THE PREDICTABLE CASE OF FAROESE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Daniel Galbraith August 2018 iv Abstract This thesis concerns case-marking phenomena in Icelandic and Faroese. I argue that the best approach to case distinguishes the levels of abstract, morphosyntactic and morphological case, and permits mis- matches between levels in some grammars (Linking Theory, Kiparsky 1997, 2001); these mismatches are best handled by an Optimality Theoretic output harmonisation on the mapping from argument structure to morphosyntax (Prince and Smolensky 1993 et seq.). Such a theory provides a cogent account of predicates with non-nominative subjects in Insular Scandinavian, which present an interesting puzzle: in Icelandic, dative-subject verbs occur with nominative objects that trigger number agreement, whereas in Faroese the object in such sentences is marked accusative and occurs with default third person singular agreement (1). (1) a. Ice. Mér líka hundar me.dat like.3pl dogs.nom.pl ‘I like dogs’ b. Far. Mær dámar hundar me.dat likes.3sg dogs.acc.pl ‘I like dogs’ To date this difference has been poorly understood, and calls for in-depth analysis. The central hypothesis explored in this thesis is that the patterns in (1) are not language-specific idiosyncrasies, but the outcome of constraint interactions of a typical kind: namely, a pressure to index a nominative argument in the clause by number agreement, and a pressure to express structural accusative case on the object. I argue that similar constraint conflicts are responsible for the loss of lexical case in phenomena such as nominative substitution and case non-preservation, and correctly predict the availability of the passive in dative-subject predicates. I include a substantial amount of new data from surveys conducted on the Faroe Islands and Iceland, which are consistent with my hypothesis, and shed new light on the case systems of these languages beyond simple monotransitives. Moreover, I propose a Competing Grammars Model of intra-linguistic variation (cf. Kroch 1989 et seq.), which finds empirical support in corpora, and offers a plausible framework for explaining the diachronic trajectory of these languages. Finally, the model of grammar proposed here is also cross-linguistically tractable, generating realistic typologies of case-related phenomena, and can easily be extended to other language families. v Acknowledgments It goes without saying that this dissertation work would have been impossible without the considerable help, advice and support provided by so many. First, I am extremely grateful to my advisor Paul Kiparsky. I know of no other successor to P¯an. ini with such a mastery of the field and genius calibre insight into such a typologically diverse range of languages. I am sincerely going to miss our discussions of such fascinating topics as Saussure’s longstanding analysis of Lithuanian pitch accent, morphosyntactic variation in the Scandinavian dialect continuum, Gerard Manley Hopkins and over-reaving, why the Sjúrðarkvæði is essentially a kind of dol’nik, obscure varieties of Swiss German, what Wangkumara and Nepali have to do with Faroese, Finnish sentences involving shooting bears, and so many others. Paljon kiitoksia! Secondly, I would like to acknowledge my committee of Vera Gribanova, Boris Harizanov and Annie Zaenen. Opportunities for lively debate, combined with their constructive, detailed and helpful commen- tary have made my thesis so much better than it would otherwise have been. It was a privilege to have accomplished Slavicist syntacticians and the first author of “ZMÞ” available and willing to provide their insights. I would also like to thank Beth Levin for guiding and advising me through the entire PhD process from start to finish: it is hard to think “Stanford Linguistics” without immediately thinking of Beth. Thirdly, I am thankful for the Faroese and Icelandic linguists who were such a wealth of knowledge and advice during fieldwork and in thinking about the data: for Faroese, Hjalmar P. Petersen who taught me the language at the Faroese Summer Institute and served as a supremely reliable consultant and advisor, in addition to Jógvan í Lon Jacobsen, Eivind Weyhe, Zakaris Hansen, Dániel Jákup Jørgensen and Niels á Velbastað. For Icelandic, thanks are due to Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson and Einar Freyr Sigurðsson, who were not only willing to provide linguistic advice and distribute surveys, but also to walk with me around Reykjavík in the rain. I am also grateful for all the other academic linguists who I corresponded with, who contributed to dis- cussions on various phenomena, and from whom I have learnt so much about language: I think especially of Arto Anttila, Mark Baker, Lev Blumenfeld, Penny Eckert, Caroline Heycock, Chris Manning, Rob Podesva, Chris Potts, Omer Preminger, John Rickford, Sten Vikner and Tom Wasow. I extend particular gratitude to Judith Degen and Rob Mina, whose guidance in statistical methods was invaluable. I thank my Cambridge supervisors Ian Roberts, Theresa Biberauer and Michelle Sheehan for the training in GB/Minimalism that has proven so useful. I am also thankful to my original cohort of Olek Główka, Sunwoo Jeong, Sara Kessler, Kate Lynn Lindsey, Prerna Nadathur and Simon Todd, as well as the other Linguistics PhD students at vi Stanford — especially my office-mate, fellow syntactician and Open House host Bonnie Krejci. I also thank my linguist friends from other universities, in particular Deborah Wong at UCLA and fellow Cambridge MPhils. I must also express deep gratitude to all the Faroese people who accommodated me, fed me, kept me company and functioned as my family while on fieldwork trips in this “home away from home”. In partic- ular I am thankful to Bogi and Súsanna Vinther and family, who opened their home and their hearts to me as if I were an extra son visiting from afar. They were so kind to me and were willing to provide plenty of food and accommodate my multiple visiting friends, even when this involved driving up to Sornfelli for the fourth time in a couple of weeks, or rushing me back to the Nólsoy ferry five minutes before it departed. I thank Beinir and Leslie Johannessen, in their friendship and willingness to accommodate us in both the Faroes and Denmark, and Beinir’s help in general throughout my time on the Faroes (especially given what happened to his car). I also am thankful to Oddmar and Anna Maria Færø and family, who likewise pro- vided lodging for me, Sunday dinners and fascinating conversations in a constant code-switching between Aberdeen English and Faroese. I am grateful to Rólant í Skorini and Richard Schwartson, both of whom welcomed me so well in my brief 2015 trip. I thank Pætur Gerðalíð for his kindness to me and my Ameri- can friends, particularly when that involved driving out of his way to rescue us in a dark tunnel, inviting us to his band studio, and allowing Zach to borrow his motorcycle. I also thank Johann Petersen, Napoleon Smith, Øssur Andreasen, Einar Vang and everyone else at Ebenezer, who were my extended family while on the islands and who I hope to visit many times in the future. Takk fyri, øll! A most heartfelt and personally meaningful round of thanks must go to my church community at Grace Presbyterian and RUF. I thank in particular my pastors Britton Wood, David Jones and Iron Kim, as well as my church family, for whom this brief acknowledgement section falls far short of what I wish to express. I would not be the person I am today without their impact on my life. I think special gratitude is in order to Zach Sunberg, Jeff Reid and Chris Berkey, who genuinely know me, and are true brothers to me, along with all my other church friends near and far. I also thank Aleksas Mazeliauskas, Jonathan Lancaster and Mark W.F. Galbraith for their consistent friendship. I want to thank my grandmother and Fiona for their kindness and always being eager to hear my news. Finally, I thank my parents for their consistent love and support throughout my five years of doctoral work. From Dad teaching me the Greek alphabet as a 7-year-old, to Mum encouraging me to join French club as a primary school pupil, they have always supported my linguistic and academic endeavours, and for that I am extremely grateful. Soli Deo Gloria vii Abbreviations Language abbreviations Dan. Danish Dut. Dutch Far. Faroese Fin. Finnish Ger. German Hix. Hixkaryana Ice. Icelandic Kaq. Kaqchikel Kor. Korean Lav. Lavukaleve Nah. Nahuatl Swe. Swedish Yup. Central Siberian Yup’ik Glossing abbreviations abs absolutive acc accusative act active adess adessive art article coll collective number compl completive aspect cont continuative aspect dat dative def definite distpst distant past tense emph emphatic particle erg ergative viii expl expletive f feminine gen genitive imp imperative ind indicative inf infinitive interrog interrogative mood intrans intransitive m masculine n neuter nom nominative o, obj object pass passive perf, pfv perfective pl plural pres present tense prt particle pst past tense recpst recent past tense refl reflexive s, subj subject sg singular sup supine ix Contents Abstract v Acknowledgments vi Abbreviations viii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The puzzle of Faroese . 2 1.2 Theoretical contribution . 5 1.2.1 Linking Theory . 5 1.2.2 Optimality Theory . 12 1.2.3 Competing grammars . 16 1.3 Empirical findings . 18 1.4 Structure of thesis . 20 2 Research question 22 2.1 Non-nominative subjects . 22 2.1.1 Icelandic oblique subjects . 22 2.1.2 German pre-verbal dative experiencers . 27 2.2 Faroese clause structure . 29 2.3 Faroese dative experiencers .