Abstract
A Standard Arabic (SA) complementizer known as ʔinna poses a restriction on word orders in the clause it introduces and induces accusative Case-marking on the otherwise nominative preverbal NPs (Note1). Following Chomsky’s (2001) account of the morphosyntax of Case, this paper argues that ʔinna is a Case assigner and thus it carries an uninterpretable Case feature that determines the value which it assigns to an unvalued Case feature concerning accessible goal within A-bar projection. The paper shows that this argument captures the asymmetrical word order between clauses introduced by ʔinna and those headed by null CPs. 
Highlights
Arabic allows both subject-initial and verb-initial clauses
This paper has investigated the behavior of ʔinna-clauses in Standard Arabic
They differ in their distribution in respect to other clauses in Arabic, but the paper has argued on the basis of Case-assignment that ʔinna is a Case-assigner
Summary
Arabic allows both subject-initial and verb-initial clauses. As sentences (1a) and (1b) demonstrate, respectively, the verb can either precedes or follows the subject: 1a) l-ʔawlaad-u qaraʔ-uu l-kitaab-a the-boys-NOM read.3PM the-book-ACC ‘The boys read the book.’. The verb shows full agreement when its subject is not overt: 2) qaraʔ-uu l-kitaab-Acc read.3pm the-book-Acc. subordinate clauses introduced by ʔinna is restricted to subject-initial clauses (Note). Notice that there is a pronominal clitic attached to the verb, a similar construction with no pronominal clitic is ungrammatical: 5)* qultu ʔinna l-kitaab-a qaraʔa l-ʔawlaad-u said.1S that the-book-ACC read.3S the-boys-NOM. Preverbal subjects are optional in null CPs, but it is not possible to have a gap in the embedded preverbal position (Here and subsequently the paper marks gaps by ‘__’): 6)* qultu ʔinna ____ qaraʔ-uu l-kitaab-a said.1S that read.3PM the-book-ACC. Note that verb-initial clauses cannot occur in the domain of ʔinna: 8)* qultu ʔinna qaraʔa l-ʔawlaad-a l-kitaab-a said.1S that read.3SM the-boys- ACC the-book-ACC. It will account for the restriction that is imposed by ʔinna on its clauses
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