V2
(Syntax) Verb-second (V2) word order is a sentence structure in which the finite verb of a sentence or a clause is placed in the clause's second position, so that the verb is preceded by a single word or group of words (a single constituent).
  Examples of V2 in English include (brackets indicating a single constituent):

1. Neither do I.
2. [Never in my life] have I seen such things.

3. *[In school] learned I about animals.
4. *[When she comes home from work] takes she a nap.

VACUOUS MOVEMENT HYPOTHESIS
(Syntax) The hypothesis that movement is blocked unless it affects the (linear) order of the string it applies to.
  This hypothesis entails that the wh-subject in who killed her? is not moved to the specifier position of the CP (as is the standard assumption for wh-questions), but remains in situ. (Chomsky 1986, George 1980) | Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics, 2001

VARIATION TYPES

1. (Sociolinguistics) Regional variation is only one of many possible types of differences among speakers of the same language. For example, there are occupational dialects (the word bugs means something quite different to a computer programmer and an exterminator), sexual dialects (women are far more likely than men to call a new house adorable), and educational dialects (the more education people have, the less likely they are to use double negatives). There are dialects of age (teenagers have their own slang, and even the phonology of older speakers is likely to differ from that of young speakers in the same geographical region) and dialects of social context (we do not talk the same way to our intimate friends as we do to new acquaintances, to the paperboy, or to our employer). | C. M. Millward and Mary Hayes, 2012
2. (Sociolinguistics) There are two types of language variation: linguistic and sociolinguistic. With linguistic variation, the alternation between elements is categorically constrained by the linguistic context in which they occur. With sociolinguistic variation, speakers can choose between elements in the same linguistic context and hence, the alternation is probabilistic. Furthermore, the probability of one form being chosen over another is also affected in a probabilistic way by a range of extra-linguistic factors [e.g. the degree of (in)formality of the topic under discussion, the social status of the speaker and of the interlocutor, the setting in which communication takes place, etc.] | Raymond Mougeon et al., 2010

VARIATIONAL LEARNING MODEL
Variable language use within individuals and communities can be captured by the use of variable rules (Labov 1969, 1972; Cedergren and Sankoff 1974), and shifts in frequencies over time can be captured by the competing grammars approach to intraspeaker variation (Kroch 1989, Santorini 1992). Both of these classes of models can be characterized by probability distributions over non-stochastic competence grammars, with the aim of capturing the cacophonous reality of language usage without throwing away the notion of categorical grammars. Boersma (1997) and Yang (2002) define simple models which expanded this approach to the domain of language acquisition, and have spurred significant further development. I refer to these acquisition models, in which the state of the learner can be characterized by a probability distribution over a (typically finite) set of competing non-stochastic grammars, as variational learning models. | Ryan Budnick, 2023

VEHICLE CHANGE
(Syntax) The equivalence between (potentially complex) R-expressions and pronouns under ellipsis as in (1). (Fiengo and May 1994, Dalrymple 1992)

1. a. They arrested Alex_i , though he_i thought they wouldn't.
   b. They arrested [the guy who lives over the garage]_i , though he_i thought they wouldn't.

VENITIVE
(Pragmatics) Andative and "venitive" (abbreviated AND and VEN) are a type of verbal deixis: verb forms which indicate 'going' or 'coming' motion, respectively, in reference to a particular location or person. Other terms sometimes seen are itive and ventive, or translocative and cislocative. They generally derive historically from the verbs go and come being reduced to auxiliary verbs or verbal affixes (Heine and Kuteva 2002), and may in turn be grammaticalized to aspectual morphemes. Many languages of Siberia (such as Itelmen, Forest Nenets, Chukchi, Alyutor), California, West Africa (such as Akan), the Caucasus-Mideast-North Africa (Akkadian, Sumerian), and Oceania have such verb forms.
 A language with andative and venitive forms may also use them with a verb to carry, for example, to create the meanings of 'bring' (venitive) and 'take (away)' (andative). | Wikipedia, 2022

VENTIVE
See VENITIVE.

VERB DOUBLING
(Syntax) A situation in what are commonly called predicate clefts (usually predicate focus/topicalization: Aboh 2006) where the main verb occurs twice in two different positions in the sentence. One verb token appears in the topic/focus position (often in the sentence periphery) while a second verb token is found in the base position. This phenomenon occurs in quite a few languages. | Johannes Hein, 2015

VERB ECHO ANSWER
(Syntax) A VEA can be used as a response to a polar question. In Japanese, (2) is interpreted as an affirmative answer to (1).

1. Q:
    

   Ken-wa
   Ken-TOP

   sara-o
   dish-ACC

   arai-masi-ta-ka?
   wash-POL-PST-Q

     'Did Ken wash dishes?'
2. A:
    

   Arai-masi-ta-yo.
   wash-POL-PST-PRT

     lit. 'Washed.' ('Yes, Ken did.')

VERB-FRAMING

1. (Typology) Or, satellite-framing. A typological description of a way that verb phrases in a language can describe the path of motion or the manner of motion, respectively. Some languages make this distinction and others do not.
    The manner of motion refers to a type of distinct motion described by a particular verb, such as running, tumbling, sliding, walking, crawling, etc. The path of motion refers to the direction of the movement, such as movement into, out of, across, etc. The two concepts can be encoded in the verb as part of its root meaning, or encoded in a separate particle associated with the verb (a satellite). Manner or path may also not be expressed at all.
    Languages are considered verb-framed or satellite-framed based on how the motion path is typically encoded. English verbs use particles to show the path of motion (run into, go out, fall down), and its verbs usually show manner of motion; thus, English is a satellite-framed language. English verbs that are exceptions are mostly derived from Latin, such as exit, ascend, or enter.
    All Germanic languages are satellite-framed languages.
    On the other hand, all Romance languages are verb-framed. Spanish, for example, makes heavy use of verbs of motion like entrar, salir, subir, bajar ('go in', 'go out', 'go up', 'go down'), which directly encode motion path. | Wikipedia, 2022
2. (Typology) Research has identified three types of languages based on the characteristic expression of manner and path information. In satellite-framed languages, the main verb expresses information about manner of movement, and a subordinate satellite element (e.g., a verb particle) to the verb conveys the path of movement. In verb-framed languages, the main verb expresses the core information of the path of movement, and the manner information is expressed in a subordinate structure (e.g., a gerundive). Both manner and path, however, are expressed by equivalent grammatical forms in equipollently-framed languages. | Liang Chen and Jiansheng Guo, 2009

VERB OF REALIZATION
(Grammar) 'Collocational verbs which have the syntactic behavior of V_supp, but which, unlike these, are semantically full: they are selected by the speaker for their meaning and make a semantic contribution.' I.e., "des verbes collocationnels qui ont le comportement syntaxique des V_supp, mais qui, à la différence de ceux-ci, sont sémantiquement pleins: ils sont sélectionnés par le locuteur pour leur signifié et apportent une contribution sémantique" (Mel'čuk 2004).
 For example, amende 'fine / penalty' combines with the support verb donner 'to give' in French, but also with the verbs of realization filer 'to slap' (in a colloquial context) and imposer 'to impose' (in an official context).
 Other verbs of realization: conserver 'to maintain', garder 'to keep', and perdre 'to lose'.
 Verbs of realization differ from support verbs. Gavriilidou (2004) captures this in the following way: "Le rôle de ces verbes est double: d'un côté, ils doivent apporter aux prédicats nominaux étudiés, des informations de temps, de personne et de nombre (rôle syntaxique); de l'autre, ils dotent la phrase dans laquelle ils se trouvent d'une information aspectuelle et d'une marque d'intensité (rôle sémantique), ils véhiculent donc une information supérieure à celle des verbes supports standards." I.e., 'The role of these verbs is twofold: on the one hand, they must provide the nominal predicates studied with information about time, person and number (syntactic role); on the other, they provide the sentence in which they are found with aspectual information and a mark of intensity (semantic role); they therefore convey information superior to that of standard support verbs."
 She provides, amongst others, the following Modern Greek examples:

1. πλημμυρίζω από χαρά 'to overflow with joy'
2. εκτοξεύω κατηγορία 'to throw blame'
3. βομβαρδίζω με κατηγορίες 'to bombard with blame'

1. Negative verbs of realization
   a. Classical Greek
    κινδυνεύσουσι γὰρ ἐκ τῶν νῦν ἡμῖν ὡμολογημένων τοιοῦτ_ν τι ποιεῖν καὶ οἱ τὴν δίκην φεύγοντες, ὦ Πῶλε
    'based on those things that have been agreed between us by now, those who avoid punishment seem to do something like this, Polos' (Pl. Grg. 479b)
   b. English
    I am lacking an idea.

VERB-PARTICLE CONSTRUCTION
(Grammar) Or, verb-adverb combination, or, particle verb, or, verb-particle combination, or, discontinuous verb, or, merged verb, or, separable verb, or, two-word verb, or, separable compound, or, poly-word verb. Phrasal verbs have long been regarded as being among the most characteristic features of the English language. As early as 1712, Michael Mattaire in his English Grammar described the basic syntactic peculiarities of the English "verb-particle construction". A few decades later Samuel Johnson and Robert Lowth—one the most influential lexicographer and the other the most influential grammarian of the 18th century—directed their attention to the phrasal verb. Johnson writes in the Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language (1755):

There is another kind of composition more frequent in our language than perhaps in any other, from which arises to foreigners the greatest difficulty. We modify the signification of many verbs by a particle subjoined; as to come off, to escape by a fetch; to fall on, to attack; to fall off, to apostatize; to break off, to stop abruptly; to bear out, to justify; to fall in, to comply; to give over, to cease; to set off, to embellish; to set in, to begin a continual tenour; to set out, to begin a course or journey; to take off, to copy; with innumerable expressions of the same kind, of which some appear wildly irregular, being so far distant from the sense of the simple words, that no sagacity will be able to trace the steps by which they arrived at the present use.

1. German
   Alexander
   Alexander

   gab
   gave

   das
   the

   Cellospielen
   cello.playing

   auf
   up

   'Alexander gave up playing the cello.'

VERB PHRASE DELETION
(Syntax) Sentences (1) and (2) have traditionally been related by a process that is called "Verb Phrase Deletion" (VPD).

1. If I wanted to collect bottles, I would collect bottles.
2. If I wanted to collect bottles, I would.

VERB-STRANDING ELLIPSIS

1. (Syntax) Or, V-stranding ellipsis. An ellipsis phenomenon that elides a VP or TP category but moves the verb out of that category prior to deletion. The phenomenon has been identified in various languages, among which are Hebrew (Doron 1990, Goldberg 2005), Irish (McCloskey 1991, 2011), Swahili (Ngonyani 1996), Finnish (Holmberg 2001), Portuguese (Martins 1994, Cyrino and Matos 2002, a.o.), Russian (Gribanova [2013]). Consider for illustration the Brazilian Portuguese (1) (from Santos 2009) and the Finnish (2) (Holmberg 2001).
   1. O
      the

      João
      João

      viu
      saw

      o
      the

      desastre
      accident

      na
      on.the

      televisão
      TV

      ontem
      yesterday

      e
      and

      a
      the

      Maria
      Maria

      também
      also

      viu.
      saw

      'João saw the accident on TV yesterday and Maria did too.'
   2. A:
       

      Onko
      is-Q

      Liisa
      Liisa

      kotona?
      at.home

         'Is Liisa at home?'
      B:
       

      On.
      is

         'He is.'
    It is important to note that V-stranding ellipsis is a process distinct from (multiple) argument drop or dropping of adjunct material (Doron 1990, Golderberg 2005, a.o.). The most striking evidence for this is that V-stranding ellipsis also shows up in languages that do not allow for adjunct or object drop, like Irish.
    The theoretically most intriguing trait of V-stranding ellipsis is the so-called verbal identity condition, which requires that the lexical stem of the stranded V needs to be identical to that of its antecedent (Cyrino and Matos 2002, Goldberg 2005, McCloskey 2011, a.o.). Due to this condition, the stranded verb cannot be lexically distinct from its antecedent, even if that is identical or near-identical to it in meaning. Consider for illustration the case of Irish, which has two cognates for the verb miss, an Irish word and an English one. If the antecedent clause contains one of the two, the elliptical response needs to contain the same item (McCloskey 2005).
   3. A:
       

      Ar
      COMP.INTER

      mhiss-eáil
      missed

      tú
      you

      é?
      him

         'Did you miss him?'
      B:
       

      * Chrothnaigh.
      miss.PAST

         'I did.'
    | Anikó Lipták, 2012
2. (Syntax) Or, responsive ellipsis, or, verb-stranding verb-phrase ellipsis. The landing site of the head movement may vary according to the language, as may the size of the ellipsis site. The result of such a combination of operations is typically realized as an overt verb whose internal—and sometimes external—arguments, along with any modifying material internal to the elided constituent, are elided.
   1. Russian VSE (Gribanova 2017)
      a.
      

      Evgenija
      Evgenija

      otpravila
      send.PST.SG.F

      posylku
      package.ACC

      v
      to

      Moskvu?
      Moscow.ACC

         'Did Eugenia send the package to Moscow?'
      b.
       

      Ne
      NEG

      otpravila.
      send.PST.SG.F

      /
      /

      Otpravila.
      send.PST.SG.F

         'She didn't. / She did.'
   2. Irish VSE (McCloskey 2017)
      a.
       

      A-r
      Q.PAST

      sciob
      cut.PAST

      an
      the

      cat
      cat

      an
      the

      t-eireaball
      tail

      den
      off-the

      luch?
      mouse

         'Did the cat cut the tail off the mouse?'
      b.
       

      Ciob.
      cut.PAST

      /
      /

      Ní-or
      NEG-PAST

      sciob.
      cut.PAST

         'It did. / It didn't.'
    As with constituent ellipsis more generally, the elided component will be subject to some kind of requirement—the formulation of which remains controversial—that it be identical to a linguistic antecedent. In many prominent accounts, the identity relation that is necessary to license ellipsis applies to the output of a syntactic derivation. | Vera Gribanova, 2020

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