Against optinonal scrambling

Abstract

I argue that the apparent free word order in languages like Japanese is not really free; instead, each word order is distinct and motivated by some syntactic or semantic consideration. The free-word-order view is, to some extent, a carryover from the nonconfigurational conception of such languages. For VP-internal word order permutation, the two word orders IO-DO and DO-IO are best viewed as being base-generated instead of as being derived one from the other. For IP-adjunction scrambling, A-scrambling is driven by a Case agreement feature, whereas A-scrambling is motivated by something like focus. These findings cast doubt on the widely held view that scrambling constitutes a strictly optional movement.

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