Re: Verb-second ... verb-penultimate languages?

On 4/21/06, Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...> wrote:
>
> Does anyone know of any verb-penultimate languages?
> I suppose they would be VS in intransitive sentences,
> SVO in transitive, and SOVA where there is a sentential adverb;
> maybe SOVR (source/recipient last) in ditransitive sentences?
> Part of me suspects this is unnatural, and yet it doesn't seem any
> odder w.r.t. V2 languages than OVS or OSV languages, which
> do exist in small numbers.
>
A number of languages -- not just Germanic ones -- have V2-like
constructions, but I can't name a single one with "V(-2)"-like
constructions.   If I'm looking through a grammar and find "X must be
the second constituent in a sentence" I'm no longer surprised; I'd be
surprised (and of course very interested) if I ran across "X must be
the second-to-last constituent in a sentence."  (This is assuming some
variety of constituent order -- if every sentence ended in, say, a
verb followed by a evidential particle, this "V(-2)" phenomenon would
not be much to write home about.)

So far as I've gathered, it's thought to be impossible.  I'd greatly
like to run across one, but I never have.

-- Pat