V2 to V1 in Welsh

The role of preverbal particles and fronted adverbials

Abstract

A peculiarity of V2 in Middle Welsh is the morphosyntactic marking of fronted constituents in positive declarative main clauses (PDMCs) using preverbal particles: 'a' for subjects or direct objects and 'y(d)' for adverbial or prepositional phrases. Unlike other medieval V2 languages which subsequently lost V2 and developed SVO, such as English and French, Welsh became VSO. In a formal analysis of the loss of V2 in Welsh, Willis (1998) argues that a widespread loss of both preverbal particles in the 16th century through phonological erosion was a key factor in the change, though does not provide corroborative quantitative data. Based on a corpus study of Early Modern Welsh (c.1550-c.1750), the present article shows that there is no evidence of a widespread loss of the preverbal particles 'a' and 'y(d)' by the end of the 16th century, only a partial and gradual decline in their use over a longer, more than two century period. There does seem, however, to be a link between the change in use and partial omission of 'y(d)' after fronted adverbial or prepositional phrases and the increase in use in Early Modern Welsh of a specific V1 construction, Absolute V1, where a finite verb comes in absolute-initial position in a PDMC.