This article argues that VOS structures in Romanian are derived from a basic VSO word order and, consequently, involve object raising out of VP, across the subject left in situ. Binding interactions and the availability of raising quantified NPs clause-medially provide syntactic support for an A-movement analysis of the raised objects. In contrast to other languages that allow (or require) movement of objects to argumental positions, it is argued that in Romanian VOS structures the object does not move for the purposes of Case checking nor does object raising entail a strong, definite interpretation of the moved NP. Rather, object raising is an instance of de-focussing, made possible by a strong nominal feature on the abstract verb v.

Québec City has had an anglophone community for 250 years. A representative sample of this community was surveyed using the methods known as Dialect Topography. The analysis establishes the distinctiveness of Québec City English but at the same time shows that it is firmly planted in the Canadian English speech community. It is shown that there are significant correlations with three social factors: (1) Language Use Index, which allows a calculation of the extent of each respondent’s use of English in the francophone setting; (2) age, the principal correlate of changes in progress; and (3) Regionality Index, which separates indigènes, the natives of the region, from interlopers, recent arrivals. Although the results show that the distinctiveness may be threatened by the persistence of interloper variants, in most respects Québec City English favours the same variants as the rest of Canada, albeit with different frequencies and often with a unique historical development.