ИСТИНА

The paper discusses constituting properties of V2 languages in a perspective of parametric typology. V2 languages are a small group of syntactically uniform languages sharing a number of parameters constraining the clausal architecture and the finite verb placement. We argue that whereas the generative procedure of deriving V2 by verb movement and feature composition of the target head is correct and has empirical validation, the broader definitions of V2 phenomena found in the contemporary work on the subject that loosen the diagnostic criteria on the single preverbal constituent are counterproductive. So called ‘partial’ or ‘residual’ V2 languages, where verb movement to the left-peripheral position is allegedly characteristic for a part of root declaratives, do not exist; at the same time, the verb movement by itself is not sufficient to produce the classic V2 profile.