Dirasat, Human and Social Sciences, Volume 46, No. 3, 2019 - 439 - © 2019 DAR Publishers/University of Jordan. All Rights Reserved. ________________________________________________ * Department of English & Translation, Applied Science Private University, Jordan. Received on 27/4/2018 and Accepted for Publication on 8/4/2019. Adjectival Constructs in Standard Arabic Abdulazeez Jaradat* ABSTRACT This study focuses on two constructs in Arabic; adjectival genitive constructs and adjectival constructs with a possession clitic. They have been previously studied in Kremers (2003) and Fassi (1999); however, the distinction in between is not clear. This study shows how they are syntactically different. Following the spell- out algorithm (Chomsky 2001), I show that only the adjectival genitive construct should be a spell-out domain. Being a spell-out domain prevents accessing this domain after shipping it to interfaces. Therefore, word insertion and optional number agreement are prevented in the construct that forms a spell-out domain, which is the adjectival genitive construct. Keywords: Adjectival genitive construct, construct with a possession clitic, spell-out domain, word insertion, optional number agreement. 1. Introduction: syntactic distribution of adjectives in Arabic In this section, I introduce the possible distributions of adjectives in Arabic. I also show how agreement is established between adjectives, either post-nominal and pre-nominal, and their modified nouns. Adjectives can appear in post- nominal and pre-nominal positions in Arabic. Post-nominal adjectives are in a full agreement with their modified nouns. In (1a&b), for example, the adjectives t ̩ awi:l appears post-nominally and has full agreement with the preceding NPs, radʒul-u-n and nisa:ʔ-u-n: (1) a. radʒul-u-n t ̩ awi:l-u-n man-NOM-INDEF.SG tall-NOM-INDEF.SG ‘A tall man’. b. nisa:ʔ-u-n t ̩ awi:l-a:t-u-n woman.PL-NOM-INDEF tall-PL.FEM-NOM-INDEF ‘Tall women’. If the modified noun is intimate, its post-nominal adjectives can be either in full or partial agreement with it, as exemplified in (2). The adjective ʕa:lj is specified as plural in (2a) and singular in (2b) although the modified noun is plural in both examples. (2) a. Full agreement: al-samaw-a:t al-ʕa:lj-a:t DEF-heaven-PL.FEM DEF-high-PL.FEM ‘The high heavens’. b. Partial agreement: al-samaw-a:t al-ʕa:lij-ah