V2 word order
In syntax, verb-second (V2) word order is a sentence structure in which the main verb (the finite verb) of a sentence or a clause is placed in the clause's second position, so that the verb is preceded by a single word or group of words (a single constituent). Examples of V2 in English include (brackets indicating a single constituent): If English used V2 in all situations, the following would be correct: V2 word order is common in the Germanic languages and is also found in Northeast Caucasian Ingush, Uto-Aztecan O'odham, and fragmentarily in Romance  Sursilvan (a Rhaeto-Romansh variety) and Finno-Ugric Estonian. Of the Germanic family, English is exceptional in having predominantly SVO order instead of V2, although there are vestiges of the V2 phenomenon. Most Germanic languages do not normally use V2 order in embedded clauses, with a few exceptions. In particular, German, Dutch, and Afrikaans revert to VF (verb final) word order after a complementizer; Yiddish and Icelandic do, however, allow V2 in all declarative clauses: main, embedded, and subordinate. Kashmiri (an Indo-Aryan language) has V2 in 'declarative content clauses' but VF order in relative clauses. Examples of verb second  (V2). The example sentences in (1) from German illustrate the V2 principle, which allows any constituent to occupy the first position as long as the second position is occupied by the finite verb. Sentences (1a) through to (1d) have the finite verb "spielten" 'played' in second position, with various constituents occupying the first position: in (1a) the subject is in first position; in (1b) the object is; in (1c) the temporal modifier is in first position; and in (1d) the locative modifier is in first position. Sentences (1e) and (1f) are ungrammatical because the finite verb no longer appears in  the second position. (An asterisk (*) indicates that an example is grammatically unacceptable.) Classical accounts of verb second (V2). In major theoretical research on V2 properties, researchers discussed that verb-final orders found in German and Dutch embedded clauses suggest that there is an underlying SOV order with specific syntactic movements rules that changes the underlying SOV order to derive a surface form where the finite verb is in the second position of the clause. We first see a “verb preposing’ rule which moves the finite verb to the left most position in sentence, then a “constituent preposing” rule which moves  a constituent in front of the finite verb. Following these two rules will always result with the finite verb in second position. Non-finite verbs and embedded clauses. Non-finite verbs. The V2 principle regulates the position of finite verbs only; its influence on non-finite verbs (infinitives, participles, etc.) is indirect. Non-finite verbs in V2 languages appear in varying positions depending on the language. In German and Dutch, for instance, non-finite verbs appear after the object (if one is present) in clause final position in main clauses (OV order). Swedish and Icelandic, in contrast, position non-finite  verbs after the finite verb but before the object (if one is present) (VO order). That is, V2 operates on only the finite verb. V2 in Embedded clauses. Germanic languages vary in the application of V2 order in embedded clauses. They fall into three groups. V2 in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese. In these languages, the word order of clauses is generally fixed in two patterns of conventionally numbered positions. Both end with positions for (5) non-finite verb forms, (6) objects, and (7), adverbials. In main clauses, the V2 constraint holds. The finite verb must be in position (2) and  sentence adverbs in position (4). The latter include words with meanings such as 'not' and 'always'. The subject may be position (1), but when a topical expression occupies the position, the subject is in position (3). In embedded clauses, the V2 constraint is absent. After the conjunction, the subject must immediately follow; it cannot be replaced by a topical expression. Thus, the first four positions are in the fixed order (1) conjunction, (2) subject, (3) sentence adverb, (4) finite verb The position of the sentence adverbs is important to those theorists who see them as marking the start of  a large constituent within the clause. Thus the finite verb is seen as inside that constituent in embedded clauses, but outside that constituent in V2 main clauses. Swedish Danish So-called Perkerdansk is an example of a variety that does not follow the above. Norwegian Faroese Unlike continental Scandinavian languages, the sentence adverb may either precede or follow the finite verb in embedded clauses. A (3a) slot is inserted here for the following sentence adverb alternative. V2 in German. In main clauses, the V2 constraint holds. As with other Germanic languages, the finite verb must be in the second position . However, any non-finite forms must be in final position. The subject may be in the first position, but when a topical expression occupies the position, the subject follows the finite verb. In embedded clauses, the V2 constraint does not hold. The finite verb form must be adjacent to any non-finite at the end of the clause. German grammarians traditionally divide sentences into fields. Subordinate clauses preceding the main clause are said to be in the first field (Vorfeld), clauses following the main clause in the final field (Nachfeld). The central field (Mittelfeld) contains most or all of a  clause, and is bounded by left bracket (Linke Satzklammer) and right bracket (Rechte Satzklammer) positions. In main clauses, the initial element (subject or topical expression) is said to be located in the first field, the V2 finite verb form in the left bracket, and any non-finite verb forms in the right bracket.In embedded clauses, the conjunction is said to be located in the left bracket, and the verb forms in the right bracket. In German embedded clauses, a finite verb form follows any non-finite forms. German V2 in Dutch and Afrikaans. V2 word order is used in  main clauses, the finite verb must be in the second position. However, in subordinate clauses two word orders are possible for the verb clusters. Main clauses: Dutch This analysis suggests a close parallel between the V2 finite form in main clauses and the conjunctions in embedded clauses. Each is seen as an introduction to its clause-type, a function which some modern scholars have equated with the notion of specifier. The analysis is supported in spoken Dutch by the placement of clitic pronoun subjects. Forms such as ze cannot stand alone, unlike the full-form equivalent zij. The words  to which they may be attached are those same introduction words: the V2 form in a main clause, or the conjunction in an embedded clause. Subordinate clauses: In Dutch subordinate clauses two word orders are possible for the verb clusters and are referred to as the "red": "omdat ik heb gewerkt", "because I have worked": like in English, where the auxiliary verb precedes the past particle, and the "green": "omdat ik gewerkt heb," where the past particle precedes the auxiliary verb, "because I worked have": like in German. In Dutch, the green word order is the most used in speech , and the red is the most used in writing, particularly in journalistic texts, but the green is also used in writing as is the red in speech. Unlike in English however adjectives and adverbs must precede the verb: <nowiki>"dat het boek groen is"</nowiki>, "that the book green is". V2 in Icelandic and Yiddish. These languages freely allow V2 order in embedded clauses. Icelandic Two word-order patterns are largely similar to continental Scandinavian. However, in main clauses an extra slot is needed for when the front position is occupied by Það. In these clauses the subject follows any  sentence adverbs. In embedded clauses, sentence adverbs follow the finite verb (an optional order in Faroese). In more radical contrast with other Germanic languages, a third pattern exists for embedded clauses with the conjunction followed by the V2 order: front-finite verb-subject. Yiddish Unlike Standard German, Yiddish normally has verb forms before Objects (SVO order), and in embedded clauses has conjunction followed by V2 order. V2 in Root clauses. One type of embedded clause with V2 following the conjunction is found throughout the Germanic languages, although it is more common in some than it is others. These are termed  root clauses. They are declarative content clauses, the direct objects of so-called bridge verbs, which are understood to quote a statement. For that reason, they exhibit the V2 word order of the equivalent direct quotation. Danish Items other than the subject are allowed to appear in front position. Swedish Items other than the subject are occasionally allowed to appear in front position. Generally, the statement must be one with which the speaker agrees. This order is not possible with a statement with which the speaker does not agree. Norwegian German Root clause V2 order is possible only when the  conjunction dass is omitted. Compare the normal embed-clause order after dass Perspective effects on embedded V2. There are a limited number of V2 languages that can allow for embedded verb movement for a specific pragmatic effect similar to that of English. This is due to the perspective of the speaker. Languages such as German and Swedish have embedded verb second. The embedded verb second in these kinds of languages usually occur after ‘bridge verbs’. Based on an assertion theory, the perspective of a speaker is reaffirmed in embedded V2 clauses. A speaker’s sense of commitment to or responsibility  for V2 in embedded clauses is greater than a non-V2 in embedded clause. This is the result of V2 characteristics. As shown in the examples below, there is a greater commitment to the truth in the embedded clause when V2 is in place. Variations of V2. Variations of V2 order such as V1 (verb-initial word order), V3 and V4 orders are widely attested in many Early Germanic and Medieval Romance languages. These variations are possible in the languages however it is severely restricted to specific contexts. V1 word order. V1 (verb-initial word order) is a type of  structure that contains the finite verb as the initial clause element. In other words the verb appears before the subject and the object of the sentence. V3 word order. V3 (verb-third word order) is a variation of V2 in which the finite verb is in third position with two constituents preceding it. In V3, like in V2 word order, the constituents preceding the finite verb are not categorically restricted, as the constituents can be a DP, a PP, a CP and so on. V2 and Left Edge Filling Trigger (LEFT). V2 is fundamentally derived from a morphological obligatory exponence  effect at sentence level. The Left Edge Filling Trigger (LEFT) effects are usually seen in classical V2 languages such as Germanic languages and Old Romance languages. The Left Edge Filling Trigger is independently active in morphology as EPP effects are found in word-internal levels. The obligatory exponence derives from absolute displacement, ergative displacement and ergative doubling in inflectional morphology. In addition, second position rules in clitic second languages demonstrate post-syntactic rules of LEFT movement. Using the language Breton as an example, absence of a pre-tense expletive will allow for the LEFT to occur to avoid tense-first . The LEFT movement is free from syntactic rules which is evidence for a post-syntactic phenomenon. With the LEFT movement, V2 word order can be obtained as seen in the example below. In this Breton example, the finite head is phonetically realized and agrees with the category of the preceding element. The pre-tense “Bez” is used in front of the finite verb to obtain the V2 word order. (finite verb “nevo” is bolded). Syntactic Verb Second. It is said that V2 patterns are a syntactic phenomenon and therefore have certain environments where it can and cannot be tolerated . Syntactically, V2 requires a left-peripheral head (usually C) with an occupied specifier and paired with raising the highest verb-auxiliary to that head. V2 is usually analyzed as the co-occurrence of these requirements, which can also be referred to as "triggers". The left-peripheral head, which is a requirement that causes the effect of V2, sets further requirements on a phrase XP that occupies the initial position, so that this phrase XP may always have specific featural characteristics. V2 in English. Modern English differs greatly in word order from other modern Germanic languages, but earlier English shared many  similarities. For this reason, some scholars propose a description of Old English with V2 constraint as the norm. The history of English syntax is thus seen as a process of losing the constraint. Old English. In these examples, finite verb forms are in , non-finite verb forms are in and subjects are . Position of object. In examples "b", "c" and "d", the object of the clause precedes a non-finite verb form. Superficially, the structure is verb-subject-object- verb. To capture generalities, scholars of syntax and linguistic typology treat them as basically subject-object-verb (SOV) structure, modified by  the V2 constraint. Thus Old English is classified, to some extent, as an SOV language. However, example "a" represents a number of Old English clauses with object following a non-finite verb form, with the superficial structure verb-subject-verb object. A more substantial number of clauses contain a single finite verb form followed by an object, superficially verb-subject-object. Again, a generalisation is captured by describing these as subject–verb–object (SVO) modified by V2. Thus Old English can be described as intermediate between SOV languages (like German and Dutch) and SVO languages (like Swedish and Icelandic). Effect  of subject pronouns. When the subject of a clause was a personal pronoun, V2 did not always operate. However, V2 verb-subject inversion occurred without exception after a question word or the negative ne, and with few exceptions after þa even with pronominal subjects. Inversion of a subject pronoun also occurred regularly after a direct quotation. Embedded clauses. Embedded clauses with pronoun subjects were not subject to V2. Even with noun subjects, V2 inversion did not occur. Yes-No questions. In a similar clause pattern, the finite verb form of a yes-no question occupied the first position Middle English . Continuity. Early Middle English generally preserved V2 structure in clauses with nominal subjects. As in Old English, V2 inversion did not apply to clauses with pronoun subjects. Change. Late Middle English texts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries show increasing incidence of clauses without the inversion associated with V2. Negative clauses were no longer formed with ne (or na) as the first element. Inversion in negative clauses was attributable to other causes. Vestiges in Modern English. As in earlier periods, Modern English normally has subject-verb order in declarative clauses and inverted verb-subject order in interrogative clauses. However these  norms are observed irrespective of the number of clause elements preceding the verb. Classes of verbs in Modern English: auxiliary and lexical. Inversion in Old English sentences with a combination of two verbs could be described in terms of their finite and non-finite forms. The word which participated in inversion was the finite verb; the verb which retained its position relative to the object was the non-finite verb. In most types of Modern English clause, there are two verb forms, but the verbs are considered to belong to different syntactic classes. The verbs which participated in inversion have  evolved to form a class of auxiliary verbs which may mark tense, aspect and mood; the remaining majority of verbs with full semantic value are said to constitute the class of lexical verbs. The exceptional type of clause is that of declarative clause with a lexical verb in a present simple or past simple form. Questions. Like Yes/No questions, interrogative Wh- questions are regularly formed with inversion of subject and auxiliary. Present Simple and Past Simple questions are formed with the auxiliary do, a process known as do-support. With topic adverbs and adverbial phrases. In certain patterns similar  to Old and Middle English, inversion is possible. However, this is a matter of stylistic choice, unlike the constraint on interrogative clauses. negative or restrictive adverbial first comparative adverb or adjective first After the preceding classes of adverbial, only auxiliary verbs, not lexical verbs, participate in inversion locative or temporal adverb first prepositional phrase first After the two latter types of adverbial, only one-word lexical verb forms (Present Simple or Past Simple), not auxiliary verbs, participate in inversion, and only with noun-phrase subjects, not pronominal subjects. Direct quotations. When the object of a verb is a verbatim quotation , it may precede the verb, with a result similar to Old English V2. Such clauses are found in storytelling and in news reports. Declarative clauses without inversion. Corresponding to the above examples, the following clauses show the normal Modern English subject-verb order. Declarative equivalents Equivalents without topic fronting French. Modern French is a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language like other Romance languages (though Latin was a Subject-Object-Verb language). However, V2 constructions existed in Old French and were more common than in other early Romance language texts. It has been suggested that this may be due to influence  from the Germanic Frankish language. Modern French has vestiges of the V2 system similar to those found in modern English. The following sentences have been identified as possible examples of V2 syntax in Old French: Old French. Similarly to Modern French, Old French allows a range of constituents to precede the finite verb in the V2 position. Old Occitan. A language that is compared to Old French is Old Occitan, which is said to be the sister of Old French. Although the two languages are thought to be sister languages, Old Occitan exhibits a relaxed V2 whereas Old French has  a much more strict V2. However, the differences between the two languages extend past V2 and also differ in a variation of V2, which is V3. In both language varieties, occurrence of V3 can be triggered by the presence of an initial frame-setting clause or adverbial (1). Other languages. Kotgarhi and Kochi. In his 1976 three-volume study of two languages of Himachal Pradesh, Hendriksen reports on two intermediate cases: Kotgarhi and Kochi. Although neither language shows a regular V-2 pattern, they have evolved to the point that main and subordinate clauses differ in word order and auxiliaries may  separate from other parts of the verb: Hendriksen reports that relative clauses in Kochi show a greater tendency to have the finite verbal element in clause-final position than matrix clauses do (III:188). Ingush. In Ingush, "for main clauses, other than episode-initial and other all-new ones, verb-second order is most common. The verb, or the finite part of a compound verb or analytic tense form (i.e. the light verb or the auxiliary), follows the first word or phrase in the clause." O'odham. O'odham has relatively free V2 word order within clauses; for example, all of the following  sentences mean "the boy brands the pig": Despite the general freedom of sentence word order, O'odham is fairly strictly verb-second in its placement of the auxiliary verb (in the above sentences, it is "ʼo"; in the following it is "ʼañ"): Sursilvan. Among dialects of the Romansh, V2 word order is limited to Sursilvan, the insertion of entire phrases between auxiliary verbs and participles occurs, as in 'Cun Mariano Tschuor ha Augustin Beeli "discurriu" ' ('Mariano Tschuor has spoken with Augustin Beeli'), as compared to Engadinese 'Cun Rudolf Gasser ha "discurrü" Gion Peider Mischol' ('Rudolf Gasser has spoken with Gion Peider  Mischol'.) The constituent that is bounded by the auxiliary, "ha", and the participle, "discurriu", is known as a Satzklammer or 'verbal bracket'. Estonian. In Estonian, V2 word order is very frequent in the literate register, but less frequent in the spoken register. When V2 order does occur, it is found in main clauses, as illustrated in (1). Unlike Germanic V2 languages, Estonian has several instances where V2 word order is not attested in embedded clauses, such as wh-interrogatives (2), exclamatives (3), and non-subject-initial clauses (4). Welsh. In Welsh, V2 word order is found in Middle Welsh, but  not in Old and Modern Welsh which only has verb-initial order. Middle Welsh displays three characteristics of V2 grammar: As we can see in the examples of V2 in Welsh below, there is only one constituent preceding the finite verb, but any kind of constituent (such as a noun phrase NP, adverb phrase AP and preposition phrase PP) can occur in this position. Middle Welsh can also exhibit variations of V2 such as cases of V1 (verb-initial word order) and V3 orders. However, these variations are restricted to specific contexts such as in sentences that has impersonal verbs , imperatives, answers or direct responses to questions or commands and idiomatic sayings. It is also possible to have a preverbal particle preceding the verb in V2, however these kind of sentences are limited as well. Wymysorys. Wymysory is classified as a West-Germanic language, however it can exhibit various Slavonic characteristics. It is argued that Wymysorys enables its speaker to operate between two word order system that represent two forces driving the grammar of this language Germanic and Slavonic. The Germanic system is not as flexible and allows for V2 order to exist in it form while the Slavonic system  is relatively free. Due to the rigid word order in the Germanic system, the placement of the verb is determines by syntactic rules in which V2 word order is commonly respected. Wymysory, like with other languages that exhibit V2 word order, the finite verb is in second position with a constituent of any category preceding the verb such as DP, PP, AP and so on. Classical Portuguese. Compared to other Romance languages, the V2 word order has existed in Classical Portuguese a lot longer. Although Classical Portuguese is a V2 language, V1 occurred more frequently and as a result of  this, it is argued whether or not Classical Portuguese really is a V2-like language. However, Classical Portuguese is a relaxed V2 language, meaning V2 patterns coexist with its variations, which are V1 and/or V3. In the case of Classical Portuguese, there is a strong relationship between V1 and V2 due to V2 clauses being derived from V1 clauses. In languages, such as Classical Portuguese, where both V1 and V2 exist, both patterns depend on the movement of the verb to a high position of the CP layer, with the difference being whether or not a phrase is moved to  a preverbal position. Although V1 occurred more frequently in Classical Portuguese, V2 is the more frequent order found in matrix clauses. Post-verbal subjects may also occupy a high position in the clause and can precede VP adverbs. In (1) and (2), we can see that the adverb 'bem' can precede or proceed the post-verbal subject. In (2), the post-verbal subject is understood as an informational focus, but the same cannot be said for (1) because the difference of the positions determine how the subject is interpreted. Structural analysis of V2. Various structural analyses of V2 have  been developed, including within the model of dependency grammar and generative grammar. Structural analysis in dependency grammar. Dependency grammar (DG) can accommodate the V2 phenomenon simply by stipulating that one and only one constituent can be a predependent of the finite verb (i.e. a dependent which precedes its head) in declarative (matrix) clauses (in this, Dependency Grammar assumes only one clausal level and one position of the verb, instead of a distinction between a VP-internal and a higher clausal position of the verb as in Generative Grammar, cf. the next section). On this account, the V2 principle is violated  if the finite verb has more than one predependent or no predependent at all. The following DG structures of the first four German sentences above illustrate the analysis (the sentence means 'The kids play soccer in the park before school'): The finite verb "spielen" is the root of all clause structure. The V2 principle requires that this root have a single predependent, which it does in each of the four sentences. The four English sentences above involving the V2 phenomenon receive the following analyses: Structural analysis in generative grammar. In the theory of Generative Grammar, the verb second phenomenon has  been described as an application of X-bar theory. The combination of a first position for a phrase and a second position for a single verb has been identified as the combination of "specifier" and "head" of a phrase. The part after the finite verb is then the "complement". While the sentence structure of English is usually analysed in terms of three levels, CP, IP, and VP, in German linguistics the consensus has emerged that there is no IP in German. The VP (verb phrase) structure assigns position and functions to the arguments of the verb. Hence, this structure is  shaped by the grammatical properties of the V (verb) which heads the structure. The CP (complementizer phrase) structure incorporates the grammatical information which identifies the clause as declarative or interrogative, main or embedded. The structure is shaped by the abstract C (complementiser) which is considered the head of the structure. In embedded clauses the C position accommodates complementizers. In German declarative main clauses, C hosts the finite verb. Thus the V2 structure is analysed as In embedded clauses, the C position is occupied by a complementizer. In most Germanic languages (but not in Icelandic or Yiddish), this generally prevents the  finite verb from moving to C. This analysis does not provide a structure for the instances in some language of root clauses after bridge verbs. The solution is to allow verbs such as ved to accept a clause with a second (recursive) CP.