ɸ‐Agree with silent goals and the theory of interface effects*

Abstract

This article provides evidence from Arabic (namely Modern Standard Arabic and Jordanian Arabic) that ɸ‐Agree with an element which undergoes a phonological deletion at PF, i.e., a pro, results in the occurrence of a ɸ‐inflection of the goal on the relevant probe. This occurrence is imposed by the effects of a suggested interface condition, named as The Agree Identification Condition, which requires a phonologically null goal to be ɸ‐identified through a co‐varying ɸ‐inflection on its probe. Such an analysis directly accounts for the intriguing observation that ɸ‐inflections in Arabic do not occur on heads (e.g., verbs and prepositions) when the latter ɸ‐agree with an overt DP. Additionally, this article shows that the effects of this condition do not arise when the Agree relation occurs between a probe and an unpronounced goal which is a member of a movement chain. When one link of the chain (e.g., the higher copy) is overt, no ɸ‐inflection of the goal would appear on the probe. This suggests that when a probe ɸ‐agrees with a goal which constitutes one link of a movement chain, the Agree relation holds between the probe and the whole chain.