Word order change, architecture and interfaces: Evidence from the development of V to C movement in the history of English

We present a novel analysis of the development of one type of Verb Second (V2) word order over the Middle English period and its loss over the early Modern English period. The analysis is based on a fine-grained and novel corpus study, which shows that multiple factors play a role in this development, and that it involves interaction between syntax, information structure/pragmatics and prosody. We focus on subject-finite inversion of pronominal subjects, following an adverb (þa, þonne in Old English, extending to other adverbs over the Middle English periods), isolating those contexts for which it is generally accepted that they involve finite verb movement to the highest functional head in the C-domain (ForceP) of the main clause. Middle English first sees the extension of this type of V2 to inversion following other short originally English adverbs that are discourse-linking: here, there, yet and thus. This extension primarily involves short finite verbs such as auxiliaries and monosyllabic lexical verbs. V2 following adverbs is lost over the early Modern period. We present novel data and arguments to show that this loss largely coincides with the grammaticalization of modals and other auxiliaries, and that it is triggered by metrical changes in the definition of the English prosodic word: as long as the mostly unstressed adverb could co-occur with a stressed monosyllabic finite verb and the postverbal subject pronoun could be integrated into the prosodic word of the auxiliary, inversion was fine. Primary stress on the auxiliary was lost in the final stages of the auxiliation process, yielding an unheaded foot, violating prosodic requirements. In contrast, this type of V2 could be maintained in questions and focal initial negatives such as Never would I do such a thing! because the initial constituent carries primary stress in these contexts, heading the metrical foot.