/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    7 Verb Second and the word order in main and embedded clauses
    quickinfo

    Saterland Frisian is a Verb-Second language. This means that the finite verb is found in second (or first) position in main clause, and in final position in embedded ones. This is illustrated by the examples below, in which the finite verb has been put in bold:

    1
    Do Wäänte genen mäd ’n Koppel ätter Ljouwert.
    the boys went with a group to Ljouwert
    The boys went to Leeuwarden with a group.
    2
    Uumdät do Wäänte mäd ’n Koppel ätter Ljouwert genen.
    because the boys with a group to Ljouwert went
    Because the boys went to Leeuwarden with a group.

    The verb is at the beginning of the middle field in the first example (a main clause), but it is found at the end of the middle field in the second example (an embedded clause). There are, however, a number of exceptions to this generalisation and related issues, which are briefly introduced and discussed below.

    readmore
    [+]1. Saterland Frisian as a Verb-Second language

    Saterland Frisian is a Verb-Second language like all West Germanic languages except English and Scots. This means that main clauses have a word order that is different from embedded clauses, as far as the finite verb is concerned. In declarative main clauses, it is positioned after the first constituent of the main clause. Some examples are given below, in which the first constituent has been put in bold:

    3
    Dän Wai häbe wie so oafte moaked.
    that road have we so often made
    We've gone down that road so many times.
    4
    In dut Huus hälpt dät Wucht hiere Mäme bie ’t Boaken.
    in this house helps the girl her mother at the baking
    In this house, the daughter helps her mother with the baking.

    Almost any main clause constituent can occupy the first position, before the finite verb. The constituent in first position may be the one that links up best to the previous discourse. The subject comes first in the first example, the object in the second example and the third example features a PP in the first position. The finite verb occupies the second position in all examples, at the beginning of the middle field. However, the finite verb is placed at the end of the middle field in embedded clauses, as in the following examples in which the finite verb has been put in bold:

    5
    Wan wie in Ljouwert ankomen.
    when we in Ljouwert arrived
    When we arrived in Ljouwert.
    6
    Dät du unnerwaiens ‘n froamden Wäänt träft hääst.
    that you on.the.way a strange man met have
    That you met a strange man along the way.
    7
    Uumdät iek kroank waas.
    round.that I ill was
    Because I was ill.

    Thus main clauses have a first position in which almost any constituent (abbreviated as XP) can move, followed by the finite verb, followed by the subject, followed by the middle field. Embedded clauses start out with a complementiser, followed by the subject, followed by the middle field.

    [+]2. Main and embedded clauses compared

    These observations are summarised in the following scheme:

    8
    Main clause: XP Finite verb Subject Middle field
    Embedded clause: - Complementiser Subject Middle field

    This observation forms the basis for the generative analysis that the tensed verb occupies a higher position in main clauses and a lower position in embedded clauses. Below we present to more examples both consisting of a main clause containing an embedded clause. The embedded clause has been bracketed:

    9
    Iek kuud nit kume, [uumdät iek kroank waas.]
    I could not come because I ill was
    I couldn’t come because I was ill.
    10
    Der is al oafters de Froage stäld wudden, [wo oold Seelterlound is].
    there is already often the question put become how old Seelterlound is
    The question has already been been often asked how old Seelterlound is.

    The finite verb of the main clause is found in the second position, whereas the finite verb of the embedded clause is found at the end of the middle field. Both examples show that the verb cluster of the main clause is found at the end of the middle field (underlined in the examples above). Examples like (6) above show that the verb cluster is found at the end of the middle field in embedded clauses as well. Thus there are the following differences between main and embedded clauses:

    Some differences between main and embedded clauses

    1. The finite verb is found preceding the middle field in main clauses and following the middle field in embedded clauses
    2. Main clauses can begin with any constituent, embedded clauses begin with a complementiser.

    Observation (1) is characteristic of the continental West Germanic languages. Observation (2) is characteristic of most languages. So far we just considered declarative main clauses.

    [+]3. Verb-First in main and embedded clauses

    The finite verb comes first in main clause yes/no questions and exclamatives (rhetorical questions), as illustrated below:

    11
    Hälpt dät Wucht hiere Mäme bie ’t Boaken?
    helps the girl her mother at the baking
    Does the daughter help her mother with the baking?
    12
    Beminst du mie?
    love you me
    Do you love me?
    13
    Häbe iek ‘n Smoacht!
    have I a hunger
    Am I hungry!

    The first two examples involve ordinary yes/no questions. The last example has the form of a question, but it is an exclamative which receives an affirmative interpretation with a high degree reading.

    There are a few cases of sentence types which seem to testify to a mismatch between semantics and syntax. Thus there is a sentence type which has the form of a main clause, though it has the interpretation of an embedded lause, more specifically of a conditional clause. In this clause type, the finite verb is put in the first position. Two examples are given below:

    14
    [Piepst du nit], dan säike iek die nit.
    squeak you not then seek I you not
    If you don’t squeak, then I won’t seek you out.
    15
    [Dääst du dät], dan bääst du riek genouch.
    did you it then are you rich enough
    If you did so, you would be rich enough.

    The bracketed clause is semantically subordinate to the main clause, yet it has the form of a main clause itself, with the finite verb (in boldface) preceding the middle field. Normally, conditional clauses start out with wan ‘if’. Thus the first sentence above could also be rendered as follows:

    16
    [Wan du nit piepst], dan säike iek die nit.
    if you not squeak then seek I you not
    If you don’t squeak, then I won’t seek you out.

    Here the embedded clause is well-behaved, introduced by a complementiser and with the finite verb at the end of the middle field.

    [+]4. Verb-Third in main clauses

    There is also a sprinkling of cases in which a conditional clause in first position does not trigger Verb-Second. The finite verb is consequently placed not in the second but in the third position. An example is given below:

    17
    Wän wie umekemen, uus Mäme stoorf fon Ferträit.
    if we died our mother died of grief
    'If we died, our mother would die of grief.'

    The finite verb of the main clause is given in bold. It would normally be placed before its subject, in the second position, with the conditional clauses occupying the first position. The peculiar placement of the finite verb may be related to the absence of auxiliaries in this counterfactual sentence, but this is no more than a hunch.

    [+]5. Asymmetric coordination in conditional sentences

    Dutch and West Frisian exhibit the phenomenon of asymmetric coordination, that is, if a coordination of two clauses occurs, and it is directly governed by the conditional (or temporal-conditional) conjunct, then the finite verbs may be unevenly placed. The normal case would be that the finite verb is placed in the end of the middle field in both clauses making up the coordination. What is actually regularly observed, however, are sentence like the following:

    18
    Un wan [jo tou de Grodore oder de Siedendore uutwielen], un [reten do Dore epen].
    and when they to the front.doors or the side.doars out.wanted and yanked the doors open
    'And when they wanted to get out of the big front doors or the side doors, and they yanked open the doors.'

    The two coordinated clauses have been bracketed and the finite verbs have been put in bold. It can be observed that the first coordinated clause is well-behaved. The finite verb is in the position in which it is expected to occur in embedded clauses: at the end of the middle field. In the second clause, the finite verb is surprisingly found at the beginning of the middle field, in the position in which the finite verb is lexicalised in main clauses. This phenomenon is characteristic of the second clause of a coordination. The phenomenon is not restricted to coordinated clauses in the scope of the conditional complementiser. It is also found in coordinations in the scope of the unmarked complementiser dät ‘that’. An example is given below:

    19
    Dät mai wäil beter weze, dät [du foaruut gungst] un [fertälst uzen, dät du ‘n froamden Wäänt träft hääst].
    it will yes better be that you ahead.goes and tell ours that you a strange man met have
    'It may be better that you go ahead and tell our people that you met a strange man on the way.'

    Again the first coordinated clause has the finite verb in its expected position, at the end of the middle field. But the second clause again has the finite verb in the verb second position at the beginning of the middle field. In both examples of asymmetric coordination, the subject had been elided in the second clause, being identical to the subject of the first clause.

    [+]6. Existential sentences with Verb-Second inside a relative clause

    Existential sentences may contain a relative clause in which the finite verb is not found in its normal position at the end of the middle field but in the second position, following the relative pronoun. An example is given below:

    20
    Deer waas 'n Buur in Hollen, [die hied al oafters ap de Äi säiwens 'n Lucht badenjen blouked].
    there was a farmer in Hollen who had already often on the Ai in.the.evening a light shine seen
    There was a farmer in Hollen who had often seen a light burning on the Saterems in the evening.

    Alternatively, this construction could be analyses as involving two independent sentences, of which the second one starts out with a topic pronoun. The problem for this analysis is that the two clauyses have one intonation contour. It is also a characteristic that the first element of the second clause must be a topic or resumptive pronoun, that is, it cannot be a pronoun that unambiguously is a relative pronoun. This type of construction is also found in West Frisian.

    [+]7. Direct and indirect speech and semantically embedded main clauses

    Direct speech is to be distinguished from indirect speech. There are various constructions for the representation of indirect speech. Clauses representing indirect speech may fail to be embedded syntactically, displaying in this way some main clause diagnostics. This is more characteristic of spoken language than of written language. The unmarked embedded clause normally takes the form of a Verb-Final construction. Some examples are given below:

    21
    Jo toanke, dät iek ’n Boangebukse bän.
    they think that I a coward am
    They think that I am a coward.
    22
    Waas et nit beter wezen, dät Jie et hier fertäld hieden?
    was it not better been that you it them told had
    Hadn’t it been better that you would have told it to them?

    The embedded clauses can also be structured like main clauses. In that case, the complementiser is absent and the finite verb is put in the second position of the clause, as in main clauses. Thus the two sentences above can also be rendered as follows:

    23
    Jo toanke, iek bän ’n Boangebukse.
    they think I am a coward
    They think, I am a coward.
    24
    Waas et nit beter wezen, Jie hieden et hier fertäld?
    was it not better been you had it them told
    Hadn’t it been better, you would have told it to them?

    In the examples above, direct speech has been rendered as indirect speech. There is also a specific way to render direct speech as direct speech by introducing it with the preposition fon ‘of’. Some examples are given below:

    25
    Du moast je so eenlek rekenje fon wie wisten dät.
    you must yes so about consider of we knew it
    You have to consider something like, we knew it.
    26
    Iek mene fon wäil.
    I think of yes
    I think so.

    In Dutch and West Frisian, this construction is more widely used than just for citation, namely for communicating complicated opinions, feelings and so on by means of an example or an implicit comparison.

    [+]8. Deletion of elements in the first position of main clauses

    Spoken Saterland Frisian regularly exhibits the deletion of elements which do not provide any new information. This deletion characteristically takes place in the first position of main clauses. The fact that deletion targets old information in the form of pronouns and determiners suggests that the first position of main clause is often used as a topic position linking the sentence up to the preceding discourse. The following classes of elements may get deleted. In the examples below, the deleted element has been bracketed. In the first place, the first person pronoun may be deleted:

    27
    (iek) Bän al hier.
    (I) am already here
    I am already here.

    In the second place, the topic pronoun dät ‘that’ may be deleted.

    28
    (dät) Sjuchst du daach?
    (that) see you but
    You see it, don’t you?
    29
    (dät) Wuud je immer raspeld ap su ’n litje Raspel.
    (that) became yes always grated on such a small rasp
    It was always grated with a rasp.

    Thirdly, the definite article may be deleted:

    30
    (die) Huund paset ap dät Huus.
    (the) dog watches up the house
    The dog watches the house.
    31
    Alzo (die/dän) Skinke is de Knoke noch oane.
    so (the) ham is the bone still on
    So ham, the bone is still on it.

    The last example shows that alzo ‘so’ need not count as a first constituent triggering for verb-second, nor does it prevent deletion in the topic position. The example is also interesting since the topic is a prepositional complement. But oane ‘on,to’ is not a preposition. If the prepositional complement occurs in its normal position, a different adposition would have to be used:

    32
    Alzo de Knoke is noch an ’e Skinke.
    so the bone is still on the ham
    So the bone still is on the ham.

    Basically, the adposition oane ‘on, to’ only occurs with R-pronouns (see PP > Postpositions). This suggests an analysis of adposition stranding in which an R-pronoun has been deleted, as follows:

    33
    Alzo (die/dän) Skinke (deer) is de Knoke noch oane.
    so the ham R is the bone still on
    So ham, the bone is still on it.

    The sentences above also bear on the distribution of full and reduced definite articles. Clearly, there is need of further investigation of adposition stranding, deletion of determiners and pronouns and the distribution of reduced articles.

    [+]9. Repetition of the finite verb in Verb-Second sentences

    A very frequent phenomenon of spoken language is the use of a partial sentence structures which are merged with another partial structure, neither of which need be syntactically finished. These partial structure are often related to each other by the repetition of a verb or an adposition or some other element. The following type of merging involves the repetition of the finite verb in main clauses. An example is given below:

    34
    Dan hied aber älke Buur hied sien oaine Määrkelteken.
    then had but every farmer had his own mark
    But then every farmer had his own mark.

    The sentence begins with a non-subject topic, followed by the finite verb. Then the spreaker produces the subject, and repeats the finite verb, as if a subject initial sentence was involved. From a generative perspective, the second occurrence of the finite verb spells out a head position through which it has been moved. It could thus be construed as evidence for the existence of a functional projection hosting the feature of finiteness and the agreeing subject.

    A reconstructed subject-initial sentence would, however, be ungrammatical, if reconstruction takes place by omitting the first occurrence of the finite verb:

    35
    *Dan aber älke Buur hied sien oaine Määrkelteken.
    then but every farmer had his own mark
    But then every farmer had his own mark.

    This type is also found in other Verb-Second languages like West Frisian and Dutch, and we would expect it to be present in informal German as well. Another type of repetition involves the preposition. An example is given below:

    36
    Un uur dän grote Knoal kuud hie überhaupt nit uur fiere.
    and over the big canal could he at.all not over drive
    And over the big canal, he couldn't drive over it at all.

    Here the preposition is repeated. From a generative perspective, the second instance of the preposition spells out the position in which the PP originates which has been lexicalised in the first position in the main clause (apart from clause introducers like conjuncts, disjuncts and comment particles like dan ‘so’). The problem with this idea is that it is not the preposition which has been moved, but the PP as a whole, unless it is supposed that preposition and complement move separately from each other, which would render a spell-out of the preposition possible.

    [+]10. Imperatives and word order

    There is variation in continental West Germanic with respect to the order in imperative clauses. West Frisian and Standard Dutch do not allow any constituent to precede an imperative verb, except a conditional clause. Saterland Frisian and German allow a constituent to precede the imperative verb, so the imperative verb is either in first or in second position.

    37
    As Sebach un Zalmunna moake alle hiere Ledere.
    as Sebach and Zalmunna make.IMP all their leaders
    Make all their leaders as Sebach and Zalmunna.
    38
    Moake alle hiere Ledere as Sebach un Zalmunna.
    make.IMP all their leaders as Sebach and Zalmunna
    Make all their leaders as Sebach and Zalmunna.

    Some further examples are given below:

    39
    Dan moak dät du in ’e Fuggen kumst.
    then make that you in the feathers come
    Then get yourself into bed.
    40
    Nu pakke din Kuffer!
    now get your suitcase
    Now get your suitcase!

    Such topical constituents could also precede the imperative verb in West Frisian from the 17th and 18th centuries.

    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra, Bouke Slofstra
      Category: Saterfrisian Syntax
      Version: 1.0, December 2023
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra, Bouke Slofstra December 2023
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X