The verb-subject order: between communicative and grammatical competence

Abstract

In this paper, I defend the idea that the phenomenon of constituent ordering serves the communicative purpose of conveying information. Based on the cognitive-iconic principle presented by Givón (1990), Croft (1990), and Delbecque (2006), I show that the ordering of verb-subject and object-verb-subject in the clause is associated, besides its syntactic-semantic properties, to two functions in the organization of the texts: the first function is conditioned to participate in strategies that establish the centrality of a specific theme in the text and, hence ensure textual continuity. The second function tends to be a discontinuity strategy to insert other thematic topics in the texts or discursively mark another attention flows of the message. Moreover, I briefly present suggestions for exercises that provide an approach to the syntax of the subject in the classroom.