Abstract
Abstract In this paper I will attempt to give a unified explanation of the loss of verb second in English and French during the Middle Ages. Prior to the loss of verb second, both languages had developed a grammar with verb second SVO, and subject clitics; in such a grammar, there are very few signs which un ambiguously indicate verb second. The hypothesis I will defend in this paper is that the existence of such a stage triggered the loss of verb second, and that certain differences between Modern French and Modern English resulted from the loss of verb second in combination with the fact that Infl was “weak” in English but not in French at the time of the word order change.
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