On what comes first in a verb-second language

Abstract

Most Germanic languages display verb-second (V2) order. This paper addresses two fundamental, but open questions about V2 clauses: first, whether there are grammatical restrictions on what occupies initial position in declarative V2 clauses and, second, whether subject-initial V2 clauses have the same structure as non-subject-initial ones. Based on the distribution of an overt VP anaphor I argue that, in Danish at least, there are restrictions on what comes first in declarative V2 clauses, contra common perceptions, and that some subject-initial V2 clauses have a different, smaller structure than non-subject-initial V2 clauses, elaborating on proposals by Travis (1984) and Zwart (1991). These findings offer a new understanding of the relationship between information structure and V2 syntax. Where other languages have dedicated positions for particular information structural functions, Danish has a single position (Specifier of CP), which is restricted to information-structurally distinguished elements, but not dedicated to any particular information-structural function. A corollary is that information-structurally undifferentiated V2 clauses are smaller than CP and, therefore, subject initial. This analysis captures some initially surprising word

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