Distributional Differences between Old English Main Clauses with and without a Conjunction

Old English main clauses and main clauses introduced by a conjunction pattern differently in terms of verb placement and topicalization. An LFG model is proposed to capture these differences. It allows conjunctions to be inserted under C, thereby blocking the CP-layer as a locus for finite verbs and topics. The model is supported by a statistical examination of relevant word order patterns in the extant Old English text corpus.