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Re: V2

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Tuesday, November 16, 1999, 0:11
Daniel Calegari wrote:
> My mother language is portughese, a V2 language, I think. > Ontem ele FOI ao cinema. / Ele FOI ontem ao cinema / Ele FOI ao cinem=
a
> ONTEM. > Yesterday he WENT to movies. He WENT yesterday to movies. He WENT to > movies yesterday.
No. If it were V2, you'd have to say: Ontem FOI ele ao cimema Yesterday WENT he to the movies. That is, only ONE constituent before the verb, whereas, "Ontem ele FOI ao cinema" has two constituents (yesterday and he) before the verb.
> Always V2, or better, the mostly V2.
Not really. Portuguese is mostly SVO, which means that the verb has a tendency to be second as a natural consequence of that order. But, since the adverb can go before the verb without moving the subject.
> Reading english texts I found also the V2 order. Only it isn=B4t if you > consider the Adv the modifies the Verb an element to count... > But in portughese, also english, there are others constructions.
But the adverb IS a constituent. V2 means that the verb is the second element INCLUDING adverbs. --=20 "Old linguists never die - they just come to voiceless stops." - anonymous http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor