Word Order, Agreement, and Case

Abstract

In this chapter I address three important and related issues in the theory of Arabic clause structure: (a) word order, (b) verb agreement patterns, and (c) Cases of subjects. I establish that Arabic is essentially a VSO language, although it also seems to belong to a ‘mixed’ VSO/SVO type. This typology correlates with properties of inflectional categories heading clauses, in particular the properties of AGR(eement) morphemes. I claim that AGR in VSO languages is both poor (in that it is specified at most for Gender), and weak (in that it does not play a role in Nominative Case assignment and/or checking). But although some AGR morphemes in these languages are rich (in that they exhibit Number specification (NUM), in addition to Gender (GEN)), as is the case in Arabic, AGR remains weak. It is unable to protect subjects in SVO structures from external governors, and it does not play a (significant) role in Nominative assignment and/or checking. It is argued that this weakness of the inflection in VSO languages (even of the mixed type) is traceable to a parametric categorial property of AGR: AGR is nominal in some languages, and non-nominal in others.