Deviation in the Constituent Order of the Arabic Verbal Sentence: A Study in Light of Contemporary Linguistic Interpretation

Abstract

This study addresses the phenomenon of deviation from the canonical constituent order in the Arabic verbal sentence, emphasizing the concept of word order as theorized by classical Arab grammarians and analyzed in contemporary Arabic linguistics. The study arrives at several findings, among them: deviation from canonical order in Arabic grammatical thought is classified into two types—obligatory deviation and optional deviation. Additionally, it concludes that, from a generative linguistics perspective, such deviations between different ordering patterns are governed by generative rules that produce sentences with varied constituent arrangements. Finally, from the viewpoint of functional linguistics, the study demonstrates that deviations in the verbal sentence occur according to pragmatic rules closely linked to the context of utterance.