Stylistic fronting and related constructions in the Insular Scandinavian Languages
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Ásgrímur Angantýsson
Abstract
This chapter reports on the similarities and differences between Stylistic Fronting (SF) and related constructions in Icelandic and Faroese. Contrary to the claim that “any category can become an expletive” (Holmberg 2000), it is argued that stylistically fronted elements and overt expletives are not equivalent. In both languages, expletive insertion is preferred over SF in complement clauses, but in Faroese, unlike in Icelandic, expletive insertion is preferred over SF in adverbial clauses and relative clauses as well. The overall data presented and discussed here suggest that the possibility of SF is partly conditioned by the clause type and the nature of the element fronted by SF and partly by lexical/idiomatic factors.
Abstract
This chapter reports on the similarities and differences between Stylistic Fronting (SF) and related constructions in Icelandic and Faroese. Contrary to the claim that “any category can become an expletive” (Holmberg 2000), it is argued that stylistically fronted elements and overt expletives are not equivalent. In both languages, expletive insertion is preferred over SF in complement clauses, but in Faroese, unlike in Icelandic, expletive insertion is preferred over SF in adverbial clauses and relative clauses as well. The overall data presented and discussed here suggest that the possibility of SF is partly conditioned by the clause type and the nature of the element fronted by SF and partly by lexical/idiomatic factors.
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
