Verb-Second
Verb-Second (or V2), in syntax, is the effect
that in some Germanic languages (notably Dutch and German),
the second constituent of declarative main clauses is always a verb,
while this is not necessarily the case in other types of clauses.
The Verb-Second effect is clearly demonstrated
in the following Dutch sentences:
ik las gisteren dit boek
I read yesterday this book
"Yesterday I read this book."
gisteren las ik dit boek
yesterday read I this book
"Yesterday I read this book."
dit boek las ik gisteren
this book read I yesterday
"Yesterday I read this book."
It may seem that the verb is in the third position in the last sentence,
but it is the second constituent; the first constituent is
[DP dit boek]
Note the contrast with the following embedded clauses:
het boek, dat ik gisteren las
the book, that I yesterday read
"the book I read yesterday"
ik zei dat ik gisteren dit boek las I said that I yesterday this book read
"I said I read this book yesterday."
Similar examples can be given for German.
The usual analysis of the Verb-Second phenomenon is
that the "normal" position of the verb is at the end of the clause
( SOV) and that in main clauses,
the inflected verb moves to the second position.
This is supported by the fact that in sentences with
verb clusters, only the generative grammar
