Historical Changes in Verb-Second and Null Subjects from Old to Modern French

Abstract

This chapter discusses diachronic changes in the realization of verb-second (V2) and the distribution of null subject pronouns during the Old, Middle, and Modern French periods. In this account, the Constraint Demotion Algorithm (CDA) of Tesar & Smolensky (1996) is argued to be the mechanism of grammatical change, implemented in response to predisposing factors responsible for the actuation of change. This is different from previous accounts that have not distinguished between actuation, transmission, and the actual restructuring of the grammatical system. It is argued here that demotion of two constraints (OBLIGATORY HEAD and DROPTOPIC) during two different periods were an indirect result of increasing ambiguities caused by the weakening inflectional system, misanalyses of covert pronouns, and structural opacity. These predisposing factors resulted in further weakening of the French inflectional system, as traditional views of the phenomenon had suggested, but the analysis here disagrees with previous analyses that identify the change as the resolution of ambiguity through the increased use of subject pronouns. It is argued here that grammatical reanalysis attempted to match frequencies of null subjects found in the linguistic community, an attempt that was carried out and completed by the CDA.