The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

110 The syntax of early EnglishSuch examples cannot be treated on a par with V-movement in main clauses,since both subject and object precede the finite verb.4.3 The position of the finite verb: Verb-Second?As we have seen, the positioning of the finite verb in Old English mainclauses suggests strongly that Old English word order is subject to somevariant of what has come to be called the Verb-Second constraint. Asobserved above, this is a phenomenon that is found in some form in most ofthe present-day Germanic languages; it is therefore useful at this point to considerhow it is analysed for these languages. After all, since Old English is adead language for which we have access only to textual evidence, it is importantto know as much as possible about the scope of variation with respect toVerb-Second in the present-day languages, for which we also have access tonative speaker intuitions. This is the task of the next subsection. After thesegeneral considerations, we will turn to analyses of Old English ‘Verb-Second’as presented in the literature, introducing further detailed data where they arerelevant for the argument.4.3.1 Verb-Second in present-day GermanicVerb-Second in the present-day Germanic languages is a process thattakes place regardless of the basic sentence structure (OV or VO). It frontsVfin to presentential position in all types of root clause, whether declarative,interrogative or imperative. One of the core characteristics of Verb-Second inthis sense is the fact that it is largely restricted to main clauses, as we see in thefollowing examples from German:(27) a Er hat ihn gestern gesehenhe has him yesterday seenb. Gestern hat er ihn gesehenyesterday has he him seenc. . . . dass er ihn gestern gesehen hatthat he him yesterday seen hasd. *. . . dass gestern hat er ihn gesehenthat yesterday has he him seene. *. . . dass hat er ihn gestern gesehenthat has he him yesterday seen‘. . . He saw him yesterday’The usual analysis of these facts is as follows: in (27a–b) the finite verb isfronted with respect to the position of the non-finite verb, which in German