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Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 42:5 (2025) ► pp.594–645

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A long farewell

What the loss of V2 made briefly visible

ORCiD logo with link | Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main | Università degli studi di Padova
ORCiD logo with link | Université de Caen Normandie
ORCiD logo with link | Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
ORCiD logo with link | Université de Caen Normandie
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

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Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Goethe University Frankfurt.

Published online: 29 July 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.24003.pol
Abstract
The verb second word order (V2) is known to have been present in some Medieval Romance languages, and to have been lost. The loss is however a gradual process that we propose to relate to the decreasing height of the verb movement in the left periphery through the Medieval period: whereas in the initial period the verb could move to a high position (CP Topic/Focus projection), in the final period only lower peripheral positions are accessible. This means that the ongoing change will make visible constructions involving verb movement to a lower position. Such constructions are studied here in parallel texts calibrated for provenance and text type from two Romance languages for the period from the beginning of the 14th century to the 16th century. More specifically, we investigate Participle and Infinitive Fronting in French and Venetian, showing that these structures involve low movement and correlate with a V2 of the low type.
Abstract (French)
On sait que le verbe en deuxième position (V2) était une règle opérative dans certaines langues romanes médiévales qui l’ont subséquemment perdue. Cette perte s’est fait progressivement, ce que nous associons à la diminution graduelle de la hauteur du verbe dans la périphérie gauche au cours du Moyen Âge: alors que le verbe pouvait initialement être déplacé vers une position haute (projection CP Topic/Focus), seules les positions périphériques inférieures sont ultérieurement accessibles. Cela signifie que le changement en cours révèle des constructions dans lesquelles le verbe est déplacé vers une position inférieure. De telles constructions sont examinées ici dans deux langues romanes pour la période du début du XIVe au XVIe siècle, en utilisant des données parallèles calibrées selon la provenance et le type de texte. Plus précisément, nous examinons l’antéposition de participes et d’infinitifs en français et en vénitien, et montrons que ces structures impliquent un faible mouvement et sont en corrélation avec un verbe dans position inférieure de la périphérie gauche.
Abstract (German)
Es ist bekannt, dass die Verbzweitstellung (V2) in einigen mittelalterlichen romanischen Sprachen vorhanden war und verloren gegangen ist. Der Verlust ist jedoch ein allmählicher Prozess, den wir mit der abnehmenden Höhe der Verbverschiebung in der linken Peripherie im Laufe des Mittelalters in Verbindung bringen: Während das Verb in der Anfangsphase an eine hohe Position verschoben werden konnte (CP Topic/Focus-Projektion), sind in der Endphase nur noch niedrigere periphere Positionen zugänglich. Das bedeutet, dass der laufende Wandel Konstruktionen sichtbar macht, bei denen das Verb in eine niedrigere Position verschoben wird. Solche Konstruktionen werden hier in parallelen, auf Provenienz und Textart geeichten Texten aus zwei romanischen Sprachen für den Zeitraum vom Beginn des 14. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert untersucht. Im Einzelnen untersuchen wir Partizip und Infinitiv Fronting im Französischen und im Venezianischen und zeigen, dass diese Strukturen eine niedrige Bewegung beinhalten und mit einem V2 des niedrigen Typs korrelieren.
Article outline
  • 1.Detecting types of verb second syntax
  • 2.Corpus and methodology
  • 3.The type of V2 of early Old Venetian and Old and Middle French
    • 3.1Verb position
    • 3.2Subject inversion, null subjects, and clitics
    • 3.3The typology of XPs involved in V3 configurations
  • 4.Fronting: the Venetian and French data
  • 5.Fronting as low phrasal movement
  • 6.The relation between Fronting and low V2
  • 7.Motivation for the movement
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Statement of author contribution
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations used
  • References
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Cited by one other publication

Kang, Dong Hyun
2025. Demystifying “Stylistic Fronting” in Medieval French. Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics 11:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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