The object position in Old Norwegian
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Juliane Tiemann
Abstract
OV/VO variation in Germanic languages is a widely discussed subject. However, Old Norwegian has so far received little attention and is syntactically generally treated as one with Old Icelandic. However, in contrast to the findings of Hróarsdóttir (2000, 2009) for Old Icelandic, stating that OV orders are triggered mainly by the prosodic weight of the object, the present study shows that OV/VO variation in Old Norwegian is still more dependent on an interplay of both information status and prosodic weight of a constituent in a clause. I argue that the results for the information status of the object reflect the syntactic development in the history of Norwegian as a change in the way information-structural categories are displayed in the grammar.
Abstract
OV/VO variation in Germanic languages is a widely discussed subject. However, Old Norwegian has so far received little attention and is syntactically generally treated as one with Old Icelandic. However, in contrast to the findings of Hróarsdóttir (2000, 2009) for Old Icelandic, stating that OV orders are triggered mainly by the prosodic weight of the object, the present study shows that OV/VO variation in Old Norwegian is still more dependent on an interplay of both information status and prosodic weight of a constituent in a clause. I argue that the results for the information status of the object reflect the syntactic development in the history of Norwegian as a change in the way information-structural categories are displayed in the grammar.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Interface phenomena and language change 1
-
Part I. Interface phenomena at the intrasentential level
- Information structure and Jespersen’s cycle 35
- The object position in Old Norwegian 61
- Bare quantifiers and Verb Second 95
- On the role of information structure in the licensing of null subjects in Old High German 123
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Part II. Interface phenomena at the intersentential level
- Gehen as a new auxiliary in German 165
- Discourse-driven asymmetries between embedded interrogatives and relative clauses in West Germanic 189
- Discourse relations and the German prefield 215
- Informational aspects of the extraposition of relative clauses 235
- Index 253
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Interface phenomena and language change 1
-
Part I. Interface phenomena at the intrasentential level
- Information structure and Jespersen’s cycle 35
- The object position in Old Norwegian 61
- Bare quantifiers and Verb Second 95
- On the role of information structure in the licensing of null subjects in Old High German 123
-
Part II. Interface phenomena at the intersentential level
- Gehen as a new auxiliary in German 165
- Discourse-driven asymmetries between embedded interrogatives and relative clauses in West Germanic 189
- Discourse relations and the German prefield 215
- Informational aspects of the extraposition of relative clauses 235
- Index 253
