[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-83877-en":3,"doc-seo-83877-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},83877,8796095461564,"Liam","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",8,"Research & Report","The Syntax of Wh-Agreement in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic","The syntax of Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA) is examined through the phenomenon of wh-agreement, where agreement inflections appear on the WhOp, C, T/V, and v. An Agree across phases (AAP) analysis is developed, grounded in Feature Inheritance, separating Agree as MATCHING from feature valuation. The study identifies suffixes that grammaticalize from Standard Arabic third-person pronouns as morphological markers of wh-agreement. YIA data provide strong evidence for a UG-based long-distance mechanism.","The syntax of wh-agreement in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic  \nAshraf Naji, Ibb University  \nMohammed Q. Shormani, Ibb University  \n[shormani@ibbuniv.edu.ye/](shormani@ibbuniv.edu.ye/)[https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0138-4793](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0138-4793)  \n(preprint, June 2026)  \nAbstract  \nThis article tackles an important phenomenon in the syntax of Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA), viz., wh-agreement, a phenomenon common to several languages including Greek, Indonesian, Lubukusu, Irish, etc. In YIA, wh-agreement manifests itself via agreement inflections on the WhOp, C, T/V, v. To account for this phenomenon, we propose an Agree across phases (AAP) approach anchored in the mechanism of Feature Inheritance (FI) in which Agree as MATCHING (AM) is a bit separated from feature valuation (FV) . AM concerns Cs/vs, but FV Ts/Vs. Analyzing the agreement patterns observed between Wh-Op(erators), functional heads (precisely C, (T), v), and verbal complexes, we argue that the suffixes -eh, -uh, -nen, -um, having undergone grammaticalization process from Stannard Arabic (SA) third person pronouns, function as morphological marking of wh-agreement. Findings indicate that YIA data offer a unique empirical contribution to generative syntax, specifically concerning wh-agreement in this dialect operating via MATCHING mechanism. Our proposal straightforwardly accounts for wh-agreement crosslinguistically. This study provides further evidence that incorporating under-investigated typology provides further support for the universality of Universal Grammar (UG) by revealing how specific I-language operations reflect deeper, invariant principles of human language architecture. It concludes that the wh-agreement mechanism in YIA is more morphosyntactically robust than in languages such as Greek, Indonesian, Palauan, and Irish, providing compelling evidence for AAPas a UG approach to long-distance dependencies.  \nKeywords: Syntax, wh-agreement, Yemeni Ibbi Arabic, Agree across phases, feature inheritance, wh-movement, successive-cyclic wh-movement, Agree as MATCHING  \n1. Introduction  \nIn generative enterprise, the syntax of wh-agreement has received much less attention compared to other phenomena. This is perhaps due to the fact that wh-agreement is found in few languages (see e.g. Jeoung 2020, for Indonesian, Diercks 2013, for Lubukusu, Chung 1994, for Chamorro, Lochbihler and Math1eu 2013, for Ojibwe). Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA) manifests a wh-agreement phenomenon resembling the one found in the languages just cited. YIA is a dialect of Arabic spoken in Yemen. This language variety has several subdialects such as San’ani, Adeni, Ibbi, Thamari, etc. In this study, we focus on Ibbi dialect, which is spoken in Ibb Governorate, Yemen. Although Yemeni Arabic, in general, is not investigated or paid attention to by linguists like many other modern varieties of Arabic, there are few studies addressing some aspects of the grammar such as syntax, phonology, morphology, etc. in some dialects of Yemeni Arabic such as San’ani, Adeni, Hadrami. However, Ibbi Arabic dialect is a very under-investigated language variety (see also Shormani 2019). Ibbi dialect is a phonologically, morphologically, syntactically rich language variety. It involves linguistic “secrets” that are of much importance to the field, and that should be investigated by linguists interested in deeply probing its linguistically rich typology.  \nOne such syntactic phenomenon is wh-agreement as examples (1 & 2) show. However, it seems that this wh-agreement is linked to many other phenomena. Examples in (1 & 2) raise several questions including: i) What is the suffix-e(h)/-uh on both the Wh-Op(erator)s and verbs?, ii) If it marks agreement, What type of agreement is it in (1) and (2)?, iii) What is li-in (2a)?, and iv) How can we account for the agreement in (2b) and longer structures.  \n(1) [a. man-eh](a. man-eh) jāʔ-ah ?  \nwho-3FS came-3FS  \n‘Who came?’  \n[b. man-eh](b. man-eh) qabal-eh ʕali? who-3FS meet","cbCaiudxkcLqC5Dr","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiudxkcLqC5Dr","pdf",620596,3,1,33,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Background and research motivation\n## Data and core questions\n# Proposed analysis","[{\"question\":\"What phenomenon does the article focus on in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic?\",\"answer\":\"The article focuses on wh-agreement in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA), where wh-phrases show agreement morphology across relevant functional and verbal positions.\"},{\"question\":\"How is wh-agreement accounted for in the proposed approach?\",\"answer\":\"The proposal uses an Agree across phases (AAP) framework based on Feature Inheritance, separating Agree as MATCHING from feature valuation so that matching involves Cs/vs while valuation involves Ts/Vs.\"},{\"question\":\"Which suffixes are argued to mark wh-agreement in YIA?\",\"answer\":\"The study argues that suffixes such as -eh, -uh, -nen, and -um function as morphological markers of wh-agreement, deriving from grammaticalization of third-person pronouns from Standard Arabic.\"}]",1784191169,83,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"the-syntax-of-wh-agreement-in-yemeni-ibbi-arabic","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-syntax-of-wh-agreement-in-yemeni-ibbi-arabic/83877/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-24","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What phenomenon does the article focus on in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The article focuses on wh-agreement in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic (YIA), where wh-phrases show agreement morphology across relevant functional and verbal positions.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How is wh-agreement accounted for in the proposed approach?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"The proposal uses an Agree across phases (AAP) framework based on Feature Inheritance, separating Agree as MATCHING from feature valuation so that matching involves Cs/vs while valuation involves Ts/Vs.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Which suffixes are argued to mark wh-agreement in YIA?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The study argues that suffixes such as -eh, -uh, -nen, and -um function as morphological markers of wh-agreement, deriving from grammaticalization of third-person pronouns from Standard Arabic.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & 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