Abstract

In this paper we revise some arguments brought forward in the past in favour of a German-like V2-syntax analysis for Old French. In particular, on the basis of research on Old French sentence particles, we argue that Old French has many more similarities with the Celtic Janguages than with the modern Germanic ones, showing quite a frequent use of Vl structures and of particles. V2 effects arise only as superficial ordering depending on the realisation of the head Fin (in the sense of Rizzi 1997). Concentrating on the Old French sentence particle si, the phonological realisation of Fin, we propose that a change in the prosody of French together with semantic factors caused the redistribution of the featural content of the head Fin, resulting in the disappearance of Y2 effects. The discussion takes as its starting point the so-called 'lnertial Theory" of language change as proposed in Longobardi (2001), which offers an episthemologically more interesting hypothesis by assuming !hat syntax is diachronically 'inert'; but considering the fact that languages change, as French did, the task is to explain which part of the grammar is permeable for change. Jmplementing some ideas from Minimalism, and by doing so following Longobardi, we assume the interfaces PF and LF to be the sensitive loci for language change, which therefore, given a restrictive theory of change as a reaction to some pressure on the interfaces, should be predictable.