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In:Historical Linguistics 2023: Selected papers from the 26th International Conference on Historical Linguistics,Heidelberg, 4-8 September 2023
Edited by Jadranka Gvozdanović
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 371] 2026
► pp. 158–179

The diachrony of V2/V3 alternations in English

Interaction between syntax and pragmatics

 | Radboud University Nijmegen
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Present-day English stands out in the Germanic context in that Verb Second (V2) word order in main clauses is restricted to auxiliaries in wh-questions (Why did you go there?) and in clauses with an emphatic initial negative constituent (Never would I do such a thing!). Early English (pre-1600) showed several types of alternation in the position of finite verbs, for lexical verbs and pre-auxiliaries alike. This chapter identifies three patterns by their word orders and the diagnostics for their syntactic structures, showing that they are in different ways the result of syntactic reanalysis resulting from pragmatic levelling and from prosodic developments. This chapter will trace the pathways of change over the Middle English period leading to the parametric changes that led to the restriction of V2 to auxiliaries in questions and negative-initial clauses, and its loss in other patterns.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The structure of V2-like patterns in Old English
    • 2.1V to Force movement in Old English (‘type 1’)
    • 2.2V to Fin movement and the main/embedded asymmetry (‘type 2’)
    • 2.3Type 3 Unaccusative inversion
    • 2.4Interim summary
  • 3.FinP and the Middle English development of V2
    • 3.1The development of type 1
    • 3.2The development of type 2
    • 3.3FinP and the development of type 2
    • 3.4The IS status of (preverbal) subjects
  • 4.Summary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (40)
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