Mood and functional projections

In this dissertation, I investigate the structural representation of mood in a Minimalist framework. This investigation is based on the study of mood particles in Modern Standard Arabic and the way they interact with (i) the verb and (ii) negation. Arabic subjunctive particles are compared to subjunctive Balkan particles.The main suggestion is that Arabic clause structure involves an inflectional projection Modal Phrase (ModP) that hosts the subjunctive particle ?an as well as other mood particles all of which check verbal mood morphology through the operation Agree.The subjunctive particle ?an is compared to Balkan subjunctive particles and is argued to be an inflectional element rather than a lower complementizer in the sense of Rizzi (1997). In particular, it is suggested that Arabic and Balkan subjunctive particles fall into two types: (i) Type 1 inflectional particles that check a mood feature with the verb and that may occur in clauses lacking the CP layer. These include Arabic ?an and Romanian sǎ, and (ii) Type 2 lower Comp particles that do not check any verbal feature and that require the projection of the CP layer. These include Greek na and Bulgarian da.As far as the interaction of mood particles with negation, it is suggested that some mood particles including subjunctive ?an may select NegP and check verbal mood across negation. Other particles, however, may not select NegP and are incompatible with negation