Determining the nature of intra-speaker subject case variation
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Iris Edda Nowenstein
Abstract
Extensive syntactic surveys show that variation in subject case appears in both Insular Scandinavian languages. The results furthermore indicate that intra-speaker variation is widespread and that Person-Specific Retention (PSR) is one of the characteristics of the variation in both Icelandic and Faroese. Many questions on the nature of the variation remain unanswered and no formal account of the PSR has been provided. In this paper I shed light on the subject by presenting new data from Icelandic, Faroese and heritage North-American Icelandic. Experimental language acquisition data can be particularly decisive regarding the nature of the intra-speaker variation and the variation and PSR can be accounted for formally within Yang’s (2002, 2016) variational model of acquisition.
Abstract
Extensive syntactic surveys show that variation in subject case appears in both Insular Scandinavian languages. The results furthermore indicate that intra-speaker variation is widespread and that Person-Specific Retention (PSR) is one of the characteristics of the variation in both Icelandic and Faroese. Many questions on the nature of the variation remain unanswered and no formal account of the PSR has been provided. In this paper I shed light on the subject by presenting new data from Icelandic, Faroese and heritage North-American Icelandic. Experimental language acquisition data can be particularly decisive regarding the nature of the intra-speaker variation and the variation and PSR can be accounted for formally within Yang’s (2002, 2016) variational model of acquisition.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- On quantity and quality in syntactic variation studies 19
- Variation in oblique subject constructions in Insular Scandinavian 53
- Determining the nature of intra-speaker subject case variation 91
- Variation in dative in Faroese 113
- Avoiding Genitive in Icelandic 141
- Dimensions of Variation 165
- Inverse attraction in Icelandic relative clauses 199
- Variation in copular agreement in Insular Scandinavian 233
- Stylistic fronting and related constructions in the Insular Scandinavian Languages 277
- Stylistic fronting in corpora 307
- Index 339
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- On quantity and quality in syntactic variation studies 19
- Variation in oblique subject constructions in Insular Scandinavian 53
- Determining the nature of intra-speaker subject case variation 91
- Variation in dative in Faroese 113
- Avoiding Genitive in Icelandic 141
- Dimensions of Variation 165
- Inverse attraction in Icelandic relative clauses 199
- Variation in copular agreement in Insular Scandinavian 233
- Stylistic fronting and related constructions in the Insular Scandinavian Languages 277
- Stylistic fronting in corpora 307
- Index 339
