Chapter 4
Stability and change in Icelandic weather verbs
Syntax, semantics and argument structure
Contrary to previous claims, weather verbs in Icelandic are not “no-argument” predicates. Both in Old and Modern Icelandic they can appear with an NP either in nominative, accusative or dative case. It can be shown that in Modern Icelandic the NPs are subjects, and this is likely to have been the case in Old Icelandic. Diachronically, in addition to some changes in subject case marking (Nominative Substitution and Impersonalization), the main innovations in weather verbs involve the introduction of the “expletive” elements það and hann. On the whole, however, there is considerable stability in the use of weather verbs in the history of Icelandic. Not only are the lexical items nearly all the same, but a clear continuity in the syntax of weather expressions can be documented.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The empirical evidence
- 2.1The survey
- 2.2Weather verbs without an NP
- 2.3Weather verbs with an NP
- 2.3.1Nominative
- 2.3.2Accusative
- 2.3.3Dative
- 3.Changes from Old to Modern Icelandic
- 3.1Changes in case marking
- 3.1.1Nominative Substitution
- 3.1.2Impersonalization
- 3.2The filler það
- 3.3The quasi-argument hann
- 4.Stability from Old to Modern Icelandic
- 4.1Change or stability?
- 4.2Weather verbs with NPs
- 4.2.1Change in case marking but not in grammatical function
- 4.2.2Overt arguments with weather verbs in Modern Icelandic
- 4.2.3Overt arguments with weather verbs in Old Icelandic
- 4.3The position of the finite weather verb
- 5.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
References
Allen, Cynthia
1995 Case Marking and Reanalysis: Grammatical Relations from Old to Early Modern English. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Andrews, Avery
1982 The representation of Case in Modern Icelandic. In
The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relations,
Joan Bresnan (ed.), 427–503. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Angantýsson, Ásgrímur
2011 The Syntax of Embedded Clauses in Icelandic and Related Languages. PhD dissertation, University of Iceland.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bandle, Oskar
1973 Die Gliederung des Nordgermanischen.
Beiträge zur nordischen Philologie 1. Basel: Heilbing and Lichtenhahn. (Reprinted 2011, Tübingen: Francke).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2011 The rise of Dative Substitution in the history of Icelandic: A diachronic Construction Grammar approach.
Lingua 121(1): 60–79.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2015a Syntax and syntactic reconstruction. In
The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics,
Claire Bowern &
Bethwyn Evans (eds), 343–373. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2015b Valency classes in Icelandic: Oblique subjects, oblique ambitransitives and the actional passive. In
Valency Classes in the World’s Languages,
Andrej L. Malchukov &
Bernard Comrie (eds), 367–416. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barðdal, Jóhanna & Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2003 The change that never happened: The story of oblique subjects.
Journal of Linguistics 39: 439–472.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cennamo, Michela, Eythórsson, Thórhallur & Barðdal, Jóhanna
2015 Semantic and (morpho)syntactic constraints on anticausativization: Evidence from Latin and Old Norse-Icelandic.
Linguistics 53(3): 677–729.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cleasby, Richard & Vigfússon, Guðbrandur
1874 An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dal, Ingerid
2014 Deutsche Syntax auf historischer Grundlage, 4th revised edn by
Hans-Werner Eroms. Berlin: De Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dunn, Michael, Dewey, Tonya Kim, Arnett, Carlee, Eythórsson, Thórhallur & Barðdal, Jóhanna
2017 Dative sickness: A phylogenetic analysis of argument structure evolution in Germanic.
Language 93(1): e1–22.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2000 Dative vs. nominative: Changes in quirky subjects in Icelandic.
Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics 8: 27–44.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2002 Changes in subject case-marking in Icelandic. In
Syntactic Effects of Morphological Change,
David W. Lightfoot (ed.), 196–212. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2015 Aukafallshneigð. In
Ástumál kveðin Ástu Svavarsdóttur sextugri, 94–96. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur & Barðdal, Jóhanna
2005 Oblique subjects: A common Germanic inheritance.
Language 81(4): 824–881.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur & Sigurðardóttir, Sigríður Sæunn
2016 A brief history of Icelandic weather verbs: Syntax, semantics and argument structure.
Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 96: 91–125.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur & Thráinsson, Höskuldur
Falk, Cecilia
1993 Non-referential subjects and agreement in the history of Swedish.
Lingua 89: 143–180.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Guðmundsson, Helgi
1977 Um ytri aðstæður íslenzkrar málþróunar. In
Sjötíu ritgerðir helgaðar Jakobi Benediktssyni 20. júlí 1977,
Einar G. Pétursson &
Jónas Kristjánsson (eds), 314–325. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Halldórsson, Halldór
1982 Um méranir: Drög að samtímalegri og sögulegri athugun.
Íslenskt mál 4: 159–189.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Helgason, Jón
1929 Málið á Nýja testamenti Odds Gottskálksonar [
Safn Fræðafélagsins VII]. Copenhagen: Hið íslenzka fræðafélag.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Íslenskt textasafn
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum (ed.).
[URL]
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli
1996 Clausal Architecture and Case in Icelandic. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli & Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2005 Variation and change in subject case marking in Insular Scandinavian.
Nordic Journal of Linguistics 28(2): 223–245.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kopperstad, Knut
1920 Det Pers. Pron. <<Hann>> som et subjekt for ‘upersonlige’ verber.
Maal og Minne, 94–102.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krahe, Hans
1969 Germanische Sprachwissenschaft II, Formenlehre. 7th rev. edn [
Sammlung Göschen 2233]. Berlin: De Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Larsson, Ida
2014 Choice of non-referential subject in existential constructions and with weather-verbs.
Nordic Atlas of Language Structures (NALS) 1: 55–71.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maling, Joan
2002 Það rignir þágufalli á Íslandi: Verbs with dative objects in Icelandic.
Íslenskt mál 24: 31–105.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Milroy, James & Milroy, Lesley
1985 Linguistic change, social network and speaker innovation.
Journal of Linguistics 21: 339–384.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Napier, Arthur
(ed.) 1883 Wulfstan: Sammlung der ihm zugeschrieben Homilien nebst Untersuchungen über ihre Echtheit. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nygaard, Marius
1905 Norrøn syntax. Kristiania: H. Aschehoug.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Olsen, Magnus
1920 Er <<Han>> i upersonlige uttrykk = Njord? Maal og Minne, 101–102.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
ONP
Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog.
Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog
Den arnamagnæanske kommission ed. Kaupmannahöfn
[URL]
Pétursson, Einar G.
(ed.) 1976 Miðaldaævintýri þýdd úr ensku. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ritmálssafn Orðabókar Háskólans
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í
íslenskum fræðum ed.
[URL]
Ringe, Don & Taylor, Ann
2014 The Development of Old English. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur
1983 Sagnliðurinn í íslensku.
Íslenskt mál 5: 7–28.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur
2002 ÞAÐ í fornu máli og síðar.
Íslenskt mál 24: 7–30.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
ROH
Ritmálssafn Orðabókar Háskólans.
Sandal, Catrine
2011 Akkusative subjekt og antikausativitet i norrønt. MA thesis, University of Bergen.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sigurðardóttir, Sigríður Sæunn & Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2016 Þegar veðrið kólnar og vindinn hvessir – þá snjóar hann. Um rökliðagerð veðurfarssagna í íslensku.
Íslenskt mál 38: 9–50.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann
1989 Verbal Syntax and Case in Icelandic. In
a Comparative GB Approach. PhD dissertation, Lund University. (Reprinted by the Linguistics Institute, University of Iceland, Reykjavík 1993).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann
1990 Declaratives and Verb Raising in Icelandic. In
Modern Icelandic Syntax [
Syntax and Semantics 24],
Joan Maling &
Annie Zaenen (eds), 41–69. San Diego CA: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann
1994 Um frásagnarumröðun og grundvallarorðaröð í forníslensku. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands. (
A reprint of the author’s Cand.mag. thesis 1983).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thráinsson, Höskuldur
1979 On Complementation in Icelandic. New York NY: Garland Publishing. (Reprinted in Routledge Library Editions: Linguistics, Vol. 48 2014 London: Routledge).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thráinsson, Höskuldur
1986 V1, V2, V3 in Icelandic. In
Verb Second Phenomena in Germanic Languages,
Hubert Haider &
Martin Prinzhorn (eds), 169–194. Dordrecht: Foris.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thráinsson, Höskuldur
2005 Setningar. Handbók um setningafræði [
Íslensk tunga III]. Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thráinsson, Höskuldur
2007 The Syntax of Icelandic. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thráinsson, Höskuldur, Petersen, Hjalmar P., Jacobsen, Jógvan í Lon & Hansen, Zakaris Svabo
2012 Faroese: An Overview and Reference Grammar, 2nd edn. Tórshavn /Reykjavík: Faroese University Press and Linguistics Institute, University of Iceland.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Viðarsson, Heimir Freyr
2009 “
Þat uar langr time siþan hann hafdi messu heyrt.”
Lítil athugun á samspili þriggja málbreytinga í Miðaldaævintýrum. Ms, University of Iceland.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Viðarsson, Heimir Freyr
2016 The syntax of others: ‘Un-Icelandic’ verb placement in 19th- and early 20th-century Icelandic. In
Prescription and Tradition in Language: Establishing Standards across Time and Space [
Multilingual Matters 165],
Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade &
Carol Percy (eds), 152–167. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wood, Jim
2017 The accusative subject generalization.
Syntax 20(3): 249–291.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zaenen, Annie & Maling, Joan
1984 Unaccusative, passive, and quirky case. In
Proceedings of the Third West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics,
Mark Cobler,
Susannah MacKaye &
Michael T. Wescoat (eds), 317–329. (Reprinted in
Modern Icelandic Syntax [
Syntax and Semantics 24],
Joan Maling &
Annie Zaenen (eds) 1990 San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 137–150).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zaenen, Annie, Maling, Joan & Thráinsson, Höskuldur
1985 Case and grammatical functions: The Icelandic passive.
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 3: 441–482. (Reprinted in
Modern Icelandic Syntax [
Syntax and Semantics 24],
Joan Maling &
Annie Zaenen (eds) 1990 San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 95–136).
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Trudgill, Peter
2020.
Sociolinguistic typology and the speed of linguistic change.
Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 6:2
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.