Full V2, no V2, residual V2

Abstract

This paper presents a new phase-based theory of verb-second and indeed a new model of the left periphery. I argue that V-to-C movement of the verb to the phase head Fin0 has profound repercussions on clausal syntax which explains well-known differences between Modern Germanic V2 languages and Modern Romance non-V2 languages with respect to topicalisation. I also explore how the proposed analysis can account for the linear restriction on the prefield in V2 languages as well as the phenomenon of ‘residual verb second’ in otherwise non-V2 languages like Modern Romance.