This book offers a comparative study of the Germanic languages. It promotes a new approach to the OV vs. VO classification, according to which all clauses have a universal base where the internal argument is always merged in SpecVP. Word order differences and their correlates result from an interaction of checking conditions, the EPP and different types of verb movement, and from parametric variation concerning the location of the subject of predication in the I- or in the C-system. In the discussion of a range of impersonal constructions in German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, Icelandic, the Mainland Scandinavian languages and English, it is shown that crosslinguistic variation as regards, e.g., the distribution of the expletive in impersonal passives and the occurrence of a Definiteness Effect in Transitive Expletive Constructions is mainly due to the choice of different kinds of 'expletive' elements (each associated with different featural make-ups which force them to show up in different positions), namely true expletives, event arguments and quasi-arguments, whereas expletive pro is shown not to exist.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements viii I. Introduction 0. Introduction 3–8 II. Clausal architecture and the EPP 1. Subject positions and the EPP: The evolution of the two concepts 11–39 2. The EPP and the Extension Condition 40–54 3. Clause structure 55–76 4. Checking 77–101 5. The 'universal EPP' on T 102–109 6. Summary 110–112 III. Impersonal constructions and subject positions 7. The constructions to be discussed and previous accounts 115–133 8. The derivation of presentational sentences and impersonal passives 134–174 9. Constructions involving quasi-arguments (or not) 175–188 10. Summary 189–191 IV. Conclusion 11. Conclusion 195–198 References 199–204 Index 205–207