficient to account for existential sentences in EA. Based on the evidence presented in the dissertation, I argue that auxiliaries in EA, there being only two of them: ka:n and ba?a, are best analyzed as part of the specifier system of the VP. I address the controversy over the defining characteristics of heads of categories and whether or not such a feature system as the one developed by Chomsky in 1970 is adequate for h and ling a language other than English, namely EA. The complements of the Verb Phrase are the last point of focus in the dissertation. In dealing with them, I show how the various components of GB, such as Case theory, Binding theory and Government interact and combine to explain certain aspects of the distribution of the Verb Phrase complements in EA. The discussion of the derivation of verbal sentential complements allows me to address the controversy over the existence of movement vs. base generation mechanisms in the syntax of EA.Ph.D.LinguisticsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161468/1/8712220.pd
