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Chapter 4. Conditional inversion and types of parametric change

  • Theresa Biberauer and Ian Roberts
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Word Order Change in Acquisition and Language Contact
This chapter is in the book Word Order Change in Acquisition and Language Contact

Abstract

We document a case of change from a mesoparameter to a microparameter to a nanoparameter involving Conditional Inversion (CI) in English. What has changed since Old English is the range of elements affected by T-to-C movement, and how it relates to other forms of head-movement into the C-field. In Old English, CI was part of the verb-second (V2) system. English lost V2 in the 15th century, but “residual V2”, including CI, survived. In the Early Modern period, movement of lexical verbs to T was lost; from this period on, only auxiliaries undergo CI, again in line with interrogative inversion. CI applied to all auxiliaries, until the mid-19th century. In contemporary English, CI is restricted to had, should and were.

Abstract

We document a case of change from a mesoparameter to a microparameter to a nanoparameter involving Conditional Inversion (CI) in English. What has changed since Old English is the range of elements affected by T-to-C movement, and how it relates to other forms of head-movement into the C-field. In Old English, CI was part of the verb-second (V2) system. English lost V2 in the 15th century, but “residual V2”, including CI, survived. In the Early Modern period, movement of lexical verbs to T was lost; from this period on, only auxiliaries undergo CI, again in line with interrogative inversion. CI applied to all auxiliaries, until the mid-19th century. In contemporary English, CI is restricted to had, should and were.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Grammar change and information structure
  6. Chapter 2. From OV to VO in English 9
  7. Chapter 3. Word order and verb movement in Norwegian wh-questions 35
  8. Chapter 4. Conditional inversion and types of parametric change 57
  9. Chapter 5. Optional V2 in modern Afrikaans 79
  10. Part II. The first position in a Verb-Second language
  11. Chapter 6. The information status of late subjects in passive main clauses in Old English 103
  12. Chapter 7. Position-related subject properties change in English 127
  13. Chapter 8. Split coordination in Early English 155
  14. Part III. Verb-Second effects
  15. Chapter 9. Beowulf and Old English metre 187
  16. Chapter 10. The rise and fall of the passive auxiliary weorðan in the history of English 213
  17. Chapter 11. What comes second 241
  18. Part IV. Particles in diachrony
  19. Chapter 12. Verb particle combinations and word order change in Dutch-lexifier creole languages 265
  20. Chapter 13. Parts and particles 291
  21. Chapter 14. Exploring the role of information structure in the word order variation of Old English verb-particle combinations 311
  22. Part V. Contrasting V2 and Non-V2 information structure
  23. Chapter 15. The EFL teacher's nightmare 337
  24. Chapter 16. Common framework, local context, local anchors 353
  25. Index 371
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.243.04rob

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Grammar change and information structure
  6. Chapter 2. From OV to VO in English 9
  7. Chapter 3. Word order and verb movement in Norwegian wh-questions 35
  8. Chapter 4. Conditional inversion and types of parametric change 57
  9. Chapter 5. Optional V2 in modern Afrikaans 79
  10. Part II. The first position in a Verb-Second language
  11. Chapter 6. The information status of late subjects in passive main clauses in Old English 103
  12. Chapter 7. Position-related subject properties change in English 127
  13. Chapter 8. Split coordination in Early English 155
  14. Part III. Verb-Second effects
  15. Chapter 9. Beowulf and Old English metre 187
  16. Chapter 10. The rise and fall of the passive auxiliary weorðan in the history of English 213
  17. Chapter 11. What comes second 241
  18. Part IV. Particles in diachrony
  19. Chapter 12. Verb particle combinations and word order change in Dutch-lexifier creole languages 265
  20. Chapter 13. Parts and particles 291
  21. Chapter 14. Exploring the role of information structure in the word order variation of Old English verb-particle combinations 311
  22. Part V. Contrasting V2 and Non-V2 information structure
  23. Chapter 15. The EFL teacher's nightmare 337
  24. Chapter 16. Common framework, local context, local anchors 353
  25. Index 371
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