Publication series :Linguistische Arbeiten
Author: Georg A. Kaiser
Publisher: De Gruyter
Publication year: 2002
E-ISBN: 9783110911640
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9783484304659
Subject:
Language: GER
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Description
The study engages with the theory that verb position change in most Romance languages is traceable to the (near total) loss of what was originally a strict, universally valid >verb-comes-second< rule. This assumption is refuted here on the basis (a) of a critical discussion of traditional and generative studies on the question and (b) of an empirical study by the author based on a diachronic comparison of Bible translations. These investigations reveal that, contrary to previous suppositions, the Romance languages (with the exception of Rhaeto-Romanic) should invariably be analyzed as non-"verb-second" languages.
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