Chapter 6
Against V2 in Old Spanish
In this article, using rich data from 13th C. Spanish, it is argued that Old Spanish does not belong to any known V2 type of language, even the most flexible/relaxed attested type – the latter defined as mandatory verb movement from T-to-Fin/Force without the necessary raising of an XP to the preverbal field (as is the case in prototypical V2 languages such as German); neither does it constitute a new one for lack of evidence for formal movement of the verb to a C-related head. Instead, it is claimed that V2 effects in Old Spanish are due either because (i) verb movement is associated with some discourse effect or polarity; or, (ii) it is simply linear V2. Such V2 effects are trivially found in non-V2 languages and may also relate to rhetorical schemata and the discourse tradition.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Sources and methodology
- 3.Why Old Spanish is not like any other known V2 system
- 4.Why Old Spanish is not a new type of V2 with T-to-Force/Fin as the only requirement
- 5.The unsuccessful quest for V2 microcues in Old Spanish
- 6.Why Old Spanish V1 clauses cannot be underlying V2
- 7.Any instance of T-to-C in Old Spanish declaratives?
- 8.Clausal architecture in Old Spanish
- 9.Conclusions
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
Text references
-
References
References (116)
Text references
Alfonso X el sabio, Estoria de España I (Escorial: Monasterio Y.I.2) – General estoria IV (Roma: Vaticana Urb. Lat. 539)
Electronic Texts of Alfonso X: The Electronic Texts of the Prose Works of Alfonso X, el Sabio, ed. de Ll. Kasten, J. Nitti & W. Jonxis-Henkemans, Madison, Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1997 (CD-ROM).
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