This chapter presents a synthesis of the discussions in the preceding chapters, which described word order patterns in Gbe and Kwa languages by analysing the syntax of Gungbe and its relationship with other Gbe languages. The data show that the surface differences that may arise between these languages cannot be analysed in terms of opposing underlying structures. Instead, it is argued that all the Gbe languages are of the type S-H-C, and every case where the complement precedes the head must be seen as instantiation of comp-movement to the specifier of the head or to some other specifier position in the clause. The theory developed here naturally extends to Kwa languages, as well as typologically different languages that manifest complement-head sequences.
Keywords: Gungbe, Gbe languages, syntax