Chapter 3. Word order and verb movement in Norwegian wh-questions

2017 ◽  
pp. 35-56
Author(s):  
Marit Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Wh Questions

scholarly journals On the Acquisition of Word Order in WH-Questions in theTromsø Dialect

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.48 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Richardsen Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Syntactic Form ◽  
Wh Questions

This article reports on a study of three children acquiring a dialect of Norwegian which allows two different word orders in certain types of WH-questions, verb second (V2) and and verb third (V3). The latter is only allowed after monosyllabic WH-words, while the former, which is the result of verb movement, is the word order found in all other main clauses in the language. It is shown that both V2 and V3 are acquired extremely early by the children in the study (before the age of two), and that subtle distinctions between the two orders with respect to information structure are attested from the beginning. However, it is argued that V3 word order, which should be ìsimplerî than the V2 structure as it does not involve verb movement, is nevertheless acquired slightly later in its full syntactic form. This is taken as an indication that the V3 structure is syntactically more complex, and possibly also more marked.

scholarly journals The Interaction of Input and UG in the Acquisition of Verb Movement in a Dialect of Norwegian

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.61 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit R. Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Early Production ◽  
The Subject

In this paper it is argued that a principle of information structure provided by Universal Grammar (UG) may interact with input in the acquisition of word order. In a study which investigates three children from the age of approximately 1;9 to 3 acquiring a Northern dialect of Norwegian, it has previously been shown that word order patterns in certain types of wh-questions which are sensitive to subtle distinctions in the information value of the subject (given vs. new) are acquired extremely early (Westergaard 2003a). This paper presents a study of the same children’s topicalization constructions, and it is shown that, although these patterns of information structure do not appear in the input, the children nevertheless show traces of these patterns in the non-target forms that they occasionally produce. Thus, in their very early production of topicalization constructions the children seem to be guided by a word order principle based on information structure, which could be taken as support for this as a word order preferred by UG.

scholarly journals Optional word order in wh-questions in two Norwegian dialects: a diachronic analysis of synchronic variation

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit R. Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Critical Level ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Spontaneous Production ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Diachronic Analysis ◽  
Split Cp

Based on a corpus of spontaneous production data, this paper compares the word order of wh-questions in two Norwegian dialects, Kåfjord and Tromsø. While the choice of word order (V2 or non-V2) in Tromsø is dependent on information structure, the Kåfjord speakers produce considerably more non-V2 in questions with monosyllabic wh-elements. The majority of questions with multisyllabic wh-constituents, on the other hand, occurs with V2. This synchronic variation is given a diachronic analysis within a Split-CP model of clause structure and a cue-based approach to acquisition and change, where an economy principle (head preference) also plays an important role. Furthermore, an information structure drift from V2 to non-V2 is argued to cause the cue for verb movement to fall below a critical level in the input to children, the result being that V2 only survives in lexically marked cases in Kåfjord, i.e. with the verb ‘be’.

OV versus VO in Old High German

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Petrova ◽  
Helmut Weiß
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Functional Projection ◽  
Functional Head ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
The Right

This chapter surveys the word order variation in the right periphery of the clause in OHG. The investigation is based on a corpus including all dependent clauses introduced by the complementizer thaz ‘that’ in the minor OHG documents, a collection of up to forty smaller texts of various genres. The analysis shows that the majority of the data can be explained within a standard OV grammar, assuming additional extraposition of heavy XPs to the right. But apart from these cases, there is evidence supporting the assumption of leftward movement of the verb to an intermediate functional projection vP which is optional with basic OV but obligatory with basic VO. In addition, the chapter presents patterns which evidently involve verb movement to a higher functional head, above vP, and discusses the nature of the landing site of the verb in these cases.

The intonation of wh-questions in Franco-Ontarian

1973 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-101
Author(s):  
Renée Baligand ◽  
Eric James
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Canadian French ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Interrogative Sentence ◽  
Question Intonation

The melodic structure of an interrogative utterance frequently depends on the grammatical structure of the sentence in question. In addition to the enunciative sentence of the kind vous venez? which bears a particular acoustic mark of interrogation, a rise in fundamental frequency in sentence-final position, there exist also interrogative utterances signalled by inversion of word order and still others marked by lexical means, the WH-questions. It is the intonation of this latter type of sentence which we intend to examine in the Canadian-French spoken in Ontario.The intonation of interrogative sentences has for some years been the object of important research in different languages. Wells (1945) and Trager and Smith (1951) note in English an intonation curve at the following levels: 2 - 3 - 1 - without any tonal prominence on the interrogative word. Armstrong and Ward (1926), Jones (1932) and Faure (1948) also find that this type of interrogative sentence has a descending intonation. Fries (1964) finds no specific intonation pattern in a spontaneous corpus from which he studied yes-no questions. For German, Von Essen (1956) notes two intonation patterns: one rising (question intonation) and one falling (interrogative intonation).

Syntax

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Jochen Zeller
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Syntactic Properties

This chapter presents an overview of the most important syntactic properties of African languages and language families. It investigates the status of syntactic word categories (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, etc.) and examines the different word orders and word order alternations that are observed phrase-internally and at the level of the clause. Also discussed are syntactic constructions such as the passive, wh-questions, and relative clauses, as well as morphological phenomena that bear a close relation to syntax, such as case and agreement. Special attention is drawn to syntactic traits which are attested in African languages but which occur rarely, or not at all, outside Africa, such as the SVO–S-Aux-OV word order alternation (found in Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages as well as in Northern Khoisan), the construct state nominal (a characteristic of Afro-Asiatic languages), or logophoricity (a feature of subgroups of Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afro-Asiatic).

scholarly journals Interlanguage studies in a cross cultural context: the interlanguage of Spanish speakers (L1) in an approach English (L2), German (L3)

2009 ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Claudia Grümpel
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Children And Adolescent ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Verb Placement ◽  
Grammar Analysis

This paper focuses on the acquisition of word order in German by adult native speakers of Spanish in an institutional context (longitudinal study) and a contrastive study on children and adolescent acquisition using transversal tests. The theoretical framework is based on generative grammar analysis proposed for verb placement in German and a review of recent acquisition studies. Analyses of verb movement account for an underlying subject-verb-object order for all languages proposed by Zwart (1993, 1997) based on parallel works by Kayne (1993, 1994) and Chomsky (1993, 1995).

scholarly journals Resilient grammars: On VO/OV in Germanic linguistic islands in Northern Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-355
Author(s):  
Cecilia Poletto ◽  
Günther Grewendorf
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Specific Property ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Common Path ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Linguistic Islands

In this work we consider some residual cases of OV order in Cimbrian and show that this is due to the interaction between verb movement, a language specific property, and the syntax of bare quantifiers. This has consequences on a general theory on the change of the basic word order, since it shows that the passage from OV to VO can involve different structures in different languages depending on other properties, hence it is not possible to trace a common path in the diachronic change for all languages that have undergone this mutation.

scholarly journals BASIC WORD ORDER IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE: A HYBRID EXTENDED PROJECTION PRINCIPLE (EPP) | A ORDEM BÁSICA DE PALAVRAS NO PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO: UM PRINCÍPIO DA PROJEÇÃO ESTENDIDO (EPP) HÍBRIDO

2017 ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Michelle Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Explanatory Account ◽  
Extended Projection ◽  
The Subject

<p>This paper proposes a novel analysis of word order in Brazilian Portuguese (BP), based on a hybrid model of EPP satisfaction. It is proposed that the subject requirement or EPP is a [uD] feature on T which can be satisfied either by DP movement or by movement of an inflected verb bearing a [D] feature in BP. This, it is claimed, offers an explanatory account of basic word order patterns in BP.  External argument DPs, merged above V, are closer to T than V, meaning that they must raise to satisfy the EPP, predicting SV(O) order with transitive and unergative predicates, including transitive psych-predicates. Internal arguments are merged below V, however, and so with unaccusatives, it is movement of the verb bearing a [uD] feature which satisfies the EPP, giving rise to VS order. With copular verbs which take small clause complements, a similar affect holds, as the copular verb can satisfy the EPP. Verb movement can also satisfy the EPP in impersonal contexts, hence the fact that BP lacks overt expletives.</p><p>Resumo: Este artigo propõe uma nova análise da ordem de palavras no Português Brasileiro (PB), baseada num modelo hibrido de satisfação do Princípio da Projeção Extendido (PPE). Propõe-se que o requisito de sujeito ou PPE é um rasgo [uD] no núcleo T, que se pode satisfazer ou por alçamento de um DP ou por movimento de um verbo flexionado com um traço [D] no PB. Esta abordagem oferece uma análise explanatória da ordem básica das palavras no PB. Os argumentos externos (dos verbos transitivos e inergativos) que originam acima do verbo, são mais perto de T, assim que devem mover para satisfazer o PPE, o que prediz corretamente a ordem SV(O) com estes verbos (incluso os predicados psicológicos transitivos).  Os argumentos internos originam abaixo do verbo, assim que com os verbos inacusativos, e o verbo com um traco [D] que deve satisfazer o PPE, ocasionando a ordem VS. Com os verbos copulares com clausulas pequenas como complemento, observamos algo parecido porque a verbo copulativo também pode satisfazer o PPE. O alçamento do verbo também pode satisfazer o PPE em contextos impessoais, por isso a falta de expletivos no PB. </p><p> </p>

scholarly journals New methodologies in the Nordic Syntax Database: Word order variation in Norwegian wh-questions

1970 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maud Westendorp
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Map Building ◽  
Time Study ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Detailed Assessment ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
And Function

Across Norwegian dialects, wh-questions show variation concerning word order possibilities, with many dialects allowing non-V2 word order. The acceptance of this order differs across dialects and depends on the complexity and function of the wh-element. This study examines data from 409 informants across 105 sites in the Nordic Syntax Database (NSD). Throughout the study, new methodologies are used in an attempt to overcome some of the limitations of the NSD-map building tool as well as present new insights from a more detailed assessment of the acceptability judgements. Analysis of the frequency of these acceptability judgements on four test items showed that four grammars could be distinguished: those that allow either only V2 word order; non-V2 word order across all wh-questions; non-V2 in all but long non-subject wh-questions; or non-V2 only with short whs. An apparent-time study of the data supports a diachronic connection between some but not all of the varieties.

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