From SOV to SVO : Old Norse Influence on English Constituent Order
Bang Lauridsen, Freja LU
(2020)
In Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English
p.22-48
- Abstract
- The change in constituent order in English is one of the most thoroughly investigated changes in the history of the English language. Even so, there is still disagreement among scholars as to what caused the change. The aim of this article is to argue that it was the influence of the Scandinavians and their language, Old Norse, that caused English to abandon the SOV constituent order and instead adopt SVO constituent order. Because of the intense language contact between the two cultures, several linguistic features of Old Norse found their way into the English language. Numerous morphological features were borrowed from Old Norse, but especially the adoption of syntactic features such as stylistic fronting and CP-V2 suggests that Old... (More)
- The change in constituent order in English is one of the most thoroughly investigated changes in the history of the English language. Even so, there is still disagreement among scholars as to what caused the change. The aim of this article is to argue that it was the influence of the Scandinavians and their language, Old Norse, that caused English to abandon the SOV constituent order and instead adopt SVO constituent order. Because of the intense language contact between the two cultures, several linguistic features of Old Norse found their way into the English language. Numerous morphological features were borrowed from Old Norse, but especially the adoption of syntactic features such as stylistic fronting and CP-V2 suggests that Old Norse influence was strong enough to affect the basic syntax of English and thus strong enough to have initiated the change in English constituent order. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9edf3a2b-c6fc-4b16-aad3-f6ac3f3641ee
- author
- Bang Lauridsen, Freja
LU
- publishing date
- 2020-03-13
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Syntax, Word order, Constituent order, Germanic, Old Norse, Old English, English, Language contact, Diachronic change
- in
- Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 27 pages
- publisher
- Aarhus University
- ISSN
- 2446-3981
- DOI
- 10.7146/lev.v0i6.118859
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 9edf3a2b-c6fc-4b16-aad3-f6ac3f3641ee
- date added to LUP
- 2023-10-26 18:21:50
- date last changed
- 2023-10-30 14:29:11
@article{9edf3a2b-c6fc-4b16-aad3-f6ac3f3641ee,
abstract = {{The change in constituent order in English is one of the most thoroughly investigated changes in the history of the English language. Even so, there is still disagreement among scholars as to what caused the change. The aim of this article is to argue that it was the influence of the Scandinavians and their language, Old Norse, that caused English to abandon the SOV constituent order and instead adopt SVO constituent order. Because of the intense language contact between the two cultures, several linguistic features of Old Norse found their way into the English language. Numerous morphological features were borrowed from Old Norse, but especially the adoption of syntactic features such as stylistic fronting and CP-V2 suggests that Old Norse influence was strong enough to affect the basic syntax of English and thus strong enough to have initiated the change in English constituent order.}},
author = {{Bang Lauridsen, Freja}},
issn = {{2446-3981}},
keywords = {{Syntax; Word order; Constituent order; Germanic; Old Norse; Old English; English; Language contact; Diachronic change}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{22--48}},
publisher = {{Aarhus University}},
series = {{Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English}},
title = {{From SOV to SVO : Old Norse Influence on English Constituent Order}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/lev.v0i6.118859}},
doi = {{10.7146/lev.v0i6.118859}},
year = {{2020}},
}