In linguistics, inversion is any of several grammatical constructions where two expressions switch their typical or expected order of appearance, that is, they invert. There are several types of subject-verb inversion in English: locative inversion, directive inversion, copular inversion, and quotative inversion. The most frequent type of inversion in English is subject–auxiliary inversion in which an auxiliary verb changes places with its subject; it often occurs in questions, such as Are you coming?, with the subject you being switched with the auxiliary are. In many other languages, especially those with a freer word order than that of English, inversion can take place with a variety of verbs (not just auxiliaries) and with other syntactic categories as well. When a layered constituency-based analysis of sentence structure is used, inversion often results in the discontinuity of a constituent, but that would not be the case with a flatter dependency-based analysis. In that regard, inversion has consequences similar to those of shifting.
In Germanic languages
A characteristic of Germanic languages, except modern English, which still has remnants of this principle, is that non-question sentences, including clauses that aren't themselves questions, have a V2 word order, meaning that the finite verb is the second syntactic constituent in the sentence or clause. This is observed as a subject-verb inversion whenever a preceding constituent displaces the subject from its regular position first in the sentence. However, an unprovoked subject-verb inversion, or what may be described as V1 word order, makes the sentence a question. As a special case, the question phrase can become a non-question if used as a condition, such as "Had I known …". The position of non-finite verbs, which differ between North and West Germanic languages, and English uses more of, do not take part in determining whether the sentence is a question. Neither do question words. Syntax highlighting: In the following table, finite verbs are in red, non-finite verbs are in orange and subjects are blue. Whenever the subject and verb changes places (the inversion occurs), they are italicized. Words that cause the inversion are in green, whereas words that don't are in grey.
In English English uses subject-verb inversions less often than other Germanic languages. Broadly, a distinction can be made between auxiliary and full verbs. The auxiliary verbs undergo inversion in more cases than other verbs.
Subject–auxiliary inversion
a. Fred will stay. b. Will Fred stay? - Subject–auxiliary inversion with yes/no question a. Larry has done it. b. What has Larry done? - Subject–auxiliary inversion with constituent question a. Fred has helped at no point. b. At no point has Fred helped. - Subject–auxiliary inversion with fronted expression containing negation (negative inversion) a. If we were to surrender, ... b. Were we to surrender, ... - Subject–auxiliary inversion in condition clause The default order in English is subject–verb (SV), but a number of meaning-related differences (such as those illustrated above) motivate the subject and auxiliary verb to invert so that the finite verb precedes the subject; one ends up with auxiliary–subject (Aux-S) order. That type of inversion fails if the finite verb is not an auxiliary:
a. Fred stayed. b. *Stayed Fred? - Inversion impossible here because the verb is NOT an auxiliary verb (The star * is the symbol used in linguistics to indicate that the example is grammatically unacceptable.)
Non-auxiliary subject–verb inversion In languages like Italian, Spanish, Finnish, etc. subject-verb inversion is commonly seen with a wide range of verbs and does not require an element at the beginning of the sentence. See the following Italian example:
In English, on the other hand, subject-verb inversion generally takes the form of a Locative inversion. A familiar example of subject-verb inversion from English is the presentational there construction. There's a shark. English (especially written English) also has an inversion construction involving a locative expression other than there ("in a little white house" in the following example): In a little white house lived two rabbits. Contrary to the subject-auxiliary inversion, the verb in cases of subject–verb inversion in English is not required to be an auxiliary verb; it is, rather, a full verb or a form of the copula be. If the sentence has an auxiliary verb, the subject is placed after the auxiliary and the main verb. For example:
a. A unicorn will come into the room. b. Into the room will come a unicorn. Since this type of inversion generally places the focus on the subject, the subject is likely to be a full noun or noun phrase rather than a pronoun. Third-person personal pronouns are especially unlikely to be found as the subject in this construction:
a. Down the stairs came the dog. - Noun subject b. Down the stairs came it. - Third-person personal pronoun as subject; unlikely unless it has special significance and is stressed c. Down the stairs came I. - First-person personal pronoun as subject; more likely, though still I would require stress
In other languages Certain other languages, like other Germanic languages and Romance languages, use inversion in ways broadly similar to English, such as in question formation. The restriction of inversion to auxiliary verbs does not generally apply in those languages; subjects can be inverted with any type of verb, but particular languages have their own rules and restrictions. For example, French can form questions using verb-subject inversions like a Germanic language: tu aimes le chocolat is a declarative sentence meaning "you like the chocolate". When the order of the subject tu ("you") and the verb aimes ("like") is switched, a question is produced: aimes-tu le chocolat? ("do you like the chocolate?"). Compare with Norwegian: du liker means "you like", whereas liker du would mean "do you like". Note that English obeys the same rule despite its use of the auxiliary word "do": It is the position of the finite verb that determines whether the sentence is a question, and the auxiliary verb takes that place. In languages with free word order, inversion of subject and verb or of other elements of a clause can occur more freely, often for pragmatic reasons rather than as part of a specific grammatical construction.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
