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Re: V2

From:Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>
Date:Saturday, November 13, 1999, 23:34
Nik Taylor wrote:

> Dale Morris wrote: > > > > jmpearson@FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU writes: > > > > > To give some examples, if English were V2, then each of the following > > > sentences would be grammatical (here square brackets are used to indicate > > > constituents): > > Actually, there are a few vestiges of V2 in English, as in "Never have I > heard such nonsense" (compare *"Never I have heard ..."), but, of > course, this is only in a few cases.
It seems to be invoked for added emphasis in conjuction with adverbials. Compare: (a) I would have spoken to him then. _Then_ I would have spoken to him. Only _then_ would I have spoken to him. *Only then I would have spoken to him (b) I knew then that... Only then did I know that... *Only then I knew that... (This last example from (b) would, though, be grammatical for me in other contexts, with a concordant shift in meaning) So, the adverbs seem to also trigger Do-support, as with questions and negations. ====================================== Tom Wier <artabanos@...> ICQ#: 4315704 AIM: Deuterotom Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/> "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero." Non cuicumque datum est habere nasum. It is not given to just anyone to have a nose. -- Martial ======================================