Passive vs. unaccusative predicates: A phase-based account

This research article provides evidence from Jordanian Arabic (JA) that passive predicates, unlike unaccusative predicates, project phases. Two tests are formulated to demonstrate this difference, namely long-distance agreement (between T 0 and the internal argument) and quantifier stranding. Following Alexiadou et al. ( 2006 ), Alexiadou and Doron ( 2012 ) and Bruening ( 2013 ), we attribute this difference between passive and unaccusative predicates to the presence of Voice Phrase in the former but not the latter. In so doing, this article challenges a number of assumptions that equally qualify passive and unaccusative predicates as phases, or lack thereof, in natural languages (see e.g., Chomsky 2000 ; Legate 2003 ; Centeno and Vicente 2008 ; Deal 2009 ).