DGfS-Jahrestagung 2012

It is well-known that there is pervasive variation in the order of verbal elements in West-Germanic verb clusters, cross-linguistically, dialectally as well as idiolectally. The central questions we will address are the following:

1. Which orders are attested?
2. How can the various orders be derived?
3. Can the variation be related to independent properties?

Ad 1. We will first show that of the logically possible six orders in 3-verb-clusters, only 4 actually occur. We will present new evidence that the 231 orders that putatively occur with certain motion verbs (Barbiers 2005) are the result of a misanalysis.
Ad 2. We will show that none of the various mechanisms that have been proposed to derive the various cluster orders derives exactly the four attested orders; some are too restrictive, while others overgenerate. This suggests that a completely different approach should be taken.
Ad 3. We will test the hypothesis by Barbiers & Bennis (2010) who argue for Dutch that there are basically just two orders, 123 and 321. All other orders are claimed to result from the fact that the participle/infinitive is non-verbal and therefore cannot appear cluster-finally. While inflected participles in the so-called ‘double perfect’ in some dialects support this approach, it cannot be extended to all cluster types.
Proposal: a post-syntactic account. We will propose a new approach to cluster-formation that is based on inversion of linearly adjacent verbal elements at PF, based on an ascending base-structure. One particularly recalcitrant issue will be the 312 order, which is often analyzed as involving XP-movement of the infinitive/participle. Alemannic data show, however, that the 312 order disallows Verb Projection raising, which argues for cluster formation. Where the variation cannot be related to non-verbal properties of participles/infinitives, it will be handled by linearization statements.

Barbiers, Sjef (2005): Word order variation in three verb clusters and the division of labor between generative linguistics and sociolinguistics. In: Cornips, Leonie & Karen P. Corrigan: Syntax and Variation. Reconciling the Biological and the Social. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 233–264.

Barbiers, Sjef & Hans Bennis (2010): De plaats van het werkwoord in zuid en noord. In: de Caluwe, Johan & Jacques van Keymeulen: Voor Magda. Artikelen voor Magda Devos bij haar afscheid van de Universiteit Gent. Gent: Academia Press, 25–42.