A Minimalist Approach to Verb Movement in Standard Arabic

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of overt and covert V‐movement in Standard Arabic within the minimalist framework. We will demonstrate that overt steps of this process do not go beyond Agrs, the only exception being positive imperatives, where C is also affected. This entails that VSO order in VSO languages such as Standard Arabic is not an outcome of overt V‐to‐C, as sometimes claimed in the literature. As for covert V‐movement, we will focus especially on its application from Agrs to Mood, and show that in this case it may skip an intervening negative head not selecting a MoodP.