ABSTRACT
This chapter takes as its starting point the discussion in 9.2, which has shown that finite verbs can be found in basically two positions: the clause-final position in embedded clauses and the verb-first/second position in main clauses; the latter position is usually filled by a complementizer such as dat ‘that’ in embedded clauses.
(1)
Marie zegt [dat Jan het boek op dit moment leest].
Marie says that Jan the book at this moment reads
‘Marie says that Jan is reading the book at this moment.’
Op dit moment leest Jan het boek.
at this moment reads Jan the book
‘At this moment, Jan is reading the book.’
Based on these two positions, the clause can be divided into three topological fields: the clause-initial position, the middle field, and the postverbal field. The core observation is that complementizers and finite verbs compete for the C-position; since embedded clauses are typically introduced by a complementizer, °verb-second is usually restricted to main clauses; cf. Section 10.1.(2) A bracketed syntactic structure shows CP, C, TP, T, XP, X, and VP, V arranged with ellipses, with labels indicating “Clause-initial position” above C, “Verb second and complementizer position” below C, “Middle field” spanning TP and XP, “Clause-final verb position” below V, and “Postverbal field” above the final section. https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781042003709/8bdfb7df-a729-48eb-b71e-838f86becb6e/content/fig0022.jpg"/>
The C(omplementizer) and T(ense) positions are functional heads that contain features relevant to the interpretation of the clause. The features of the C-position provide information about the illocutionary force of the expression, e.g. whether it is an assertion or a question. The T-position provides temporal information about the clause, more precisely whether the °eventuality referred to by the clause is located in the present-tense or the past-tense domain; cf. Section 1.5.1. There are other such positions in the clause, which we have indicated by X, which may provide further information (e.g. whether the clause is positive or negative). These heads are typically phonetically empty (or contain an affix) and can be a landing site for verb movement. Section 9.1 has argued that languages may differ in the placement of the finite verb: C, T, or some other °head X, and we will see later that there are reasons to assume that in Dutch subject-initial main clauses the verb is not in C but in T; cf. Section 11.1, sub V and VI.