Three papers on German verb movement

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This volume presents fresh arguments in the debate on verb movement analysis, focusing primarily on German. Fanselow examines verb second (V2) movement in German main clauses, positing that head movement of the substitution type aligns with minimalist principles of Merge and Move, avoiding issues associated with head adjunction, which violates Chomsky's minimalist extension condition and fails to allow the moved head to c-command its trace. He advocates for understanding V2 movement as head movement of the substitution type. Meinunger explores a restriction on V2 movement linked to phrases like “mehr als” ('more than'), where V2 is prohibited (e.g., *“Der Wert verdreifachte sich mehr als”). He argues this restriction is best understood phonologically, with the preposition/complementiser “als” acting as a prefixal clitic to the finite verb, preventing its movement without it. Meinunger supports an interface perspective, showing that V2 is limited by both conceptual and phonological interfaces. Vogel analyzes the syntax of clause-final verbal complexes and their dialectal variations, comparing minimalist head movement, XP movement, and Optimality theoretic PF movement analyses. He favors the phonologically oriented OT analysis for its ability to connect specific word order patterns to phonological triggers. Each paper acknowledges the importance of surface forms in understanding German verb movement, differing in the role phonol