Development and variation of non-V2 order in Norwegian wh-questions Maud Westendorp 10678646 Thesis (30 ECTS) Research Master Linguistics University of Amsterdam January 2017 Supervisor: prof. dr. A.P. (Arjen) Versloot Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication Second reader: prof. dr. F.P. (Fred) Weerman Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication Number of words: 17.139 DEVELOPMENT AND VARIATION OF NON-V2 ORDER IN NORWEGIAN WH-QUESTIONS Development and variation of non-V2 order in Norwegian wh-questions Maud Westendorp Abstract Across Norwegian dialects wh-questions show variation with respect to word order possibilities, with many dialects allowing non-V2 word order. The acceptance of non-V2 orders differs considerably across dialects and further depends on the complexity and function of the wh- element. Many studies have attempted to explain this variation and the development of non-V2 wh-questions (a.o. Nordgård 1988; Lie 1992; Vangsnes 2005; Westergaard et al. 2012, 2017). In this study, both synchronic data from the Nordic Syntax Database as well as historical data is examined and it is hypothesised that the synchronic variation between the dialects mirrors the diachronic development from V2 to non-V2. Additionally, I hypothesise that non-V2 word order first developed in in Central and Northern Norwegian in subject wh-questions with the complementizer som in the verb-second position and later spreads to non-subject as well as complex wh-questions. An apparent-time study of the synchronic data shows a diachronic connection between some but not all of the synchronic varieties but no evidence was found to support the hypothesis that non-V2 first emerged in subject wh-questions. On the basis of historical sources, it is shown that non-V2 likely developed at the end of the 19th century in Central and Northern Norwegian. Furthermore, emergence of non-V2 order is linked to the loss of the present tense marker on the finite verb allowing other elements to fill the verb-second position and gain the abiliy to lexicalise this position thus removing the trigger for V2 resulting in the emergence of non-V2 word order. Combining the findings from the synchronic and the historical data, it is made clear that non-V2 word order started in simplex wh-questions which are shown to be most frequent and subsequently spreads to other, less frequent, types of questions. Keywords: verb-second violations, Norwegian, wh-questions M. WESTENDORP 2 DEVELOPMENT AND VARIATION OF NON-V2 WORD ORDER IN NORWEGIAN WH-QUESTIONS Table of contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Background 5 2.1 Verb-second and verb-second violations in Norwegian 5 2.2 Word order variation in Norwegian dialects 9 2.2.1 Synchronic variation within dialects 9 2.2.2 Development of non-V2 word order 12 2.2.3 Synchronic variation and diachronic change connected 14 2.3 Hypotheses and predictions 17 3 Methods 19 3.1 Critical assumptions and prerequisites of methodology 20 3.1.1 Connection between synchronic variation and diachronic change 20 3.1.2 Combining formal-theoretical and quantitative-statistical linguistics 21 3.2 Examining synchronic distribution 21 3.2.1 Data collection 21 3.2.2 Coding NSD-data 22 3.2.3 Data analysis 23 3.3 Studying diachronic development 24 3.3.1 Data collection 24 3.3.2 Data analysis 25 4 Results 25 4.1 Presentation and interpretation of the quantitative data 25 4.1.1 Nordic Syntax Database 25 4.1.2 Mapping aggregate variation 36 4.1.3 Nordic Dialect Corpus 38 4.2 Presentation and interpretation of the qualitative data 39 4.2.1 Findings in historical sources 39 4.2.2 Connection with loss of final /r/ 41 5 Discussion 43 References 46 3 1 Introduction This study investigates variation across Norwegian dialects with respect to the word order possibilities in wh-questions by examining the synchronic distribution as well as the diachronic development of this phenomenon. Standard Norwegian is a verb-second (V2) language and has a V2-requirement in all main clauses. In contrast with Standard Norwegian, many Norwegian dialects however lack verb-second order in wh-interrogatives. An example of an interrogative with non-V2 word order from the Nordic Dialect Corpus (NDC) (Johannessen et al. 2009, 2010) is given in (1). 1. Ka du mein me å karrakteriser språk-e? (stamsund_04gk) what you mean with to characterise language-DEF ‘What do you mean with characterizing language?’ Many earlier studies examining the order variation in these wh-questions focus exclusively on the synchronic variation within a single dialect or region. Recently however, Westergaard et al. (2017)1 have proposed a diachronic account of the distribution across Norway on the basis of acceptability judgements from the Nordic Syntax Database (Lindstad et al. 2009). In my opinion, this data can be examined in more depth and further integrated with diachronic material. I hope to contribute to the ongoing debate on non-V2 word order by analysing and combining both historical and synchronic material. On the basis of synchronic dialect data and historical sources I show that non-V2 word order in Norwegian wh-questions developed in the late 19th century in Central and Northern Norwegian. I suggest that the loss of the present tense marker -r is connected to the reanalysis of different items occupying the verb-second position, resulting in the development of non-V2 word order. Non-V2 word order starts in simplex wh-questions and subsequently spreads to other complex wh-questions which are shown to be much more infrequent. The outline of the paper is as follows. In the next section, I outline some background word order variation in wh-questions in Norwegian, focusing on the factors guiding this variation. In addition, this section covers the hypotheses and predictions for the present research. Section 3 discusses important theoretical and methodological notions concerning the relation between synchronic variation and diachronic change and the application of quantitative-statistical methods in linguistic research before outlining the method of the study. Section 4 gives a presentation and interpretation of the data. I will unify and discuss the impressions from the synchronic and diachronic data in the final section. 1 This publication is forthcoming. Page numbers refer to pre-print version received from Øystein A. Vangsnes (p.c. September 13, 2016). M. WESTENDORP 4 DEVELOPMENT AND VARIATION OF NON-V2 WORD ORDER IN NORWEGIAN WH-QUESTIONS 2 Background 2.1 Verb-second and verb-second violations in Norwegian The term verb-second (V2) is used to describe the set of rules underlying the obligatory movement of the finite verb to the second position, either specifically in main clauses or in all finite clauses (Holmberg 2015). All modern Germanic languages, with the noteworthy exception of English, are V2. It is unclear when this rule became obligatory in Germanic; unfortunately, the introduction of V2 took place in a period “which has left us very little material on which to base hypotheses about its origin” (Faarlund 2010:207). It is theorised that the rule emerged when movement of auxiliaries to the second position was reanalysed from being just a phonological rule of cliticization to being a syntactic movement rule. This movement was subsequently generalised to all finite verbs (Faarlund 2010:208). English has lost the verb-second rule during the Middle English period (early 15th c.), presumably due to a change in the inflectional morphology (see e.g. Haeberli 2002, Faarlund 2010). Norwegian is a Germanic language spoken by approximately 5 million speakers. Outside of Norway the language is predominantly spoken in Denmark, Finland and Sweden (Lewis 2009). Norway has an unusual language situation in which two officially recognised literary varieties exist. The syntactic patterning of both varieties, called Bokmål (‘book language’) and Nynorsk (‘new Norwegian’), is to a large extent the same. The former variety is based on the written Danish standard that supplanted the traditional Norwegian from the 16th century onwards; Nynorsk is a variety created by Ivar Aasen (1813-1896) on the basis of spoken dialects that are derived from Old Norse (Askedal 1994:219-21). In this thesis, the term ‘Standard Norwegian’ is used to indicate the standard written variety of Bokmål as well as Nynorsk which both have a strict V2-requirement. All Norwegian dialects are mutually intelligible and can be divided into four main groups: East Norwegian (with Oslo as a regional capital), West Norwegian (Bergen/Stavanger), Central Norwegian (Trondheim) and Northern Norwegian (Tromsø) (Mæhlum & Røyneland 2012:25) (see Figure 2.1). The spoken language of the capital Oslo is often considered the most prestigious standard, but regional standards also exist (e.g. Bergen, Trondheim) (Askedal 1994; Sandøy 1998). Figure 2.1 Four dialect groups in Norwegian 5 The predecessor of the Modern Scandinavian languages, Old Norse, had a clear V2 requirement in both matrix as well as subordinate clauses (Faarlund 2004:191). All modern Scandinavian varieties but Modern Icelandic have lost this requirement in subordinate clauses (Faarlund 2010:209). Norwegian is generally considered to be a restricted verb-second language (Wiklund et al. 2007). In a ‘restricted’ verb-second language, V2 is required in main but not subordinate clauses. Remarkably, many dialectal varieties of Norwegian allow non-V2 word order alongside V2 word order in matrix wh-questions. Two examples of Norwegian wh-questions with non- V2 order are given in (2). These sentences are produced by two different dialect speakers from Myre, Nordland in Northern Norway (2a) and Gausdal, Oppland in Central Norway (2b). In (2a) the wh- element korr ‘how’ is a non-subject, in (2b) the wh-element åkkje ‘who’ functions as a subject. In the Standard Norwegian version of these examples (3) the verb has to be placed in the V2-position.