| Abstrakt: |
This paper describes the distribution and the selectional properties of perfective and imperfective verb forms in Tunisian Arabic. While perfective predicates are finite forms and always undergo movement out of the vp domain, imperfective predicates acts less consistently as a unified class and, in some contexts, do not undergo movement to negation showing a behavior that reminds this of non-finite forms. Moreover, when the imperfective verb does not undergo movement, an additional structural layer headed by the preposition “fi” is introduced above the direct object. I propose that in this configuration the imperfective predicate is the non-finite element of a periphrastic construction whose other component is a null auxiliary with present tense reference. On the one side this construction affects the aspectual interpretation of the event; on the other, it affects the predicate’s ability to assign accusative Case to its object. As for the contexts where the imperfective predicate undergoes movement, I propose that their interpretation relies on a Generic Operator that provides an aspectual frame over which the predicate is interpreted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
