Re: THEORY: V2 word order (yet again)

On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 01:29:27 +1100, Tristan McLeay
<conlang@...> wrote:

> (Incidentally, if I was speaking a V2 language, would I've said:
>     As far as can I see, is this perfectly normal V2 word order...
Quite likely. In German, I would have rendered it as "Soweit ich sehen
kann, ist das eine ganz normale V2-Wortstellung"; contrast "Das ist
eine Wortstellung" without the initial clause. *"Soweit ich sehen
kann, das ist eine..." sounds very wrong to me.

Interesting, because typically subject-verb inversion marks questions,
and indeed an utterance beginning "Ist das eine ... Wortstellung"
would be interpreted as a question, I'd say. But with the clause in
front of it, it becomes a statement for me again. V2!

Similarly for other clauses, e.g. "Wenn du von der Arbeit kommst,
werde ich das Essen fertig haben" (By the time you come back from
work, "will I" have dinner ready) or "Da das Wetter mir zu kalt war,
blieb ich zu Hause" (Since the weather was too cold for my tastes,
"staid I" at home).

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
Watch the Reply-To!