Finiteness
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Kristin Melum Eide
Abstract
The lack of overt inflectional markings encoding finiteness is a crucial difference between Present Day English (PDE) and modern Mainland Scandinavian languages (MSc). In contrast to previous analyses, our approach considers finiteness a primitive distinction explicitly expressed in verbal forms and, crucially, cutting across tense, mood, and agreement markings. Middle English (ME), like MSc, encoded finiteness. MSc languages have retained the encoding of the finiteness distinction in spite of the loss of mood and agreement markings, but PDE main verbs have lost this distinction (although they have tense and agreement markings). This loss leads to a range of syntactic differences between MSc and PDE, such as do-support, different auxiliary-main verb splits, and the lack of V2 in PDE.
Abstract
The lack of overt inflectional markings encoding finiteness is a crucial difference between Present Day English (PDE) and modern Mainland Scandinavian languages (MSc). In contrast to previous analyses, our approach considers finiteness a primitive distinction explicitly expressed in verbal forms and, crucially, cutting across tense, mood, and agreement markings. Middle English (ME), like MSc, encoded finiteness. MSc languages have retained the encoding of the finiteness distinction in spite of the loss of mood and agreement markings, but PDE main verbs have lost this distinction (although they have tense and agreement markings). This loss leads to a range of syntactic differences between MSc and PDE, such as do-support, different auxiliary-main verb splits, and the lack of V2 in PDE.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Advances in Comparative Germanic Syntax vii
-
Part I. Cartography and the left periphery
- On a ( wh -)moved Topic in Italian, compared to Germanic 3
- C-agreement or something close to it 41
- Uncharted territory? 59
- Bootstrapping verb movement and the clausal architecture of German (and other languages) 85
- A conjunction conspiracy at the West Germanic left periphery 119
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Part II. Word order and movement
- Reconsidering odd coordination in German 151
- The syntax and semantics of the temporal anaphor “then” in Old and Middle English 171
- Jespersen’s Cycle and the issue of prosodic ‘weakness’ 197
- Holmberg’s Generalization 219
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Part III. Thematic relations and NP realization
- The No Case Generalization 249
- The new impersonal as a true passive 281
- Anaphoric distribution in the prepositional phrase 307
-
Part IV. Finiteness and modality
- Experiencers with (un)willingness 327
- Finiteness 357
- Index of subjects & languages 391
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Advances in Comparative Germanic Syntax vii
-
Part I. Cartography and the left periphery
- On a ( wh -)moved Topic in Italian, compared to Germanic 3
- C-agreement or something close to it 41
- Uncharted territory? 59
- Bootstrapping verb movement and the clausal architecture of German (and other languages) 85
- A conjunction conspiracy at the West Germanic left periphery 119
-
Part II. Word order and movement
- Reconsidering odd coordination in German 151
- The syntax and semantics of the temporal anaphor “then” in Old and Middle English 171
- Jespersen’s Cycle and the issue of prosodic ‘weakness’ 197
- Holmberg’s Generalization 219
-
Part III. Thematic relations and NP realization
- The No Case Generalization 249
- The new impersonal as a true passive 281
- Anaphoric distribution in the prepositional phrase 307
-
Part IV. Finiteness and modality
- Experiencers with (un)willingness 327
- Finiteness 357
- Index of subjects & languages 391
