Verb Movement And Expletive Subjects In The Germanic Languages

This book is the study of two different kinds of variation across the Germanic languages. One involves the position of the finite verb, and the other the possible positions of the "logical" subject in constructions with expletive (or "dummy") subjects. The book applies the theory of Principles-and-Parameters to the study of comparative syntax. Several languages are considered, including less frequently discussed ones like Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, and Yiddish.

This book investigates various aspects of the distribution of nominal arguments, and in particular the cross-linguistic variation that can be found among the Germanic languages in this domain of the syntax. The empirical topics discussed include variable vs. fixed argument order, the distribution of subjects with respect to adjuncts, expletive constructions, and oblique subjecthood. These are analyzed within a theoretical framework which is based on the Minimalist Program.

This monograph is the first book-length study on Old High German syntax from a generative perspective in twenty years. It provides an in-depth exploration of the Old High German pre-verb-second grammar by answering the following questions: To what extent did generalized verb movement exist in Old High German? Was there already obligatory XP-movement to the left periphery in declarative root clauses? What deviations from the linear verb-second restriction are attested and what do such phenomena reveal about the structure of the left sentence periphery? Did verb placement play the same role in sentence typing as in the modern verb-second languages? A further major topic is null subjects: It is claimed that Old High German was a partial pro-drop language. All these issues are addressed from a comparative-diachronic perspective by integrating research on other Old Germanic languages, in particular on Old English and Gothic. This book is of interest to all those working in the fields of comparative Germanic syntax and historical linguistics.

This collection of previously unpublished articles examines Noam Chomsky's Extended Projection Principle and its relationship to subjects and expletives (works like "it" that stand for other words). Re-examining Chomsky's proposition that each clause must have a subject, these articles represent the current state of the debate, particularly with respect to the theory's universal applicability across languages. Presenting an international and highly respected group of contributors, the volume explores these questions in a variety of languages, including Italian, Finnish, Icelandic, and Hungarian.

3. 1 Kashmiri is not "non-Configurational" 45 3. 1 . 1 Agreement 51 3 . 1. 2 Binding Theory 52 3. 1. 3 Distribution of PRO 56 3 . 1. 4 Additional Evidence 57 3. 1. 4. 1 Weak Crossover (WCO) 57 3. 1. 4. 2 Constituent Fronting 60 3. 1. 4. 3 Superiority-Like Effects 62 3. 2 Word Order Constraints: Kashmiri Phrase Structure 64 3. 2. 1 N-complements 65 3. 2. 2 Postpositions 67 3. 2. 3 Adjectives 67 3. 2. 4 The Structure ofVP 68 3. 3. The Functional Projections 71 3. 4 Complement ki clauses 74 3. 5 Summary 79 4 Verb-Second (V2) Phenomena 80 4. 0 Introduction 80 4. 1 Kashmiri Vo rfe ld 84 4. 1. 1 V2 Clauses 85 4. 1. 1. 1 Main Clauses 85 4. 1. 1. 2 ki-Clauses 98 4. 1. 2 V3 Clauses 102 4. 1. 2. 1 Declarative Clauses 102 4. 1. 2. 2 Interrogative Clauses 107 4. 2 Some Exceptional Orders 116 vm 4. 2. 1 VI Order 116 4. 2. 1. 1 Declaratives 116 4. 2. 1. 2 Yes/No Questions 120 V-Final Order 4. 2. 2 121 4. 2. 2. 1 Relative Clauses and Adverbial Clauses 121 4. 2. 2. 2 Nonfinite Clauses 126 4. 3 Summary 129 5 Motivating Verb Movement 131 5. 0 Introduction 131 5. 1 The "Standard" Account 131 5. 2 Yiddish and Icelandic 136 5. 2. 1 Diesing (1990) 138 5. 2. 2 Weerman (1989) 141 5. 2. 3 Vikner (1991) 146 5.

Work on the movement of phrase categories, mostly Noun Phrases, has been a central element of syntactic theorizing almost since the earliest work on generative grammar. Work on the movement of lexical elements, heads, has been much less central until recent years. Verb movement is now, however, the center of current research in syntax. Parallel to the theoretical interest has been the attention focused on the description of verb-second languages and on the movement operations that place the verb in its "second" position. This volume represents the latest work from many of the leading researchers in an important field, and draws on analyses from a wide range of languages. It will have a significant impact on its field.

This volume presents a collection of articles reporting on new research carried out within the theoretical framework of generative grammar on the comparative syntax of the Germanic languages. Divided in four main sections, the book focuses on issues of subordination and complementation (with emphasis on German/Dutch and Danish), displacement phenomena discussed in relation with richness of morphology (with special attention to English, German/Dutch, and Norwegian, as well as presenting more general discussion of the issue), language variation and change (studying historical English syntax and Frisian contact dialects), and the syntax-semantics interface viewed from a Germanic perspective (addressing ellipsis, reflexivity, and the behavior of quantifiers).