Stability in Subject-Verb Word Order: From Contemporary Arabian Peninsular Arabic to Biblical Aramaic

This article differs from traditional treatments of subject-verb word order in Semitic in two respects. First, we take as our point of departure a detailed study of word order in contemporary Arabian Peninsular Arabic, which shows that the respective order of the subject and verb in that variety is determined by morpholexical and by discourse-immanent factors. From this starting point, we work backwards, applying the same analytical framework to subject-verb word order in Biblical Aramaic. Secondly, we use corpus-based quantitative methods and regression analysis to determine the degree of similarity between Arabian Peninsular Arabic and Biblical Aramaic. It emerges that, for all intents and purposes, subject-verb word order in Arabian Peninsular Arabic and Biblical Aramaic are governed by an identical set of morpholexical and discourse constraints. Historical explanations for these results are discussed; it is emphasized that, whether the patterns are due to common inheritance or to diffusion, a complex pattern of word order determination is sustained over at least 2,500 years of chronological time.