This paper shows that a phrasal movement account of verb-initial word order in Samoan is superior to a head-movement account. The appearance of VP-modifiers to the left of the subject in Samoan indicates that the clause-initial predicate appears within a VP-constituent. This is consistent with the VP-movement account of verb-initial word order, but not with a head-movement account. I argue that the movement of the object out of the VP (forced by the VP-movement account) is independently motivated by a ban on unergative-unaccusative coordination. I intend the diagnostics presented in this paper to contribute to an inventory of diagnostics for determining the best derivational analysis for a verb-initial language.