# The syntax of wh-agreement in Yemeni Ibbi Arabic

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.04986 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.04986/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 2 of its 104 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Jul 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Generative linguistics contribution to artificial intelligence: Where this contribution lies?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.20221/) (2024)
- [Revisiting the syntax of imperatives in Yemeni Arabic: An Agree across phases approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.08447/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This 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 Wh-Op, 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 cross-linguistically. 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 AAP as a UG approach to long-distance dependencies.