Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages [Paperback]

This book is the study of two different kinds of variation across the Germanic languages. One involves the position of the finite verb, and the other the possible positions of the logical subject in constructions with expletive (or dummy ) subjects. The book applies the theory of Principles-and-Parameters to the study of comparative syntax. Several languages are considered, including less frequently discussed ones like Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, and Yiddish.

An important contribution to research on empirical and analytical issues in the center of theoretical debate. The scholarship is copiously, carefully, and clearly presented and is scrupulously up-to-date and thorough. --Ken Safir,Rutgers University