Eesti keele otseste eriküsilausete sõnajärje aspekte
The word order of Estonian main clause wh-interrogatives

Summary/Abstract: Estonian is a verb-second (V2) language: in certain types of sentences, the finite verb tends to be the second constituent. The V2 feature of Estonian is most likely to have developed under Germanic influence. However, there are differences between Germanic and Estonian V2 order. The word order of Estonian main-clause wh-interrogatives is one of the major exceptions to the V2 order. Main-clause wh-interrogatives are always V2 in Germanic but predominantly verb-final in Estonian. The paper describes two corpus studies - a synchronic and a diachronic one - that aimed to clarify the proportion, nature and development of the V2 order in Estonian main-clause wh-interrogatives. The synchronic study showed that the proportion of the V2 order in present-day Estonian main-clause wh-interrogatives is approximately 22%.

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