10. The Syntax of Others: ‘Un-Icelandic’ Verb Placement in 19thand Early 20th-Century Icelandic

Viðarsson, Heimir van der Feest

doi:10.21832/9781783096510-012

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Stability and change in Icelandic weather verbs

Sigurðardóttir

Eythórsson

2019

Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Contrary to previous claims, weather verbs in Icelandic are not “no-argument” predicates. Both in Old and Modern Icelandic they can appear with an NP either in nominative, accusative or dative case. It can be shown that in Modern Icelandic the NPs are subjects, and this is likely to have been the case in Old Icelandic. Diachronically, in addition to some changes in subject case marking (Nominative Substitution and Impersonalization), the main innovations in weather verbs involve the introduction of the “expletive” elements það and hann. On the whole, however, there is considerable stability in the use of weather verbs in the history of Icelandic. Not only are the lexical items nearly all the same, but a clear continuity in the syntax of weather expressions can be documented.

show abstract

Stability and change in Icelandic weather verbs

Sigurðardóttir

Eythórsson

2019

Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Morphology and syntax in the Scandinavian vernaculars of Ovansiljan

Garbacz

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The paper deals with the assumed correlation between morphological and syntactic phenomena, especially the one that has its roots in a parametric approach to syntax since (Chomsky 1981). Its main focus is on testing predictions presented in two works (Bobaljik and Thráinsson 1998 and Holmberg 2010a). These papers connect verbal morphology with a clustering of syntactic phenomena in the Scandinavian languages and maintain that morphological evidence – in the form of ‘rich’ verbal agreement – signifies a positive setting of a parameter that in turn makes certain syntactic patterns possible. In the present paper it is shown how this relation works when tested on a group of Ovansiljan vernaculars (East Scandinavian non-standard varieties). Five of these vernaculars have retained verbal agreement in number and person, whereas two others have not. It turns out that the hypotheses encounter difficulties when faced with the Ovansiljan data.

show abstract

Icelandic in late modernity: On language policy discourses, stylistic variation, and the fate of purism and standard language ideology

Kristinsson,

Árnason

2024

Sociolinguistica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social changes in late modernity have implications for the ways in which variation in Icelandic language use comes to be associated with different modes of communication, and for the labelling of forms in terms of “correctness” or “purity”. While a conception of “standard” still seems to prevail, there is continual transition as regards which particular linguistic traits and practices serve as manifestations of “standard language use”. A diachronic look at official language policies shows a gradual shift away from an ideal of preserving the traditional forms of Icelandic. A change took place around the turn of the millennium, with increased focus on domains of language use and the status of Icelandic as the national language. Currently, language-political discourses yet again suggest a broadened focus so that “the language” is being complemented by “the speakers” with an emphasis on human rights. Conflicts have emerged between the well-established “language-oriented” prescriptive practices, and the more recent “speaker-oriented” language planning efforts. But still the role of Icelandic as a national language and historical treasure seems to prevail, and in both camps, there are concerns that foreign languages pose a threat to Icelandic.

show abstract

10. The Syntax of Others: ‘Un-Icelandic’ Verb Placement in 19thand Early 20th-Century Icelandic

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Stability and change in Icelandic weather verbs

Stability and change in Icelandic weather verbs

Morphology and syntax in the Scandinavian vernaculars of Ovansiljan

Icelandic in late modernity: On language policy discourses, stylistic variation, and the fate of purism and standard language ideology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About