VP's and verb movement in Chamorro

Abstract

Most GB analyses of VSO languages have assumed that these languages have an SVO clause structure in which surface order is derived by leftward movement of V — usually, movement of V to Infl. This paper argues that that there is another possible route to VSO-hood, which is instantiated by the VSO language Chamorro. I argue for a view of Chamorro clause structure that consists of three claims: (i) there is a predicate XP constituent separate from the subject; (ii) this predicate XP precedes the subject, in other words, the clause structure of Chamorro is fundamentally VOS; (iii) surface word order is produced not by V Movement, but by adjoining the subject to the right of some projection of a [+V] category, essentially as proposed by Choe (1986) for Berber. Evidence supporting these claims is drawn from proper government in WH-constructions, from the syntax of nonverbal predicates, and from coordination.