#3873. Parametric stability and word order change: The case of middle French

August 2026publication date
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Journal’s subject area:
Language and Linguistics;
Linguistics and Language;
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Abstract:
This article presents a novel empirical analysis of the word-order properties of Middle French, which were analysed extensively in the 1990s but have not been discussed recently in light of the latest theoretical develop-ments. Based on novel data, it is argued that Middle French is a form of V2 system. Whilst the evidence for V2 in the three texts examined is robust, the texts attest sev-eral changes in progress which, it is argued, eventually lead to the reanalysis of French as an SVO system. The article concludes with a discussion of why, in terms of formal parameter theory, the core V2 property remained so stable in the history of French across nearly a millennium, when it was also subject to extensive diachronic microvariation across centuries.
Keywords:
Middle French; V2 system; word-order properties; diachronic microvariation

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