FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS North Germanic Negation A Microcomparative Perspective Christine B. Østbø Munch A dissertation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor May 2013 North Germanic Negation A Microcomparative Perspective Christine B. Østbø Munch A thesis submitted for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor University of Tromsø Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Department Of Language and Linguistics May 2013 Acknowledgements After almost eight years in Tromsø, I’ve got new friends, a wedding, two wonderful boys and a dissertation. I want to thank the University of Tromsø for giving me the opportunity to settle north of Steinkjer, something I surely wouldn’t have even considered otherwise. Although Tromsø was bare and cold and rainy when we arrived in August 2005 and moved into a block of sheet metal painted in various pastels, I’ve got accustomed to it. And at least seven months of snow a year is all right as long as it is skiing conditions, and when the skiing season is over, there is the midnight sun! First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor Øystein Vangsnes, who has read and commented on numerous drafts, encouraged me to give presentations from early on (which I really see the importance of now) and including me in to the ScanDiaSyn network and NORMS, to which I also owe much. In the same breath I would like to thank the department of Nordic languages and the people there; CASTL and the ex-directors Curt Rice and Marit Westergaard in particular. I must also thank all my fellow PhD-students during these years, in particular Madeleine, Monika, Linda, Åsta, Kaori, Yulia, Silje, Anita, Kristine, Helene, Marina, Mai, Björn, Pavel, Peter M. and Åse Mette. For helping me out (or strongly offering to help) with my work, little or much, I thank Madeleine Halmøy, Endre Mørck, Kristine Bentzen, Piotr Garbacz, Anita Røreng, Åsta Haukås, Silje Gaupseth, Birgit Attestog and Bjørn Olav Juberg. For the last weeks of intensive work, I thank my fellow thesis-hard-worker Mona Markussen for relaxing coffee breaks, Brit Munch, Ingunn Munch Lindvig and Lars Andreas Ø. Munch for participating in “thesis camp” and “-dugnad”. I would also like to thank my (old) family: Mamma and Oddvar, Helene and Ketil, and Andreas for accepting that I moved to this ‘cold place’ and believing in me (at least Mamma). Finally, I give my greatest thanksgivings to my (new) family, who especially these last months have had a tough time. Øystein has once more impatiently patiently waited for me to finish my book, so that he again can spend time with me. Aksel has still got his ‘pupp’ and survived. Lars has been patiently impatient. He has again (when he has not been away) experienced how it is to be a single father of two – he has been responsible for almost everything in the house, and mostly been in a good mood. Without him, this would have become a never-ending story! Tromsø, 2013 May 4. Christine B. Østbø Munch. i ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 1.1.1 THE DOMAIN OF INVESTIGATION 1 1.1.2 SCANDINAVIAN GEOGRAPHY AND DIALECTS 4 1.2 GENERATIVE GRAMMAR AND DIALECT SYNTAX 6 1.2.1 GENERATIVE GRAMMAR 6 1.2.2 I-LANGUAGE, E-LANGUAGE AND DIALECT GRAMMARS 7 1.2.3 PARAMETERS 8 1.3 THEORETICAL DESIDERATA 9 1.3.1 NEGATIVE MARKERS OCCUR IN NEGP 9 1.3.2 THE CLAUSAL STRUCTURE AND THE LOCUS OF NEGP 11 1.3.3 NEGATIVE HEADS AND NEGATIVE CLITICS (FROM A NORWEGIAN PERSPECTIVE) 11 1.3.4 SCOPE OF NEGATION 15 1.4 NEGATION IN NORTH GERMANIC 18 1.4.1 THE NEGATIVE MARKERS ACROSS NORTH GERMANIC 18 1.4.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND JESPERSEN’S CYCLE 19 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THEORETICAL HYPOTHESES 21 1.6 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION 22 2 METHODOLOGY 23 2.1 GENERAL REMARKS 23 2.1.1 GRAMMATICALITY AND ACCEPTABILITY 23 2.1.2 LINGUISTIC JUDGEMENTS 24 2.1.3 CORPORA 25 2.2 TOOLS AND RESOURCES 26 2.2.1 SELECTION OF DIALECTS 26 2.2.2 SCANDIASYN – SCANDINAVIAN DIALECT SYNTAX 27 2.2.3 NORMS DIALECT WORKSHOPS 35 2.2.4 NORDIC SYNTAX DATABASE 38 2.2.5 NORDIC DIALECT CORPUS 39 2.2.6 THE NOTA-CORPUS 40 2.2.7 DESCRIPTION OF MY METHODOLOGY WHEN USING THE NDC- AND THE NOTA-CORPORA 41 2.2.8 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS AND DISCUSSION OF THE NDC- AND THE NOTA-CORPORA 43 2.2.9 TALESØK (UIB) 45 2.2.10 INFORMANTS RECRUITED ON MY OWN 46 2.2.11 LITERATURE 47 2.2.12 WEB SEARCHES 47 2.3 INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS 48 iii 2.4 SUMMARY 49 3 THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEGATION IN MAIN CLAUSES 51 3.1 INTRODUCTION 51 3.2 BACKGROUND 52 3.2.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 52 3.2.2 THE RELATIVE ORDER OF NEGATION AND SUBJECTS 54 3.2.3 THE RELATIVE ORDER OF NEGATION AND OBJECTS 55 3.2.4 THE PRAGMATICS OF THE RELATIVE ORDERS IN THE MIDDLE FIELD 56 3.3 THE RELATIVE ORDER OF NEGATION AND ARGUMENTS IN THE OSLO DIALECT 59 3.3.1 INTRODUCTION 59 3.3.2 THE RELATIVE ORDER OF NEGATION AND SUBJECTS 60 3.3.3 THE ORDER OF NEGATION AND PRONOMINAL OBJECTS 64 3.3.4 OVERALL DISCUSSION OF THE STATUS OF IKKE IN THE OSLO DIALECT 69 3.4 THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEGATION WITH RESPECT TO SUBJECTS ACROSS NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 71 3.4.1 INTRODUCTION 71 3.4.2 NORWEGIAN 72 3.4.3 ON SOME SWEDISH DIALECTS 80 3.4.4 ON DANISH DIALECTS 84 3.4.5 FAROESE 87 3.4.6 ICELANDIC 88 3.4.7 DISCUSSION 89 3.5 SUMMARY 91 4 THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEGATION IN EMBEDDED CLAUSES 93 4.1 INTRODUCTION 93 4.2 ISSUES OF VARIATION 94 4.3 EMBEDDED V3 95 4.3.1 BACKGROUND 95 4.3.2 NEG/ADV > SUBJECT > VFIN: SENTENCE TYPE RESTRICTIONS 96 4.3.3 NEG/ADV > SUBJECT > VFIN: SUBJECT TYPE RESTRICTIONS 97 4.3.4 NEG/ADV > SUBJECT > VFIN: ADVERB TYPE RESTRICTIONS 99 4.4 EMBEDDED V2 101 4.4.1 BACKGROUND 101 4.4.2 SENTENCE TYPES RESTRICTIONS 102 4.4.3 SUBJECT TYPE RESTRICTIONS 106 4.4.4 ADVERB TYPE RESTRICTIONS 107 4.4.5 THEORETICAL ACCOUNTS OF EMBEDDED V2 AND V3 CLAUSES 109 4.5 EMBEDDED WORD ORDER PATTERNS IN NORTH GERMANIC 110 4.6 EMBEDDED V3 IN THE OSLO DIALECT 111 4.6.1 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 111 4.6.2 DISCUSSION 114 iv 4.6.3 ADVERBS 116 4.6.4 ANALYSIS 118 4.6.5 EXCEPTIONS 120 4.6.6 COMPARISON OF MAIN AND EMBEDDED WORD ORDER 123 4.7 THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEGATION IN EMBEDDED CLAUSES ACROSS NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 123 4.7.1 NORWEGIAN 124 4.7.2 SWEDISH 129 4.7.3 DANISH 131 4.7.4 A NOTE ON FAROESE 135 4.7.5 A NOTE ON ICELANDIC 136 4.7.6 ISOGLOSSES IN THE LITERATURE 136 4.7.7 ON THE MODERN VARIETIES 138 4.8 SUMMARY 140 5 CASE-STUDIES: THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEGATION IN MAIN AND EMBEDDED CLAUSES 141 5.1 INTRODUCTION 141 5.2 THE DIALECTS OF TRØNDELAG 143 5.2.1 INTRODUCTION 143 5.2.2 MAIN CLAUSES 145 5.2.3 EMBEDDED V3 CLAUSES 151 5.2.4 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGATIVE MARKER IKKE AND ADVERBS 154 5.2.5 THE DIALECT GRAMMARS OF THE FOSEN DIALECTS 155 5.3 THE DIALECT OF SENJA (AND NORTHERN NORWEGIAN) 155 5.3.1 MAIN CLAUSES 156 5.3.2 EMBEDDED V3 CLAUSES 159 5.3.3 DISCUSSION 161 5.4 THE DIALECTS OF NORDFJORD AND BERGEN 162 5.4.1 THE NORDFJORD DIALECT 164 5.4.2 THE BERGEN DIALECT 168 5.4.3 THE DIALECT GRAMMARS OF STRYN/NORDFJORD AND BERGEN 173 5.5 ÖVDALIAN 173 5.5.1 INTRODUCTION 173 5.5.2 MAIN CLAUSES 174 5.5.3 EMBEDDED V3 CLAUSES 177 5.5.4 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGATIVE MARKERS 178 5.5.5 DISCUSSION 179 5.5.6 THE DIALECT GRAMMAR OF ÖVDALIAN 180 5.6 THE DIALECT(S) OF NORTHERN OSTROBOTHNIA 181 5.6.1 INTRODUCTION 181 5.6.2 MAIN CLAUSES 181 5.6.3 EMBEDDED V3 CLAUSES 183 5.6.4 DISCUSSION 184 v 5.7 STRUCTURAL ANALYSES 184 5.8 VERB MOVEMENT ACROSS NEGATION IN TWO MAINLAND NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 193 5.8.1 ÖVDALIAN 194 5.8.2 THE SETESDAL DIALECT 197 5.8.3 COMPARISON: ÖVDALIAN AND THE SETESDAL VARIETIES 200 5.8.4 PREMISES OF AN ANALYSIS AND A DISCUSSION OF THE ACCOUNT IN GARBACZ (2010) 202 5.8.5 ANALYSIS 203 5.8.6 COMPARISON WITH OTHER NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES AND A NOTE ON THE DIACHRONY 206 5.8.7 VERB MOVEMENT ACROSS NEGATION AND PRODUCTION 208 5.9 SUMMARY 212 6 ON DOUBLE NEGATION 213 6.1 INTRODUCTION 213 6.2 NEGATIVE CONCORD 213 6.2.1 INTRODUCTION 213 6.2.2 ANALYSES OF NC, THE STATUS OF NEGATIVE INDEFINITES, AND PREDICTING NC 215 6.2.3 NC IN MAINLAND NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 217 6.2.4 DISCUSSION OF NC IN MAINLAND NORTH GERMANIC 229 6.3 CLAUSE-INITIAL NEGATION 230 6.3.1 INTRODUCTION 230 6.3.2 THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLAUSE-INITIAL NEGATION IN NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 231 6.3.3 THE PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF CLAUSE-INITIAL NEGATION 236 6.3.4 ANALYSIS 239 6.3.5 PARAMETER DIFFERENCES IN THE NORTH GERMANIC LANGUAGES 241 6.4 CLAUSE-FINAL NEGATION 242 6.4.1 INTRODUCTION 242 6.4.2 THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLAUSE-FINAL NEGATION IN NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 244 6.4.3 PREVIOUS ACCOUNTS OF CLAUSE-FINAL ELEMENTS 252 6.4.4 ANALYSIS 253 6.5 DISCUSSION OF CLAUSE-INITIAL AND CLAUSE-FINAL NEGATION 256 6.6 SUMMARY 257 7 NEGATIVE IMPERATIVES 259 7.1 INTRODUCTION 259 7.2 THE NORWEGIAN NEG-INITIAL IMPERATIVE 260 7.2.1 FROM VERB-INITIAL NEGATIVE IMPERATIVES TO NEG-INITIAL IMPERATIVES 260 7.2.2 NEG-INITIAL AND VERB-INITIAL NEGATIVE IMPERATIVES AND PRAGMATICS 262 7.3 PREVIOUS ACCOUNTS OF NEGATIVE IMPERATIVES 263 7.3.1 INTRODUCTION 264 7.3.2 ZANUTTINI (1997) 265 7.3.3 PLATZACK AND ROSENGREN (1998) 265 7.3.4 JENSEN (2003) 266 vi 7.3.5 ZEIJLSTRA (2006) 267 7.3.6 DISCUSSION 268 7.4 ANALYSIS 269 7.4.1 THE POSITION OF SUBJECTS, ADVERBS AND VERBS IN THE NEG-INITIAL IMPERATIVE 270 7.4.2 FURTHER RESTRICTIONS ON NEG-INITIAL IMPERATIVES 274 7.4.3 STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 274 7.4.4 ‘ELLIPTIC’ IMPERATIVES 277 7.5 IMPERATIVES IN SOME NORTH GERMANIC VARIETIES 278 7.5.1 RESULTS FROM THE NORDIC SYNTAX DATABASE 278 7.5.2 ÖVDALIAN 281 7.5.3 (NORTHERN) OSTROBOTHNIAN 281 7.5.4 THE DIALECT OF SENJA 283 7.5.5 THE DIALECT OF SETESDAL 285 7.5.6 DISCUSSION 285 7.6 THE NEGATIVE Å-IMPERATIVE