Chapter published in:
Syntactic Variation in Insular Scandinavian
Edited by Höskuldur Thráinsson, Caroline Heycock, Hjalmar P. Petersen and Zakaris Svabo Hansen
[Studies in Germanic Linguistics 1] 2017
► pp. 233–276

Variation in copular agreement in Insular Scandinavian

| IDS Mannheim
| University of Edinburgh
This paper explores the syntax of agreement in Insular Scandinavian in copular clauses with two potential goals for agreement. Data from three production experiments – one in Faroese and two in Icelandic – establish several new facts. First, in both languages agreement with the second nominal (DP2) is possible/preferred. Second, there is considerable variation (both within and between languages, and indeed speakers) in the patterns observed. Third, Icelandic shows a surprising pattern of "partial" agreement with DP2 – agreement in number but not person. We discuss the implications for current theorising about agreement, proposing that in these languages, at least, agreement is downwards, and that the available agreement options depend in part on the syntactic position of DP1 when agreement is established.
Keywords: Icelandic, Faroese, copular clauses, agreement, phi-features, inversion
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Agreement with low nominatives in Insular Scandinavian
  • 2.Specificational sentences
  • 3.Specificational agreement in Faroese
    • 3.1Design, methodology, materials, subjects
    • 3.2Results and preliminary discussion
  • 4.Specificational agreement in Icelandic: Number
    • 4.1Introduction
    • 4.2Conditions and materials
    • 4.3Procedure and participants
    • 4.4Data treatment and results
    • 4.5Summary and preliminary discussion
  • 5.Specificational agreement in Icelandic: Person
    • 5.1Introduction
    • 5.2Conditions and materials
    • 5.3Procedure and participants
    • 5.4Data treatment and results
    • 5.5Summary and discussion
  • 6.Accounting for agreement in specificational sentences
    • 6.1Different landing sites for DP1
    • 6.2Agreement features in Comp
    • 6.3Partial agreement
    • 6.4Alternative accounts
  • 7.Summary and future work
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 July 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/sigl.1.09har
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