Avoiding Genitive in Icelandic
The genitive is a highly idiosyncratic case for arguments in Icelandic. Hence it is sometimes substituted for by other cases, i.e. by structural case of subjects (nominative) and direct objects (accusative) or by the productive lexical dative case in other instances. Genitive objects of adjectives can only be replaced by dative, since dative is the only regular case for objects of adjectives. Genitive can also be replaced by dative in certain contexts of agreement or concord. Dative is a better alternative in such instances than nominative and accusative because dative and genitive share the property of being KPs (Kase Phrases) in the sense of Bayer, Bader and Meng (2001). This analysis is independently supported by facts about noun inflection in Icelandic.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background
- 2.1Case variation
- 2.2Datives and genitives
- 3.GA with arguments
- 3.1Data
- 3.2Subjects
- 3.3Direct objects
- 3.4Objects of adjectives
- 4.Dative matching genitive
- 4.1Predicative phrases with sem
- 4.2Reduced relatives
- 4.3Coordination and apposition
- 4.4Analysis
- 5.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
References
Árnadóttir, Hlíf, and Einar Freyr Sigurðsson
2013 “
Case in Disguise”. In
Variation in Datives. A Microcomparative Perspective, ed. by
Beatriz Fernández, and
Ricardo Etxepare, 96–143. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2001 Case in Icelandic – A Synchronic, Diachronic and Comparative Approach. Lund: Department of Scandinavian Languages. [
Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A57.]
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2011a “
Lexical vs. Structural Case: a False Dichotomy.”
Morphology 21: 619–654.
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2011b “
The Rise of Dative Substitution in the History of Icelandic: A Diachronic Construction Grammar Account.”
Lingua 121: 60–79.
Bayer, Joseph, Markus Bader and Michael Meng
2001 “
Morphological Underspecification Meets Oblique Case: Syntactic and Processing Effects in German.”
Lingua 111: 465–514.
Caha, Pavel
2009 The Nanosyntax of Case. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tromsø, Tromsø.
Eggertsdóttir, Helga
2009 Eignarfallsflótti. [
‘Genitive Avoidance.’] BA-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Einarsson, Stefán
1949 Icelandic. Grammar, Texts, Glossary. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Eythórsson, Thórhallur
2002 “
Changes in Subject Case Marking in Icelandic.” In
Syntactic Effects of Morphological Change, ed. by
David Lightfoot, 196–212. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Guðjónsdóttir, Guðrún Línberg
2014 Reittur til reiðis. Um -s endingu í eignarfalli orða eins og reiði. [
‘… On the Ending -s in the Genitive of Nouns Like reiði.’] BA-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Gunnarsdóttir, Ragnhildur
2015 Betra líf bíður mæðgunum. Setningafræðilegur eignarfallsflótti. [
‘… The syntax of Genitive Avoidance.’] BA-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Halldórsson, Halldór
1982 “
Um méranir: Drög að samtímalegri og sögulegri athugun.” [‘On Dative Substitution. An outline of a synchronic and a diachronic study.’]
Íslenskt mál 4: 159–189.
Ingason, Anton Karl
2010 “
Productivity of Non-default Case.”
Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 85: 65–117.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli
2000 “
Case and Double Objects in Icelandic.” In
Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics and Phonetics 8, ed. by
Diane Nelson and
Paul Foulkes, 71–94. University of Leeds, Leeds.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli
2003 “
Not So Quirky: On Subject Case in Icelandic.” In
New Perspectives on Case Theory, ed. by
Ellen Brandner, and
Heike Zinsmeister, 127–164. Stanford, California: CSLI.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli
2013a “
Dative versus Accusative and the Nature of Inherent Case.” In
Variation in Datives. A Microcomparative Perspective, ed. by
Beatriz Fernández, and
Ricardo Etxepare, 144–160. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli
2013b “
Two Types of Case Variation.”
Nordic Journal of Linguistics 36: 5–25.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli, and Kristín Þ. Pétursdóttir
2012 “
Þágufallsandlög með lýsingarorðum í íslensku og færeysku.” [‘Dative objects with adjectives in Icelandic and Faroese.’] In
Frændafundur 7, ed. by
Magnús Snædal and
Turið Sigurðardóttir, 91–108. Reykjavík: Hugvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli, and Thórhallur Eythórsson
2003 “
Breytingar á frumlagsfalli í íslensku.” [‘Changes in subject case marking in Icelandic.’]
Íslenskt mál 25: 7–40.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli, and Thórhallur Eythórsson
2005 “
Variation in Subject Case Marking in Insular Scandinavian.”
Nordic Journal of Linguistics 28: 223–245.
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli, and Thórhallur Eythórsson
2011 “
Structured Exceptions and Case Selection in Insular Scandinavian.” In
Expecting the Unexpected: Exceptions in the Grammar, ed. by
Horst Simon and
Heiki Wiese, 213–242. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kjartansson, Helgi Skúli
1979 “
Eignarfallsflótti. Uppástunga um nýja málvillu.” [‘Genitive Avoidance. Suggesting a new grammatical error.’]
Íslenskt mál 1: 88–95.
Kjartansson, Helgi Skúli
1999 “
Orð í belg um eignarfallsflótta.” [‘A few words on Genitive Avoidance.’].
Íslenskt mál 21: 151–160.
Maling, Joan
2002 “
‘Það rignir þágufalli á Íslandi.’ [‘It rains datives in Iceland.’] Verbs with Dative Objects in Icelandic.”
Íslenskt mál 24: 31–105.
McFadden, Thomas
2004 The Position of Morphological Case in the Derivation: A Study on the Syntax-morphology Interface. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Müller, Gereon
2005 “
Syncretism and Iconicity in Icelandic Noun Declensions: A Distributed Morphology Approach.” In
Yearbook of Morphology 2004, ed. by
Booij, Geert, and
Jaap van Marle, 229–271. Dordrecht: Springer.
Nowenstein, Iris Edda
2012 Mig langar sjálfri til þess. Rannsókn á innri breytileika í fallmörkun frumlaga [
‘Me wants self to do that: An investigation of intra-speaker variation in subject case.’] BA-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Pétursdóttir, Kristín Þ.
2014 Tungan er málinu vǫn. Um lýsingarorð sem stýra þágufalli. [
‘… On adjectives that assign dative case.’] M.A.-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur
1990 Íslensk orðhlutafræði. [
‘Icelandic morphology.’] Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann
1991 “
Icelandic Case-marked PRO and the Licensing of Lexical Arguments.”
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 9: 327–63.
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann
2011 “
On the New Passive.”
Syntax 14: 148–178.
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann
2012 “
Minimalist C/case”.
Linguistic Inquiry 43: 191–227.
Svavarsdóttir, Ásta
1982 “
Þágufallssýki.” [‘Dative Sickness.’]
Íslenskt mál 4: 19–62.
Svavarsdóttir, Ásta
1994 “
Enn um eignarfallsflótta.” [‘More on Genitive Avoidance.’]
Jónína hans Jóns G. Friðjónssonar, 7–13. Reykjavík.
Thorsteinsdóttir, Kristín Á.
2009 Afdrif eignarfallsins. Staða eignarfalls í íslensku nútímamáli. [
‘The status of the Icelandic genitive.’] M.A.-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Thórarinsdóttir, Rannveig B.
2015 Fallstjórn slangursagna. [The Case Assignment of Slang Verbs.] BA-thesis, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Thráinsson, Höskuldur
2013 “
Ideal Speakers and Other Speakers: The Case of Dative and Other Cases.” In
Variation in Datives. A Microcomparative Perspective, ed. by
Beatriz Fernández and
Ricardo Etxepare, 161–188. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thráinsson, Höskuldur, Thórhallur Eythórsson, Ásta Svavarsdóttir and Thórunn Blöndal
2015 “
Fallmörkun.” [‘Case marking.’] In
Tilbrigði í íslenskri setningagerð. II. Helstu niðurstöður. Tölfræðilegt yfirlit [
‘Variation in Icelandic Syntax. II. Main results. A statistical overview.’], ed. by
Höskuldur Thráinsson,
Ásgrímur Angantýsson and
Einar Freyr Sigurðsson, 33–76. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
Viðarsson, Heimir Freyr
2009 “
Tilbrigði í fallmörkun aukafallsfrumlaga. Þágufallshneigð í forníslensku?” [‘Variation in the case marking of oblique subjects. Dative Substitution in Old Icelandic?’]
Íslenskt mál 31: 15–66.
Wood, Jim
2012 Icelandic Morphosyntax and Argument Structure. Doctoral dissertation, New York University, New York.
Yang, Charles
2016 The Price of Linguistic Productivity. How Children Learn to Break the Rules of Language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Yip, Moira, Joan Maling and Ray Jackendoff
1987 “
Case in Tiers.”
Language 63: 217–250.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
WOOD, JIM, MATTHEW BARROS & EINAR FREYR SIGURÐSSON
2020.
Case mismatching in Icelandic clausal ellipsis.
Journal of Linguistics 56:2
► pp. 399 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 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.