This section discusses clauses in which the clause-initial position in representation (55) remains (phonetically) empty. This results in V1-clauses (i.e. main clauses with the finite verb in the first position) and embedded clauses with a complementizer in the first position; cf. Section 9.1 for a more detailed discussion of structure (55).

55

Section 11.1, sub VII, has shown that the clause-initial position of non-interrogative embedded clauses is usually empty, so there is not much to say about such cases. This section will therefore focus on V1-clauses, and we will argue that there is reason to think that at least some such V1-clauses have a syntactically filled initial position, i.e. a clause-initial position filled by a constituent without phonetic realization. This leads to the hypothesis that, from a syntactic point of view, there are no “true” V1-clauses, but that the V1-order is merely a superficial phonetic phenomenon.