High and low phases in Norwegian nominals: Evidence from ellipsis, psychologically distal demonstratives and psychologically proximal possessives

This squib discusses the idea of a high and a low phase in Norwegian nominals. I argue that ellipsis phenomena and syntactic constructions yielding speaker perspective meanings corroborate the proposal that nominals may have a biphasal structure.publishedVersio

Stability and Change in the C-Domain in American Swedish

This article introduces American Swedish (AmSw) into the discussion of the C-domain in heritage Scandinavian. The study is based on spontaneous speech data from the Swedish part of the Corpus of American Nordic Speech (CANS), compared to a baseline of homeland Swedish dialect speakers. We show that the C-domain in AmSw is primarily characterized by stability; this is evidenced by a relatively robust V2 syntax and left dislocation patterns that resemble the homeland baseline. However, we also show that AmSw diverges in some respects: there are some V2 violations and a stronger preference for SV clauses (subject-initial main clauses) at the expense of XVS clauses (non-subject-initial main clauses). These results are similar to previous findings from American Norwegian. We argue that the diverging patterns exhibited by AmSw speakers are not indicative of any fundamental change in their Swedish grammar. The occasional V2 violations are attributed to parallel activation of English and Swedish, and speakers sometimes failing to inhibit English, which is their dominant language. The increase of SV clauses is analyzed as a preference for the canonical word order of the dominant language, but within the limits of what the heritage grammar permits. The patterns in AmSw can be described as cases of attrition and cross-linguistic influence; however, we argue for a nuanced use of these terms.publishedVersio

Pronominal demonstratives in homeland and heritage Scandinavian

This paper discusses pronominal demonstratives (PDs) in homeland and heritage (American) Norwegian and Swedish. We establish a baseline approximating the language of the early emigrants, based on 19th/20th century Norwegian dialect recordings and Swedish texts. Baseline Norwegian had a fully established PD expressing psychological distance (see Johannessen 2008a). In Swedish, however, PDs do not quite behave like (distal) demonstratives: they can combine with a definite determiner or a regular demonstrative, and they do not fully have the pragmatic functions that demonstratives have. We propose that the Swedish PD is a pronoun rather than a demonstrative, without the full set of regular pronominal features, but with logophoric features that activate knowledge shared between the speaker and addressee. Data from AmNo show that PDs are preserved in this heritage language, across several generations. On the assumption that PDs are indexical and that speech act participants are represented in narrow syntax, it comes as no surprise that they are retained (Polinsky 2018:63–65), although this may, on the face of it, appear to be at odds with the Interface Hypothesis (e.g. Sorace & Filiaci 2006, Sorace 2011).publishedVersio

Null arguments in Old Norwegian: interaction between pronouns and the functional categories of the clause

In this paper I propose a new analysis of null arguments in Old Norwegian. I argue that the option of null realization in Old Norwegian correlates with a distinction between φ P and DP pronouns in the sense of Déchaine & Wiltschko (2002), and that this distribution can be captured by a version of pronoun deletion (Roberts 2010b). On a more general, theoretical level, I argue that both the structure of pronouns and that of the functional domains C, T and v influence the null argument properties of a language. Thus, null arguments, but also $\textit{blocking}$ of null arguments in non-null-argument languages like Modern Norwegian and English, may be derived in different ways.This paper is partially funded by the European Research Council Advanced Grant No. 269752 “Rethinking Comparative Syntax.

Argumentplacering i norskt arvspråk i Amerika

Den här artikeln undersöker placeringen av subjekt, objekt och partiklar i äldre och yngre amerikanorska (i CANS-korpusen) och i LIA-korpusen, som representerar talspråket i Norge vid tiden för massutvandringen till Amerika. Ett huvudresultat är att ledföljden varierar i samtliga material, och att det delvis är mer variation än i modernt norskt talspråk. Variationen håller sig relativt stabil över flera generationer i Amerika, men vi noterar i likhet med Anderssen och Westergaard (2020) att andelen subjektskifte och objektskifte minskar. Vi föreslår att frekvensförskjutningen delvis beror på ekonomiprinciper som främjar den oskiftade positionen. För subjektskifte är direkt påverkan från engelska en relevant faktor i yngre AmNo, men bara i frågor; för deklarativer föreslår vi att den avgörande förändringen egentligen inte handlar om en preferens för den oskiftade positionen, men en preferens för flyttning av subjektet till C-domänen.publishedVersio

Argumentplacering i norskt arvspråk i Amerika

Den här artikeln undersöker placeringen av subjekt, objekt och partiklar i äldre och yngre amerikanorska (i CANS-korpusen) och i LIA-korpusen, som representerar talspråket i Norge vid tiden för massutvandringen till Amerika. Ett huvudresultat är att ledföljden varierar i samtliga material, och att det delvis är mer variation än i modernt norskt talspråk. Variationen håller sig relativt stabil över flera generationer i Amerika, men vi noterar i likhet med Anderssen och Westergaard (2020) att andelen subjektskifte och objektskifte minskar. Vi föreslår att frekvensförskjutningen delvis beror på ekonomiprinciper som främjar den oskiftade positionen. För subjektskifte är direkt påverkan från engelska en relevant faktor i yngre AmNo, men bara i frågor; för deklarativer föreslår vi att den avgörande förändringen egentligen inte handlar om en preferens för den oskiftade positionen, men en preferens för flyttning av subjektet till C-domänen.publishedVersio

Pronominale demonstrativer: Nye perspektiver fra norsk og svensk

Denne artikkelen diskuterer pronominale demonstrativer i eldre norsk talespråk og i svensk skriftspråk fra1800-tallet og moderne tid. Vi viser at pronominale demonstrativer er belagt hos talere født både i Sverige og i ulike deler av Norge på 1800-tallet, men at bruksbetingelsene ernoe ulike i de to språkene. Vi viser at han/honi svensk ikke fungerer som demonstrativer, formelt sett, og antar isteden at de er syntaktisk reduserte pronomen som står høyt oppe i kanten av DP, høyere enn posisjonen for demonstrativer, og dublerer trekklenger nede i nominalfrasen. I norsk, på den andre siden, ser han/hun ut til å brukes som demonstrativer allerede på 1800-tallet, på samme måte som beskrevet av Johannessen (2008a,b).This paper is concerned with pronominal demonstatives (referred to as psychologically distal demonstratives by Johannessen 2008a, b) in older Norwegian spoken language, and written Swedish from the 19th century and the present-day. We show that pronominal demonstratives can be attested in speakers born in different parts of Norway in the 19th century, and in Swedish texts from the same period. However, the pronominal forms do not seem to be used in precisely the same way in the two languages. In Swedish, han/hon ‘he/she’ do not seem to behave formally like demonstratives. Instead, we propose that they are syntactically reduced pronouns at the edge of the DP, above the position for demonstratives, and that they double features lower down in the noun phrase. In Norwegian, on the other hand, han/hun are used as demonstratives already in the 19th century, in the way described for present-day Norwegian by Johannessen (2008a, b).publishedVersio

Syntactic architecture and its consequences II: Between syntax and morphology

This volume collects novel contributions to comparative generative linguistics that “rethink” existing approaches to an extensive range of phenomena, domains, and architectural questions in linguistic theory. At the heart of the contributions is the tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy which has long animated generative linguistics and which continues to grow thanks to the increasing amount and diversity of data available to us. The chapters address research questions in comparative morphosyntax, including the modelling of syntactic categories, relative clauses, and demonstrative systems. Many of these contributions show the influence of research by Ian Roberts and collaborators and give the reader a sense of the lively nature of current discussion of topics in morphosyntax and morphosyntactic variation. This book is complemented by volume I available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/275 and volume III available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/277

Syntactic architecture and its consequences II: Between syntax and morphology

This volume collects novel contributions to comparative generative linguistics that “rethink” existing approaches to an extensive range of phenomena, domains, and architectural questions in linguistic theory. At the heart of the contributions is the tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy which has long animated generative linguistics and which continues to grow thanks to the increasing amount and diversity of data available to us. The chapters address research questions in comparative morphosyntax, including the modelling of syntactic categories, relative clauses, and demonstrative systems. Many of these contributions show the influence of research by Ian Roberts and collaborators and give the reader a sense of the lively nature of current discussion of topics in morphosyntax and morphosyntactic variation. This book is complemented by volume I available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/275 and volume III available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/277

Syntactic architecture and its consequences II: Between syntax and morphology

This volume collects novel contributions to comparative generative linguistics that “rethink” existing approaches to an extensive range of phenomena, domains, and architectural questions in linguistic theory. At the heart of the contributions is the tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy which has long animated generative linguistics and which continues to grow thanks to the increasing amount and diversity of data available to us. The chapters address research questions in comparative morphosyntax, including the modelling of syntactic categories, relative clauses, and demonstrative systems. Many of these contributions show the influence of research by Ian Roberts and collaborators and give the reader a sense of the lively nature of current discussion of topics in morphosyntax and morphosyntactic variation. This book is complemented by volume I available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/275 and volume III available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/277