Reading for Th 3/22 & Tu 3/27: Santorini & Kroch, Chap. 14, Fischer & van der Wurff §3.5

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There are two readings for this Thursday, 3/22 and next Tuesday, 3/27:

Chapter 14 (“The Verb-Second (V2) Phenomenon”) of Santorini, Beatrice & Anthony Kroch. 2007-. The Syntax of Natural Language: An Online Introduction Using the Trees Program.

Section 3.5 (“Word Order”) of Fischer, Olga & Wim van der Wurff. 2006. Syntax. In A History of the English Language, R. Hogg & D. Denison (eds), 109-198. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The first reading is available at the following link (links to individual chapters can be found on the left side of the homepage):

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook

The second can be downloaded from the Readings section of this website.

Both of them deal with the following, closely related topics, which will form the basis of our discussions for the next few days:

  • the canonical word order in embedded and main clauses amongst the Germanic languages
  • changes in the word order in embedded and main clauses throughout the history of English
  • the overall relation of modern English word order to that found in the other Germanic languages