Abstract
This study seeks to identify the syntactic motivation and problems of the associations of the complementizers ?anna and ?an with word order and case marking in Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth MSA) with reference to the Minimalist Program (MP), the updated version of MP Phase Theory, and the split CP hypothesis of Rizzi (1997. "The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery." In Elements of Grammar, edited by Liliane Haegeman, 281-337. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2001. "On the Position 'Int(Errogative)' in the Left Periphery of the Clause." In Current Studies in Italian Syntax, edited by Guglielmo Cinque, and Giampaolo Salvi, 287-296. Amsterdam: Elsevier). The clause following ?anna must take SVO word order, while ?an requires VSO word order. This study analyzes not only the syntactic motivation for the word order governed by ?anna and ?an but also related syntactic [issues and reasons for ?anna and ?an complementizers in both SVO and VSO word order] based on a minimalist approach and Rizzi's approach, especially for the problem of double case marking; a generative approach is needed to solve certain syntactic problems (e.g., assigning accusative case and subjunctive mood). Finally, this study argues that in MSA, ?an sits in a non-phasal phrase, whereas ?anna occurs in ?annaP and FinitenessP (FinP). Furthermore, case marking assignment is based on ECM for ?anna and on locality for ?an.