Bridge verbs and V2 verbs – the same thing in spades?

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the quality of ‘bridgeness’, the extent to which a verb permits extraction from its complement clause. In spite of considerable study, linguists have only a limited idea of the nature of the factor involved. We address the question whether the quality of being a bridge verb is the same as the quality which permits a verb to take a verb-second complement clause in German. We report the results of two experiments using the technique of magnitude estimation, a method of eliciting grammaticality judgements with a high degree of differentiation. The data reveals that the ‘bridge’ quality and the ‘V2’ quality co-vary very closely, suggesting that they may well be facets of the same factor. We discuss the implications this finding has for the nature of the bridge quality.