ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the alternation V S O and V O S in languages that allow it such as Spanish. Pragmatically, the V S O and V O S orders differ with respect to their interaction with focus. In Spanish the V S O order can be associated with two types of remnants in bare arguments ellipsis cases. From a scrambling perspective, on the other hand, the orderings are indeed asymmetrical: The subject C-commands the object in the V S O order while the object C-commands subject in V O S order. In Spanish the specific reading is forced for the object in the V O S order but not the V S O order. The restriction of subject pronouns to the V S O order was explained by their semi-clitic nature which forces them to scramble to the left.
