Abstract
This article argues that the difference between English and Norwegian with respect to the presence of a complementizer in embedded subject questions is attributable to a larger difference between the two languages, namely that Norwegian is a verb second language while English is not. Verb second forces subject wh- phrases to move to the specifier of a higher projection in Norwegian. The movement creates the need for a complementizer. In English, there is no such pressure for subject wh- phrases to move. Therefore there is no need for a complementizer. The so called anti-*that- trace effects in Norwegian and their lack in English supports the use of ranked and violable constraints in an Optimality-Theoretic system.
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