Verb-second as a reconstruction phenomenon

This book provides the first book-length study of the controversial subject of Verb Second and related properties in a range of Medieval Romance languages. Both qualitative and quantitative data are examined and analysed from Old French, Occitan, Sicilian, Venetian, Spanish, and Sardinian to assess whether the languages were indeed Verb Second languages. The book argues that unlike most modern Romance varieties, V-to-C movement is a point of continuity across all the medieval varieties, but that there are rich patterns of synchronic and diachronic variation in the medieval period which have not been noted before. These include differences in the syntax–pragmatics mapping, the locus of verb movement, the behaviour of clitic pronouns, the syntax of subject positions, matrix/embedded asymmetries, and the null argument properties of the languages in question. The book outlines a detailed formal cartographic analysis both of both the synchronic patterns attested and of the diachronic evolution of Romance clausal structure.

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Verb-initial declaratives in Old High German and in later German

10.1093/oso/9780198813545.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Svetlana Petrova

Keyword(s):

Main Part ◽

Old High German ◽

Verb Second ◽

Diachronic Syntax ◽

Adequate Understanding ◽

History Of ◽

Syntactic Properties

This chapter investigates the syntactic properties and the pragmatic behaviour of verb-initial declarative clauses in the history of German. The focus is on OHG because in this period, verb-initial declaratives represent a frequent, well-known alternative to canonical verb-second main clauses. It is argued that verb-initial declaratives are native in origin, and that they are derivable under a special interpretation of the verb-second rule. The main part of the chapter deals with the pragmatic properties of verb-initial declaratives in OHG, summarizing the various attempts at explaining the distribution of these orders and showing that further research is needed to arrive at a more adequate understanding of their function in the discourse. The chapter closes up with the discussion of the later development of verb-initial declaratives in German, sketching the controversial treatments of this question in the literature on German diachronic syntax.

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Clause Structure and Word Order in the History of German

10.1093/oso/9780198813545.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Word Order ◽

Left Periphery ◽

Structural Factors ◽

Clause Structure ◽

Verb Second ◽

Verb Forms ◽

History Of ◽

New Research ◽

The Right ◽

Theoretical Analyses

Over roughly the last decade, there has been a notable rise in new research on historical German syntax in a generative perspective. This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of this thriving new line of research by leading scholars in the field, combining it with new insights into the syntax of historical German. It is the first comprehensive and concise generative historical syntax of German covering numerous central aspects of clause structure and word order, tracing them throughout various historical stages. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis and valid descriptive generalizations with reference also to the more traditional topological model of the German clause with a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. The volume is divided into three parts according to the main parts of the clause: the left periphery dealing with verbal placement and the filling of the prefield (verb second, verb first, verb third orders) as well as adverbial connectives; the middle field including discussion of pronominal syntax, order of full NPs and the history of negation; and the right periphery with chapters on basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex including the development of periphrastic verb forms and the phenomena of IPP (infinitivus pro participio) and ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo). This book thus provides a convenient overview of current research on the major issues concerning historical German clause structure both for scholars interested in more traditional description and for those interested in formal accounts of diachronic syntax.

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Complex complementizers and the structural relation with weak T. New (morpho)syntactic data from a Pomeranian language island in Brazil

Language Typology and Universals ◽

10.1515/stuf-2014-0032 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Gertjan Postma

Keyword(s):

19Th Century ◽

Head Movement ◽

Verb Second ◽

Verbal System ◽

Espírito Santo ◽

Structural Relation ◽

Espirito Santo ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

Proper Analysis

AbstractIn this paper I discuss three properties of Brazilian Pomeranian, a Germanic language spoken in Espirito Santo, Brazil by descendents who emigrated in the 19th century. These three aspects of the verbal system are: 1. The relation between complex complementizers, a two-infinitive system, and split infinitives, previously discussed in van Gelderen (1993, 1998) and Schallert (2012, 2013), 2. Verb Projection Raising (VPR), as discussed by Riemsdijk 2002, Haegeman 2007, Salzmann 2011, and Brandner & Salzmann 2012, and 3. Verb-Second positioning of verbal clusters, previously discussed in Vos (2005). I discuss novel Pomeranian data from the perspective of the literature on these three topics, which have been thus far studied largely separately from one another. An integrated discussion sheds light on the nature and the proper analysis of these three phenomena. I argue that these phenomena are caused by the “weaknesses” of T. The weakness of T can be resolved “downward” by copying features onto T under selection by a higher head (agree), or can be resolved “upward” under head movement of T.

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Word-order change in progress: the case of Slovene and Serbo-Croat and its relevance for Germanic

Journal of Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s0022226700011270 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 269-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

David C. Bennett

Keyword(s):

Word Order ◽

Verb Second ◽

Related Language ◽

Slavonic Language ◽

History Of ◽

Order Change ◽

The One ◽

Word Order Change ◽

Germanic Languages ◽

Fresh Insight

It will be suggested in this article that Slovene, a South Slavonic language, is on the way to acquiring verb-second (V2) word order. In providing evidence in support of this view I shall compare Slovene, on the one hand, with the closely related language Serbo-Croat and, on the other hand, with relevant details from the history of the Germanic languages. The point of comparing it with Serbo-Croat is to discover the respects in which the word order of these two languages has diverged. Taken together with what is known about the word order of Common Slavonic, the facts emerging from this comparison allow us to identify one major respect in which Slovene has changed and two respects in which it is still changing. At the same time, they reveal a major respect in which Serbo-Croat word order is also changing. The point of comparing Slovene with the Germanic languages is twofold. First, since all the present-day Germanic languages either have or have had V2 word order (Haiman, 1974), it is possible that their history can help us to understand the changes currently taking place in Slovene and to predict how Slovene might change in the future. Secondly, where details of the history of the Germanic languages are poorly understood, the possibility exists of gaining fresh insight into them in the light of the changes that have taken place more recently, or indeed are still taking place, in Slovene. In this connection we shall assess the plausibility of two theories concerning the adoption of V2 word order by the Germanic languages, those of Vennemann (1975) and Wackernagel (1892).

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Two locations for negation

Linguistic Variation Yearbook ◽

10.1075/livy.9.06mun ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 205-240 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sadaf Munshi ◽

Rajesh Bhatt

Keyword(s):

Verb Second ◽

High Position ◽

The Difference ◽

Finite Verb ◽

Structural Positions

Kashmiri has two structural positions for negation: a high position associated with focus and a low position associated with tense. In verb second environments, the difference between these two positions is neutralized on the surface and irrespective of the location where negation is generated, it appears as a suffix on the finite verb. But in non-verb second environments such as conditionals and correlatives the two negations can be teased apart. In these environments, the high negation appears as a suffix on material such as relative phrases and the conditional marker while the low negation appears as a suffix on the finite verb. The high vs. low distinction has semantic implications: in certain environments where the negation is arguably ‘expletive’, negation can only be high.

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Interface restrictions on verb second

The Linguistic Review ◽

10.1515/tlr.2006.005 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

André Meinunger

Keyword(s):

Verb Second

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