Re: V2 languages

Irina Rempt-Drijfhout wrote:
>
> On Sat, 29 May 1999, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
>
> > Both Breton & Welsh BTW can also front, i.e. focus, the verb.  They do this
> > by having the verbnoun (roughly 'infinitive') first and having the verb "to
> > do" as the finite verb in seconf position.
>
> My Welsh needs a good airing, but I seem to remember that it's
> straight OSV:
>
>    ennillodd Dafydd  y  goron
>    won       Dafydd the crown
>    "Dafydd won the crown"
You mean VSO, Irina.  The verb is initial in Welsh.  In "normal"
sentences, the verb comes first, often the copula in the periphrastic
construction, and in formal W. with a preverbal particle:  Y mai'r
cath wedi scrapo Johnny Bach.   "Is the cat after scratching
little Johnny," i.e., "the cat scratched Johnny bach."  What
you have above is an alternative construction in Welsh where the verb
is conjugated instead of having the cop. + subj. + verbal noun.
Notice that it still precedes the subject.
>
> If you want to front something else than the verb (i.e. use it as
> focus), *then* you need something to resume it, such as the relarive
> pronoun:
>
>    Dafydd  a  ennillodd  y  goron
>    Dafydd REL won       the crown
>    "It was Dafydd who won the crown"
Yes.  But this is considered an "abnormal" sentence, hence the relative.


Sally