Available online at www.jlls.org JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC STUDIES ISSN: 1305-578X Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 18(Special Issue 1), 594-610; 2022 © 2022 Cognizance Research Associates - Published by JLLS. The null-pro subject in Najdi Arabic Aysha Muqbil Almineeai a , Abdul-Hafeed Ali Fakih b 1 a Department of English, College of Arts, University of Bisha, KSA b Department of English, Najran University, KSA & Department of English, Ibb University, Yemen APA Citation: Almineeai, A. M., & Fakih, A. H. A. (2022). The null-pro subject in Najdi Arabic. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 18(Special Issue 1), 594-610. Submission Date:07/08/2021 Acceptance Date:13/10/2021 Abstract This study aims to examine the null pro subject in Najdi Arabic and directly answer the following questions within Holmberg’s (2008) theory of null subjects: (i) Is Najdi Arabic a pro-drop and hence a consistent null subject language (NSL)? and (ii) How is the null pro subject derived and interpreted in the syntax? We argue that Najdi Arabic is pro-drop and hence a consistent NSL and that full agreement are associated with null subject pronouns. Furthermore, we reveal that the null subject in Najdi Arabic is derived by incorporating a subject pronoun in the head T position as a consequence of Agree. The interaction between Holmberg’s analysis and Najdi Arabic data reveals that the subject pronoun in Spec-vP configuration is not pronounced in Najdi Arabic because it is not the highest chain copy; what has to be articulated of the subject chain is a verbal affix on the verb as a reflection of the deleted subject of the structure. The interpretation of the null pro subject in Najdi Arabic depends on the antecedent of the null pronominal that values T’s D-feature. When the A-topic values the D-feature, then a definite third person null subject structure results in the derived structure. Keywords: chain copy; d-feature; probe-goal; null subject; unvalued ф-features; Najdi Arabic 1. Introduction The syntax of null subjects has received considerable attention in the languages of the world and has presented certain syntactic challenges to syntactic minimalist theory. Generally, the null pro subject analysis in natural language grammar has been a constant source of debate in the last four decades of generative syntax, particularly in Standard Arabic. Moreover, research attempts have been made to study and examine the null pro phenomenon in Standard Arabic and in other Arabic varieties to present a satisfactory account of the subject under investigation. This study reviews two prominent approaches that attempted to account for null subjects and agreement phenomena in Standard Arabic and other Arabic varieties. The first one is viewed in the existing literature as a pre-minimalist approach, which is commonly known as a Spec-head approach, which has been assumed for the treatment of the null pro and agreement in Arabic (Aoun, 1982; Aoun et al., 1994; Daud et al., 2021; Fass Fehri, 1993; Mohammed, 1990; Ouhalla, 1994, amongst others). The second one is based on minimalism (known as a minimalist approach) and has benefited from 1 Corresponding author. E-mail address: a.hafeed1@gmail.com