Arabic: VSO or VGN (verb-subject-object or verb-given-new)? Abstract Arabic is generally described as being VSO, with an alternative SVO order.

However in verb-initial clauses, there are numerous and regular violations of the canonical VSO order, such as V O S, V-o S (pronominal object), V P-C S (preposition and complement), V P-c S O (pronominal complement), V P-c O S, and V-o O S. A principle of increasing information prominence of post-verbal nominal constituents (given, known information > new information) seems to provide a unitary account of all observable orders, including VSO. Strict SO order is thus called into question for Arabic, and replaced by a strict GN (given-new) order, possibly entailing major typological consequences. Languages traditionally described as VSO or SOV might need to be revisited in order to see whether VGN or GNV does not provide a better account of their functioning.

Verb Initial Syntax Workshop, Program Committee Department of Linguistics Douglass 200E University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721 USA carnie@u.arizona.edu

Paper proposal Arabic: VSO or VGN (verb-subject-object or verb-given-new)?

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