Clause Type Asymmetries in Old English and the Syntax of Verb Movement

Old English (OE) exhibits main clause / subordinate clause word order asymmetries comparable to those found in modern West Germanic languages such as Dutch or German. Finite verbs generally occur near the beginning of a main clause whereas they tend to occur towards the end of subordinate clauses. Furthermore (in contrast to modern West Germanic), it has been observed that conjoined main clauses often have subordinate clause word order in OE. This paper addresses the question of how these clause type asymmetries can be analyzed. It is argued that the differences in verb placement across clause types can be accounted for by developing proposals made by Bobaljik and Thráinsson (1998) on verb movement in Icelandic