Cover not available
Article published In:
NOWELE
Vol. 75:2 (2022) ► pp.160–193

Incipient articles in Old East Scandinavian varieties

ORCID logo | The University of Edinburgh
ORCID logo | The University of Edinburgh

This is a study of the semantics of definiteness marking and of its applicability to the Old East Scandinavian linguistic scenario. Contrary to the Modern Continental Scandinavian languages, Old East Scandinavian varieties did not possess fully-fledged definite articles, although all three demonstrative systems (hinn, -inn, sá/þænn, and sjá/þænni) show some evidence of being used as markers of definiteness. A semantic analysis of these forms in extracts from the Scanian Law and Guta Lag reveals the differentiated intermediate stages along the cline of grammaticalisation these definiteness markers found themselves in during this linguistic period. This confirms, in turn, that despite not being employed as definite articles proper, hinn, -inn and sá/þænn show some degree of semantic bleaching.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Old Scandinavian tripartite demonstrative system
    • 2.1Introduction
    • 2.2The incipient article hinn and enclitic -inn
    • 2.3The simple distal demonstrative sá/þænn
    • 2.4The compound proximal demonstrative sjá/þænni
  • 3.Demonstratives versus definite articles
    • 3.1Introduction
    • 3.2Stage I: Situationally evoked deixis
    • 3.3Stage II: Direct anaphoric reference
    • 3.4Stage III: Indirect anaphoric reference
    • 3.5Stage IV: Unique reference
    • 3.6Stage V: Generic reference
    • 3.7Diagnostics
    • 3.8Revisiting hinn and enclitic -inn
  • 4.Incipient articles in Äldre Västgötalagen
    • 4.1Introduction
    • 4.2The text
    • 4.3Enclitic -inn in Äldre Västgötalagen
    • 4.4The distal demonstrative sá/þænn in Äldre Västgötalagen
    • 4.5Conclusion
  • 5.Incipient articles in the Scanian Law and the Guta Lag
    • 5.1Introduction
    • 5.2The incipient article hinn
    • 5.3Enclitic -inn
    • 5.4The distal demonstrative sá/þænn
    • 5.5The compound proximal demonstrative sjá/þænni
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.00067.san
References
Andersen, H.
2006 Grammation, regrammation, and degrammation: Tense loss in Russian. Diachronica 23(2). 231–258. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ariel, M.
1988 Referring and accessibility. Journal of Linguistics 24(1). 65–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Becher, V.
2010 Differences in the use of deictic expressions in English and German texts. Linguistics 48(4). 1309–1342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Börjars, K. & J. Payne
2016 Adjectival definiteness marking and noun-phrase internal functions. University of Manchester, HEADLEX, 25 July 2016.Google Scholar
Braunmüller, K.
2002 The Ancient Nordic linguistic system from a typological point of view: Phonology, graphemics, morphology, syntax, and word order. In O. Bandle, K. Braunmüller, E. H. Jahr, A. Karker, H. Naumann, & U. Teleman (eds.), The Nordic languages: An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic Languages, vol. 11, 649–656. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Breban, T.
2012 Functional shifts and the development of English determiners. In A. Meurman–Solin, M. J. López–Couso & B. Los (eds.), Information structure and syntactic change in the history of English, 271–300. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carlquist, J.
2002 The history of Old Nordic manuscripts III: Old Swedish. In O. Bandle, K. Braunmüller, E. H. Jahr, A. Karker, H. Naumann, & U. Teleman (eds.), The Nordic languages: An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic Languages, vol. 11, 808–816. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Charolles, M.
1990 L’anaphore associative: Problèmes de délimitation, Verbum 131. 119–48.Google Scholar
Crisma, P.
2011 The emergence of the definite article in English: A contact–induced change? In P. Sleeman & H. Perridon (eds.), The Noun Phrase in Romance and Germanic: Structure, variation, and change, 175–192. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 The ‘indefinite article’ from cardinal to operator to expletive. In Ch. Gianollo, A. Jäger, & D. Penka (eds.), Language change at the syntax–semantics interface, 125–151. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crisma, P. & S. Pintzuk
2016  An from Old to Middle English. In S. Vikner, H. Jørgensen & E. van Gelderen (eds.), Let us have articles betwixt Us: Papers in historical and comparative linguistics in honour of Johanna L. Wood, 161–183. Aarhus: Aarhus University.Google Scholar
Dahl, Ö.
2015 Grammaticalization in the north: Noun Phrase morphosyntax in Scandinavian vernaculars. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delbrück, B.
1916 Der Altisländische artikel: Germanische Syntax III1. Leipzig: Teubner.Google Scholar
Delsing, L.
2002 The morphology of Old Nordic II: Old Swedish and Old Danish. In O. Bandle, K. Braunmüller, E. H. Jahr, A. Karker, H. Naumann, & U. Teleman (eds.), The Nordic languages: An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic Languages, vol. 11, 925–939. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
(ed.) 2017 Fornsvenska Textbanken. Lund: Lund University. [URL]
De Mulder, W. & A. Cartier
2011 The grammaticalization of definite articles. In B. Heine & H. Narrog (eds.), The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization, 522–535. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Diessel, H.
1999 Demonstratives: Form, function, and grammaticalization. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dryer, M. S.
1989 Article–noun order. Chicago Linguistic Society 251. 83–97.Google Scholar
Faarlund, J. T.
2004 The syntax of Old Norse: With a survey of the inflectional morphology and a complete bibliography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fertig, D.
2013 Analogy and morphological change (Edinburgh Historical Linguistics 1). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fraurud, K.
2000 Possessives with extensive use: A source of definite articles? In I. Baron, M. Herslund & F. Sørensen (eds.), Dimensions of possession, 72–97. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Frederiksen, B. O.
2002 The history of Old Nordic manuscripts IV: Old Danish. In O. Bandle, K. Braunmüller, E. H. Jahr, A. Karker, H. Naumann, & U. Teleman (eds.), The Nordic languages: An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic Languages, vol. 11, 816–824. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Grimm, J.
1898 Deutsche Grammatik IV. Berlin: F. Dümmler.Google Scholar
Gundel, J. K., N. Hedberg, & R. Zacharski
1993 Cognitive status and the form of referring expressions in discourse. Language 691. 274–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haugen, E.
1976 The Scandinavian languages: An introduction to their history. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Hawkins, J.
1978 Definiteness and indefiniteness: A study in reference and grammaticality prediction. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Hawkins, J. A.
2009 Germanic languages. In B. Comrie (ed.), The world’s major languages, 2nd edn, 51–58. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Heine, B.
1997 Cognitive foundations of grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Heine, B. & T. Kuteva
2009 World lexicon of grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Heltoft, L.
2001 Reanalysing structure: The Danish definite article, its predecessors, and development. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 33(1). 67–90. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Himmelmann, H. P.
1997 Deiktikon, Artikel, Nominalphrase: Zur Emergenz syntaktischer Struktur. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huddleston, R. & G. K. Pullum
2002 The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jónsson, F.
1901 Det Norsk-Islandske Skjaldesprog omtr. 800–1300. Copenhagen: Møllers.Google Scholar
Kuryłowicz, J.
1965 [1975] The evolution of grammatical categories. Diogenes 51. Esquisses linguistiques, vol. 2, 38–54. Munich: Fink.Google Scholar
Lander, E. T. & L. Haegeman
2014 Old Norse as an NP language: With observations on the Common Norse and Northwest Germanic runic inscriptions. Transactions of the Philological Society 112(3). 279–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lehmann, C.
1982 Thoughts on grammaticalization: A programmatic sketch. Cologne: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft.Google Scholar
Lyons, C.
1999 Definiteness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Millar, R. M.
2000 System collapse, system rebirth: The demonstrative pronouns of English 900–1350 and the birth of the definite article. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Neckel, G.
1924 Die Entwicklung von schwachtonigem Altnordischem u (o) vor m aus helleren Vokalen und der altnordische Substantivartikel: Festschrift für E. Mogk. Haale an der Saale: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Nygaard, M.
1905 Norrøn syntax. Kristiania: Aschehoug & Co.Google Scholar
Peel, C.
(ed.) 2015 Guta Lag and Guta Saga: The law and history of the Gotlanders. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perridon, H. C. B.
1989 Reference, definiteness, and the noun phrase in Swedish. PhD Dissertation, University of Amsterdam.
1997 Is the definite article in Jutlandic a borrowing from Low German? Multilingua 16(4). 351–363. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perridon, H. C. B. & P. Sleeman
2011 The noun phrase in Germanic and Romance: Common developments and differences. In P. Sleeman & H. C. B. Perridon (eds.), The noun phrase in Romance and Germanic: Structure, variation, and change, 1–21. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peterson, P.
2018 An annotated edition and translation of The Older Law of Västergötland. The Heroic Age 181. [URL]
Pfaff, A.
2019 Reunited after 1000 years: The development of definite articles in Icelandic. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 421. 165–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pfaff, A. & G. Walkden
Forthcoming. Adjectival articles in early Germanic. In K. Bech & A. Pfaff eds. Diversity in the Old Germanic noun phrase Open Germanic Linguistics Berlin Language Science Press
Philippi, J.
1997 The rise of the article in the Germanic languages. In A. van Kemenade & N. Vincent (eds.), Parameters of morphosyntactic change, 62–93. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pollack, H. W.
1912 Zur Stellung des Attributes im Urgermanischen: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des suffigierten Artikel im Altnordischen und der germanischen Kasuskomposita. Indogermanische Forschungen 301. 283–302. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prince, E. F.
1981 Toward a taxonomy of given–new information. In P. Cole (ed.), Radical pragmatics, 223–255. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ratkus, A.
2018 Weak adjectives need not be definite: The evidence of variation in Gothic. Indogermanische Forschungen 123(1). 27–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ringe
2006 From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. A linguistic history of English, vol. 11. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roehrs, D. & C. D. Sapp
2004 The rise of the suffixal article in the Early North Germanic DP. In M. T. Martinez, A. Alcázar, and M. T. Hernández (eds.), Proceedings of the thirty-third Western Conference on Linguistic, vol. 161, 290–301. Fresno: California State University.Google Scholar
Skrzypek, D.
2009a Äldre and Yngre Västgötalagen–– Some linguistic evidence. Folia Scandinavica 101. 205–218.Google Scholar
2009b The formation of the definite article in the Nordic languages. Lingua Posnaniensis 511. 65–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 Between a demonstrative and an article: The status of in in Old Swedish. Folia Scandinavica 111. 145–162.Google Scholar
2012 Grammaticalization of (in)definiteness in Old Swedish. Poznan: Adam Mickiewicz University.Google Scholar
2020 Indirect anaphora in a diachronic perspective: The case of Danish and Swedish. In K. Balogh, A. Latrouite & R. Van Valin Jr. (eds.), Nominal anchoring: Specificity, definiteness, and article systems across languages, 171–193. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Skrzypek, D., A. Piotrowska, & R. Jaworski
2021 The diachrony of definiteness in North Germanic. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sommerer, L.
2018 Article emergence in Old English: A constructionalist perspective. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stroh-Wollin, U.
2009 On the development of definiteness markers in Scandinavian. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 831. 1–25.Google Scholar
2020  Hinn and hinn: Early Icelandic as the clue to the history and etymology of two Old Scandinavian words. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 431. 205–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Syrett, M.
2002 Morphological developments from Ancient Nordic to Old Nordic. In O. Bandle, K. Braunmüller, E. H. Jahr, A. Karker, H. Naumann, & U. Teleman (eds.), The Nordic languages: An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages, vol. 11, 719–729. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Tamm, D. & H. Vogt
(eds.) 2016 The Danish medieval laws: The laws of Scania, Zealand, and Jutland. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Traugott, E.
1980 Meaning-change in the development of grammatical markers. Language Sciences 2(1). 44–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vrieland, S. D.
2011 Old Gutnish historical phonology and the Old Norse context. Master’s Thesis, University of Leiden.
Wagener, T.
2017 The history of Nordic relative clauses. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wright, J.
1910 Grammar of the Gothic language. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar