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- Volume 17, Issue, 2017
Linguistic Variation - Volume 17, Issue 1, 2017
Volume 17, Issue 1, 2017
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Variation and change in Norwegian wh-questions
Author(s): Marit Westergaard, Øystein A. Vangsnes and Terje Lohndalpp.: 8–43 (36)More LessIn this paper, we consider variation in Verb Second (V2) word order in wh-questions across Norwegian dialects by investigating data from the Nordic Syntax Database (NSD), which consists of acceptability judgments collected at more than 100 locations in Norway. We trace the geographical distribution of the two main variables: phrasal vs. monosyllabic wh-elements (the latter argued to be heads) and subject vs. non-subject questions. In subject questions, non-V2 is realized by inserting the complementizer som in second position instead of the verb. We also discuss the connection between non-V2 and the possibility of inserting the complementizer som under extraction of a wh-subject from an embedded clause, i.e. in that-trace contexts. Based on synchronic data, we propose a diachronic account of the geographical distribution and argue that the development from V2 to non-V2 has started in subject questions, thus allowing us to relate the loss of the V2 requirement to changes in the properties of the complementizer som.
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How bare are bare quantifiers?
Author(s): Jacopo Garzonio and Cecilia Polettopp.: 44–67 (24)More LessIn this article we analyze the internal structure of bare universal and negative quantifiers in Italian varieties, taking into consideration both synchronic and diachronic variation. It is proposed that bare quantifiers are not standard QPs with a null DP restrictor, but deficient items where the Q-portion is paired with a classifier expressing the [+/− human]-feature, more specifically a special type of light noun. Items of this type are overtly realized in languages like English and in some Italian varieties. The overt realization of these items appears to be related to the surface position of the QP, as is crucially shown by some varieties that allow both variants. The paper also discusses some cases where these classifiers are still lexically ambiguous between a full noun and a light noun.
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The rise of contrastive modality in English
Author(s): Elizabeth Cowper and Daniel Currie Hallpp.: 68–97 (30)More LessThis paper proposes an account of the morphosyntactic and semantic changes involved in the historical development of the English modals as a distinct category. Adopting a neoparametric approach, in which a language’s inventory of grammatical features may change over time, we show that a cluster of related surface changes can be accounted for by positing that the feature modality was added to English tense/mood system. While the most immediate manifestation of this change was the grammaticalization of the modals themselves, this in turn altered the system of contrasts in the language: in clauses without modal verbs, the absence of the modal became contrastive, narrowing the range of possible interpretations.
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Variation and change in the Degree Phrase
Author(s): Will Oxfordpp.: 98–110 (13)More LessThis squib investigates syntactic variation and change in the Degree Phrase (DegP) using three modifiers in the semantic field of ‘different’ as a case study: English different and other and French différent. The squib makes two main claims. The synchronic claim is that these modifiers display extensive microsyntactic variation, spanning a range of positions from A in the DegP to D in the DP. The diachronic claim is that items in this class display a tendency to move to higher syntactic positions in a way that is familiar from better-studied syntactic domains. Data from the DegP is thus compatible with, and useful for, generative theories of syntactic variation and change.
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On prosodic variation and the distribution of wh- in-situ
Author(s): Jason Kandybowiczpp.: 111–148 (38)More LessWh- in-situ is a pervasive feature of Tano interrogative syntax, yet the Tano languages differ from one another in subtle ways with respect to the distribution of in-situ interrogatives. Languages like Krachi and Bono allow wh- in-situ in both main and embedded complement clauses, whereas closely related languages like Wasa and Asante Twi only allow wh- in-situ in main clauses. In this article, I argue that the generalization underpinning this variation in Tano concerns a prohibition on wh- items phrasing with C0 at the level of Intonational Phrase (ιP). I show that the ability of a wh- item to appear in-situ correlates with the prosodic status of its immediately containing clause. Embedded complement clauses are parsed as independent ιP units in Krachi and Bono, but not in Wasa and Asante Twi. Thus, ιP boundaries divide C0 from embedded interrogatives in Krachi and Bono, preventing the items from forming a prosodic constituent at the level of ιP. Conversely, no such boundaries intervene between embedded C0 and wh- in Wasa and Asante Twi, yielding prosodic mappings in which the items phrase together. Consequently, embedded wh- in-situ is prosodically licit in Krachi and Bono, but not in Wasa and Asante Twi. In this way, the Tano pattern of wh- in-situ variation described above reduces to a difference in how syntactic structures are externalized via prosodic mapping.
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