Abstract. We propose a novel theory of verb raising in which different surface positions of the finite verb across languages reflect differences in phrase structure in a principled manner. Assuming that the inventory of functional projections dominating VP is not universal (e.g., the presence of Agr-Phrases is a point of parametric variation) current assumptions about locality predict obligatory verb raising in a language with Agr-Phrases, but obligatory V in situ in a simple IP-VP configuration. We predict a correlation with other morpho-syntactic phenomena reflecting the presence/absence of AgrPs: ''extra'' subject and object positions, transitive expletive constructions, multiple infelectional affixes, etc. This prediction is borne out for the VO Germanic languages; for the OV languages we predict the existence of head-final Infl projections.

Icelandic is a syntactically interesting language, with aspects of its word order, clause structure, agreement patterns and case system arousing much theoretical interest and debate in recent years. This is an informative and accessible guide to the structure of Icelandic, focusing in particular on those characteristics that have contributed greatly to syntactic research. Each chapter is divided into two main sections - providing both a descriptive overview and a discussion of the theoretical and comparative issues involved - and a wide range of topics are covered, including case, agreement, grammatical relations, thematic roles, word order, clause structure, fronting, extraposition, complement, adjuncts, pronouns, and inflection. Also explored in detail are the similarities and differences between Icelandic and other related languages. Presupposing only a basic knowledge of syntax and complete with an extensive bibliography, this comprehensive survey will be an important tool for all those working on the structure of Scandinavian and Germanic languages.

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