Traces of History

In this project we have examined different reasons why the Germanic languages (with the exception of English) have retained a grammar where the finite verb occurs in second position of the clause - a so-called V2 grammer. The point of departure is that both Romance and Germanic languages had a V2 syntax in the Middle Ages. Subsequently, the Romance languages lost this configuration. The main finding is that the reasons that V2 may be retained are complex. One feature that makes V2 easier to retain is the presence of so-called resumptive structures (like the Norwegian "så"). Also the presence of an overt subject makes it easier to retain V2. However, it is not possible to identify one cause for the maintenance of V2. The research project has contributed to a greater understanding of the nature of V2 and of the different derivations that lead to this word order.

Prosjektet har ført til økt oppmerksomhet rundt V2. I dette prosjektet har det vært mye fokus på resumpsjon, noe som har hatt ringvirkninger i feltet. Med utgangspunkt i forskning som er gjort innenfor dette prosjektet har andre aktører invitert til workshops, og det vil komme en rekke publikasjoner rundt temaet i årene som kommer (en antologi har deadline denne sommeren og vil ventelig komme ut om ett til to år). Prosjektet peker klart mot en ny forskningsretning, nemlig forksning på V3 (altså V2-brudd). Gjennom prosjektet har det oppstått samarbeidsrelasjoner. Disse vil bli videreført og vil legge grunnlag for forskningssamarbeid i årene som kommer.

Historical linguistics has traditionally focused either on a synchronic description of a language during a certain period, or it has focused on changes that have taken place. This project aims at turning the perspective 180 degrees, and we ask the followi ng question: What characterizes structures that do not change? From a typological point of view, V2 is extremely rare and is only found in a few, dispersed languages outside the Germanic group. On the other hand, we know that a number of Romance languag es were V2 in the medieval period. Since the Middle Ages, V2 has been lost in all Romance languages with the exception of Rhaeto-Romance, whereas it has been retained in all Germanic languages with the exception of Modern English. This gives us the opport unity to use Modern English and Modern Rhaeto-Romance as a control group. When we define what the Germanic and Medieval Romance languages have in common, we must compare that to data from English and Rhaeto-Romance. Seven researchers and one PhD student will co-operate in investigating core questions related to V2. We will try to identify features that are linked to V2 and see to what extent V2 hinges on the presence of these. On the other hand, we want to see what elements of the old V2 grammar may be f ound as relics in the modern SV-languages. We have identified a set of hypotheses that will be at the center of our work. The main hypotheses are the following: - In order for V2 to be preserved, certain other key aspects of the language must be present . - V2 is shorthand for two different movement operations, and it is possible for a language to lose one or both properties.