Syntactic variation in Insular Scandinavian / edited by Höskuldur Thráinsson [et al.].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Höskuldur Þráinsson, 1946- editor.

Series:

Studies in Germanic linguistics, 2452-2120 ; volume 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Scandinavian languages--Syntax.

Scandinavian languages.

Scandinavian languages--Variation.

Scandinavian languages--Case.

Linguistic change--Scandinavia.

Linguistic change.

Construction (Linguistics).

Scandinavia--Languages.

Scandinavia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (351 pages) : color illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2017]

Summary:

This book presents the latest research on the syntax of the "Insular Scandinavian" languages (Faroese and Icelandic), with contributions from thirteen experts, and a significant introductory chapter by the four editors. The topics covered include some that have figured extensively in recent literature on Scandinavian syntax and its implications for syntactic theory: case, agreement, embedded clause word order, stylistic fronting, and the nature of "expletive" constructions. The volume is conceived around the topic of variation, both within and between the two languages studied-as well as more generally-and stands out for the wealth of new empirical detail from both Faroese and Icelandic, relating to each of the topics and theoretical issues discussed. Each chapter is written in a way to make it accessible to a wide audience within linguistics; the book will be essential reading for students and researchers with an interest in the syntax of the Germanic languages.

Contents:

Intro

Syntactic Variation in Insular Scandinavian

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Introduction

1. Background

2. The data

3. Descriptive topics

4. Theoretical and comparative issues

5. Concluding remarks

References

On quantity and quality in syntactic variation studies: On quantity and quality in syntactic variation studies

1. Introduction

2. Doing large scale studies to avoid the Forrest Gump Effect

3. Relative judgments and absolute judgments can complement each other

4. Correlations between judgments - and limits of strictly parametric approaches

5. Is Faroese moving away from Insular Scandinavian?

6. Concluding remarks

Variation in oblique subject constructions in Insular Scandinavian: Variation in oblique subject constructions in Insular Scandinavian

2. Theoretical background

3. Variation in subject case in Icelandic

4. Variation in subject case in Faroese

5. Two apparent puzzles

6. The implications of the development of case marking

7. Conclusion

Determining the nature of intra-speaker subject case variation: Determining the nature of intra-speaker subject case variation

2. Previous studies: Major findings and unsolved problems

3. Study

4. Results

5. Analysis

6. Conclusion

Variation in dative in Faroese

2. Dative in Faroese - A short overview

3. Method

4. Does the variation depend on the form of the NP?

5. Does the semantics of the verbs play a role?

6. The case assignment of borrowed verbs

Avoiding Genitive in Icelandic

2. Background

3. GA with arguments

4. Dative matching genitive

5. Conclusion

References.

Dimensions of variation: Agreement with nominative objects in Icelandic

2. Background and overview of the data

3. Intervention effects

4. A detailed look at agreement variation

Inverse attraction in Icelandic relative clauses

2. Overview and background

3. Sketching an analysis

4. Survey design

5. Results

6. Interpreting the results

7. Conclusion and future directions

Appendix A. Attested Examples

Appendix B. Survey Items

Appendix C. Instructions

Variation in copular agreement in Insular Scandinavian: Variation in copular agreement in Insular Scandinavian

1. Introduction: Agreement with low nominatives in Insular Scandinavian

2. Specificational sentences

3. Specificational agreement in Faroese

4. Specificational agreement in Icelandic: Number

5. Specificational agreement in Icelandic: Person

6. Accounting for agreement in specificational sentences

7. Summary and future work

Stylistic fronting and related constructions in the Insular Scandinavian Languages: Stylistic fronting and related constructions in the Insular Scandinavian Languages

3. Judgment data

4. Discussion

5. Final remarks

Stylistic fronting in corpora

2. Timarit.is and Google Search

3. Two different Stylistic Fronting contexts

4. Clauses with a subject trace ("personal" clauses)

5. Clauses with a non-trace subject gap (impersonal clauses)

6. Idiomatization?

7. And when "nothing" happens?

8. Conclusion

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.