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PhD project
It is a common assumption and an old observation that flexible word order correlates with rich morphological case-marking, — and sometimes the other way round: poor morphology leads to rigid word orders. In my project, I test these hypotheses by looking at Dutch and Icelandic from a diachronic, (mainly) generative perspective.
keywords: Case, datives/beneficiaries, deflection, diachronic syntax, double object constructions, rich morphology hypothesis.
Footprints
(2010), Tilbrigði í fallmörkun aukafallsfrumlaga: Þágufallshneigð í forníslensku? [Variation in oblique subject case-marking: Dative substitution in Old Icelandic?*], Published in: Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði 31, 15—66.
*) The wider range of morphological datives in Old Icelandic may give rise to surface strings that bear a superficial resemblance to the case variation involved in Dative Substitution in Icelandic. This view entails that the Icelandic case system has undergone drastic diachronic changes in the licensing of datives, not only by extension (as is commonly assumed) but by restriction (‘deflection’?).
(2009), „Sól gerði eigi skina“: stoðsagnir með nafnhætti í fornnorrænu [“The sun did not shine”: support verbs with the infinitive in Old Norse*], University of Iceland, unpublished MA thesis.
*) Old Norse had ‘do-support’ as a repair mechanism for blocked V-(to-I)-to-Foc movement of verbs with a theta-grid. Hence, ‘do-support’ may arise independently of rich/poor agreement morphology.
(2008), Do-support in Old Norse. A talk given at the Grand Meeting for the Network for Scandinavian Dialect Syntax, Sandbjerg (DK), 24-28 August 2008. (Text available online).
(2006), Breytilegt frumlagsfall í forníslensku: athugun á breytileika í fallmörkun skynjandafrumlaga [Variable subject case in Old Icelandic: a study of variation in the case-marking of experiencer subjects*], University of Iceland, unpublished BA thesis.
*) We find phenomena reminiscent of Dative Substitution in Old Icelandic, although they are clearly different from the ongoing change in Icelandic for which this term was coined.