Introduction

This paper focuses on some word-order developments in the Middle English period and explores whether these developments might have been influenced by contact with Anglo-Norman and/or Continental French. The issues to be considered are related to what has generally been referred to (somewhat misleadingly) as the Verb Second (V2) phenomenon. As extensively discussed in the literature, Old English exhibits frequent subject–verb inversion when a non-subject is in clause-initial position. Such word orders are reminiscent of the V2 phenomenon as found in all the modern Germanic languages with the exception of present-day English. In the Middle English period, the Old English subject–verb inversion syntax is lost to a large extent, but the development exhibits certain peculiarities that have remained unexplained. The aim of this article is to consider whether some or all of these peculiarities could be related to Anglo-Norman/French influence.

The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 provides a brief description of the subject–verb inversion syntax found in Old and Early Middle English. In section 3, the developments in Middle English are discussed and four open issues with respect to these developments are identified. Section 4 then considers the plausibility of addressing these issues with reference to Anglo- Norman/French influence. It is argued that for three of these questions, contact with Anglo-Norman/French may have played a role whereas such an account seems less likely for the fourth issue. Finally, in section 5, some further points are discussed that bear on the question of Anglo-Norman/French influence on Middle English syntax, and section 6 summarises the paper.

Subject–verb inversion in Old and Early Middle English

The V2 property as found in all the modern Germanic languages except present-day English is characterised by the general occurrence of the finite verb right after the clause-initial constituent (i.e. in second position) regardless of what the nature of this constituent is.1 A consequence of this is that when the clause-initial constituent is not a subject the order of the subject and the finite verb is inverted, which leads to the characteristic inversion property of V2 languages.

In Old and Early Middle English, cases of subject–verb inversion can regularly be found when some other constituent is fronted (see for example van Kemenade 1987, Pintzuk 1999). This is illustrated in (1) (fronted constituent in brackets, finite verb in bold print, subject in italics).