Verb-second, particles, and flexible verb-initial orders

This paper focuses on the analysis of languages that allow both VSO and VOS orders. An analysis is proposed in the context of a flexible approach to syntax (cf. Neeleman, A., Weerman, F., 1999. Flexible Syntax: A Theory of Case and Arguments. Kluwer, Dordrecht) and compared with different alternative analyses of VSO–VOS alternations. The major argument is that a flexible approach allows for an analysis of VSO–VOS alternation that is appealing because of its simplicity and because of a number of predictions. The most important predictions are that languages with VSO–VOS alternation should have preverbal particles and that the subject should c-command the object in both VSO and VOS clauses. It is argued that three VSO–VOS languages (St’át’imcets (Lillooet Salish), Chamorro and Tongan) conform to these predictions.