This study is about the syntax of simple verbal and nominal clauses of Yem inrnlight or the Minimalist Approach of Chomsky ( 1995a and 1995b), The focus is onrnthe derivation or simple verbal and nominal affirmative clause structures, The flrstrnchapter has dealt with the background, research question. objectives, methodologyrnand the theoretical framework of the studyrnPrevious studies are available on the phonology, morphology and to some extentrnon the syntax and sociolinguistics of the language. This study intended to fill somerngaps in the ,description of the syntax of the language. So the basic questions thatrnare answered in this stencil include how are simple affirmative verbal and nominalrnclause structures of Yem derived? What are the possible derivational operations asrnwell as the feature checking principles of verbal and nominal clause structures?rnWhat are the projectiles and hierarchical orders of functional and lexicalrncategories in IP and VP in the language? What are the similarities and differencesrnbetween the structure of verbal and nominal clauses in the languagernThe objective of this study is to describe the derivation of simple verbal andrnnominal clauses in the language. The study identify derivation al operations,rnthe projections of functional and lexical categories and the conditions of theta- rolernassignment, feature checking condition, the hierarchical order of functional andrnlexical categories in the VF and IP layers as well as the similarities and differencesrnbetween verbal and nominal clause structures the languagernThe research method includes reading relevant research materials and creating arnpoint of departure for the present study and developing clear concepts about thernMinimalist approach as .1 theoretical framework. Data is collected from nativernspeakers of Yem. Sample verbal and nominal structures are prepared in Amharicrnfor soliciting equivalents in the target language. The data IS phonemicallyrntranscribed and checked again stapes recordings. Finally, data is described andrnanalyzed on the bases of the Minimalist approach and conclusions are drawn aboutrnthe syntax of simple verbal and nominal clauses. Under the theoretical framework.rnbasic assumptions of the Minimalist approach about syntactic representations Inrngeneral and clause derivations in particular are considered in this chapter.rnIn the second chapter, some functional and derivational inflections on verbs andrninfinitives are described. These include agreement. tense, aspect and case in verbalrnclauses as well as agreement and nulls in nominal clauses. Some derivation alrnclements like nominalizers and causativizers are al so described.rnThe th ird chapter shows the derivat ions of simple verbal and nominal clausesrnincluding their similarities and diffen:nces. The derivational operations are mergernand move. Features like agreement, tense and case trigger movement. Thernfunctional categories projected in IP layer are TP, AgrsP, and AspP. Theirrnhierarchical order is [AgrsP[TP[AgrsP[ AspP[vP[ VP llllll for past perfect simplernaffirmative clauses and this goes in line with Baker's (1985) Mirror Principle. Thernbasic word order is SOY derived from Kayne's (1994) SVO universal order. OSV isrnalso possible when object is focused. Nominative case is checked at the spec of AgrsPrnwhereas accusative case is checked at the spec of vP in verbal clauses.rnThe derivation of nominal clauses is similar to that of their verbal counterpart in Yem.rnThe assumption of this study is that the derivation of nominal clause takes place in thernlexicon following the lexicalist hypothesis. The word order in nominal clauses is similarrnto the basic order. The difference is that there is no temporal element in nominal clausesrnand it is interpreted as DP, not as IP. The hierarchical order that observed in nominalrnclause is [DP[AgrsP[nP[NP llll. Accusative and nominative cases are checked at the specrnof nP and AgrsP respectively. The highlights and some facts abut the derivations ofrnverbal and nominal clauses are given in chapter four.