A note on the genitive particle ħaqq in Yemeni Arabic free genitives

Abstract EN

This paper provides a descriptive syntactic analysis of haqq in Yemeni Arabic (YA).

haqq is a Semitic Free Genitive (FG) particle, much like the English of.

A FG minimally consists of a head N, genitive particle and genitive DP complement.

It (in a FG) expresses or conveys the meaning of possessiveness, something like of in English.

There are two types of haqq in Yemeni Arabic: one not exhibiting agreement with the head N, and another exhibiting it.

The former does not inflect for agreement features ($features), while the latter does.

The former is used in areas like Sana’a, Aden, Ibb, etc.

and the latter in Shabwah, Hadhramout, etc.

The article provides evidence that Universal Grammar (UG) parameterization exists in human language, not only interlingually, but also intralingually.