Verb movement and word order in Arabic

Abstract

Introduction Studies on VSO languages have played an important part in exploring the role of V-movement in deriving the order of the subject in relation to the verb. On the assumption that all languages, irrespective of their surface word order peculiarities, derive from an underlying SVO structure, the VSO order can be derived simply by assuming that the verb moves to a position preceding the (canonical) position of the subject. This is in essence the view originally outlined in Emonds (1980) and later applied to various languages (cf. Koopman (1984), Travis (1984), Emonds (1985) and Sproat (1985a), among many others). Obviously, movement of the verb to a position preceding the subject is not the only way of deriving the VSO order from an underlying SVO structure. Another logical possibility is for the subject to move to a position immediately following the verb. This view has been suggested by Choe (1987) in relation to Berber, and adopted by Chung (1990) for Chamorro. This view attributes the derivation of the VSO order to movement of the subject rather than movement of the verb, although both views share the assumption that all languages derive from a unique underlying structure. Presumably, subject-lowering is sufficient to derive the VSO order, at least in the languages mentioned, irrespective of whether the verb moves out of VP to a higher position in the structure. Certain theoretical developments have recently opened up other possibilities for deriving the VSO order from an underlying SVO structure.