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Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 43(2), 2007, pp. 107–131 © School of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland doi:10.2478/v10010 007 0015 2
ENGLISH AS A MIXED V2 GRAMMAR: SYNCHRONIC WORD ORDER INCONSISTENCIES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
MARIT WESTERGAARD University of Tromsø [email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses some word order inconsistencies found in present day English and argues that these may be explained by natural processes in first language acquisition. English is usually assumed to have lost its verb second (V2) properties in the Middle English period, but the paper argues that English should be considered a mixed V2 grammar, as subject