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Verb-Second Intricacies: an Investigation Into Verb Positions in English

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Verb-Second Intricacies: an Investigation Into Verb Positions in English UNIVERSITY OF PRIŠTINA FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY Nenad Pejić Verb-Second Intricacies: An Investigation into Verb Positions in English Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor: dr Dragana Spasić Kosovska Mitrovica, 2011. УНИВЕРЗИТЕТ У ПРИШТИНИ ФИЛОЗОФСКИ ФАКУЛТЕТ Ненад Пејић Проблематика глагола као другог конституента: испитивање позиције глагола у енглеском језику Докторска дисертација Ментор: др Драгана Спасић Косовска Митровица, 2011. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………..…..1 1.1. The Problem ……………………………………………………………………..…..1 1.2. Generative Grammar ……………………………………………………….………..3 1.3. Germanic Languages ……………………………………………………….………..9 2. Syntactic Change ……………………………………………………………….……16 2.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………...……16 2.2. Actuation and Diffusion of Change …………………………………………..……17 2.3. The Locus of Change ………………………………………………………………21 2.4. Language Change versus Grammar Change ………………………………….……23 2.4.1. The Logical Problem of Language Change …………………………………25 2.5. The Principles and Parameters Model of Change ……………………………….…27 2.5.1. Parametric Change ……………………………………………………..……31 2.6. Mechanisms of Syntactic Change …………………………………………….……33 2.6.1 Internal Mechanisms …………………………………………………………34 2.6.1.1 Reanalysis ……………………………………………………………35 2.6.1.1 1. Grammaticalization ……………………………………..…39 2.6.1.2 Extension …………………………………………………………..…40 2.6.2 External Mechanism …………………………………………………………42 2.6.2.1 Language Contact ……………………………………………………43 2.7. Theories of Syntactic Change ………………………………………………...……44 2.7.1. Structuralist Approach ………………………………………………………45 2.7.1.1. Lightfoot (1991) and van Kemenade (1987) ……………………...…46 2.7.1.2. Roberts (1993) …………………………………………………….…54 2.7.2. Variationist Approach ………………………………………………….……56 2.7.2.1. Kroch (1989) ……………………………………………………...…56 2.7.2.2. Young (2000) ……………………………………………………..…60 2.7.2.3. Clark & Roberts (1993) ……………………………………...………62 2.8. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………63 3. Verb Movement …………………………………………………………………...…65 3.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………65 3.2. Verb Movement to INFL ……………………………………………………..……67 3.2.1. Correlation with Inflectional Morphology ……………………………..……72 i 3.2.2. Verb Movement to INFL in West Germanic Languages with Object-Verb Word Order ..……………………………………………………………………………....79 3.2.3. Verb Movement to INFL in English ………………………………...………83 3.2.3.1. The Loss of Verb Movement to INFL ………………………………88 3.2.3.1.1. The Change in the Syntactic Status of Not …………..……92 3.2.3.1.2. The Rise of Do-Support in English …………………..……94 3.2.3.2. Conclusion on the Loss of Verb Movement to INFL in English …..100 3.3. Verb Movement to COMP …………………………………………………..……102 3.3.1. The Verb-Second Effect ……………….…………….…………………..…103 3.3.1.1. Verb-Second Languages ……………………………………...……105 3.3.2. Verb Movement to COMP in Main Clauses …………………………….…107 3.3.3. Verb Movement to COMP in Embedded Clauses …………………………113 3.3.4. The Loss of Verb Movement to COMP ……………………………………116 3.3.4.1. The Loss of Verb-Second in French …………………………….…116 3.3.4.2. The Loss of Verb-Second in Welsh ………………………..………130 3.4. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..……135 4.0 Verb Second in Germanic Languages …………………………………………137 4.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………….…137 4.2. Basic Word Order and Verb-Second …………………………………………..…140 4.3. Typological Variations of Verb-Second ………………………………….………146 4.4. Asymmetric Verb-Second Languages ……………………………………………153 4.4.1. Verb-Second in German ……………………………………………………153 4.4.2. Verb-Second in Dutch ………………………………………………...……164 4.4.3. Verb-Second in Frisian ………………………………………………….…171 4.4.4. Verb-Second in Norwegian …………………………………………...……176 4.4.5. Verb-Second in Swedish ……………………………………………...……185 4.4.6. Verb-Second in Danish ……………………………………………….……194 4.5. Non-Asymmetric Verb-Second Languages ………………………………………203 4.5.1. Verb-Second in Icelandic ……………………………………………..……204 4.5.2. Verb-Second in Yiddish ……………………………………………………212 4.6. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………..…219 5.0. Verb-Second in Modern English ………………………………………………221 5.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………….…221 5.2. Syntactic Analysis of Verb-Second Structures …………………………...………224 5.3. Residual Verb-Second ……………………………………………………………228 ii 5.4. Verb-Second in Embedded Clauses in English ……………………………...……234 5.5. Categorization of the Verb-Second Structures ……………………………………237 5.5.1. Pragmatic Functions of Verb-Second …………………………………...…237 5.5.1.1. Practical Function ……………………………………………….…239 5.5.1.2. Connective Function ………………………………………….……240 5.5.1.3. Introductory Function ………………………………………...……243 5.5.1.4. Emphatic Functions …………………………………………...……245 5.5.1.5. Direct Quotes ………………………………………………………249 5.5.2. Frontable Constituents and Verb-Second …………………………….……255 5.5.2.1. Class I of Frontable Constituents ……………………………..……256 5.5.2.2. Class II of Frontable Constituents ……………………………….…257 5.5.2.3. Class III of Frontable Constituents …………………………...……260 5.5.2.4. Class IV of Frontable Constituents ………………………...………262 5.5.2.5. Other Cases of the Verb in the Second Position ……………...……263 5.6. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..……264 6. Verb-Second in the History of English …………………………………………266 6.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………….…266 6.2. Verb Second in Old English ………………………………………………………269 6.2.1. Old English Dialects …………………………………………………….…269 6.2.2. Correlation between Old English Morphology and Syntax …………..……274 6.2.2.1. Subject Omission in Old English ……………………………..……275 6.2.2.2. Verb Fronting in Old English ………………………………………277 6.2.2. Basic Word Order in Old English ……………………………………….…279 6.2.2.1. Nuclear Positional Rule Shift in Old English ………………...……283 6.2.3. Verb-Second Word Order in Old English ……………………………….…289 6.2.3.1. Verb-Second in Old English Coordinative Clauses ……………..…296 6.2.4. Syntactic Analyses of the Old English Verb-Second Structures ……..……298 6.2.4.1. Van Kemenade (1987, 1997) ………………………………………299 6.2.4.2. Kiparsky (1995) ……………………………………………………305 6.2.4.3. Pintzuk (1991) ………………………………………………...……312 6.2.4.4. Kroch and Taylor (1997) ……………………………………...……317 6.2.4.5. Analyses by Other Authors …………………………………...……323 6.3. Verb Second in Middle English ………………………………………………..…329 6.3.1. Middle English Dialects ……………………………………………………329 6.3.1.1. Old Norse Influence on English ……………………………………330 6.3.1.2. Geographical Distribution of Middle English Dialects …….………333 iii 6.3.2. Basic Word Order in Middle English …………………………………...…335 6.3.3. Syntactic Analyses of the Middle English Verb-Second Structures ………338 6.4. The Decline of Verb-Second in the History of English …………………..………349 6.5. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………..…357 7. Concluding Remarks ………………………………………………………………359 Bibliography ………………………………………..……………………………...…367 iv ABSTRACT The dissertation examines the verb-second phenomenon in English. The syntactic phenomenon in question has been investigated in two dimensions: synchronically, whereby the data from Modern English are inspected in the context of other Germanic languages, and diachronically, where the data from Modern English are examined in the contexts of Old and Middle English. It is argued that the verb-second phenomenon in Modern English is not residual in the sense that it represents a vestigial word-order that succeeded a verb-second syntax which corresponded better to other Germanic verb-second languages. Instead, following Kiparsky (1995), this syntactic phenomenon should be viewed as the historical core of Germanic verb-second phenomenon, best preserved in English, while other Germanic languages developed various innovations. In addition, an argument is presented that only less significant types of verb-second disappeared in the history of the English language, whereas the essential verb-second properties remain and still exist in the language, although with significantly lower frequency. Other relevant properties of the verb-second phenomenon are also examined in this dissertation, such as the question of the verb-second triggers in English, and in relation to that, the structures which tend to block the verb-second effect in this language; then, the question of underlying syntactic operations that stand behind the verb-second word order, namely movement of the finite verb to the INFL-position, and to the COMP-position; finally, the problems related to possible parametric properties of verb-second and to the nature of the main clause/embedded clause asymmetry. Linguistic contacts are considered the main factor that contributed to the sharp decline of the verb-second phenomenon in Modern English after the seventeenth century, and it is suggested that linguistic contact may be the factor that has significantly influenced the historical emergence of the verb-second phenomenon throughout the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. v РЕЗИМЕ Дисертација се бави проблематиком глагола као другог конституента у енглеском језику. Ова синтаксичка појава ретко се јавља у језицима широм света, а у оквиру индоевропске језичке породице, уз неколико изузетака, она је заступљена искључиво у језицима германске гране. Наиме, у готово свим германским језицима структура реченице је таква да глагол у личном облику, како год да се конституенти размештају, по правилу остаје на месту другог конституента у свим типовима независних реченица, а у појединим језицима, као што је исландски, оваква синтаксичка структура је обавезна и у зависним реченицама. Упадљиви изузетак међу германским језицима у овом погледу јесте енглески језик, у коме глагол обавезно заузима позицију другог конституента само у одређеним, прецизно дефинисаним конструкцијама, као што
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