Interface restrictions on verb second

Abstract

This article presents two case studies concerning verb second (V2) in German. It investigates two different phenomena where the characteristic verb raising in German in blocked. The relevant data show clearly that the V2 rule is not blind with respect to the interfaces. It is not merely a syntactic movement rule whose output is interpreted by the phonological component on the one hand and by the conceptual-intentional system on the other. It is rather the case that both systems restrict V2, they have a direct influence on the verb getting to its final position. This article thus focuses on both sides of grammar: phonology on the one hand, and interpretation, meaning and semantics on the other. Hence, the present study is trying to balance out the interface restrictions on X⁰-raising – illustrated using verb second in German (and to a certain degree in French). It is shown that parsing strategies guide V2: phonological processing as well as interpretation-related parsing.