Not on the edge The syntax and pragmatics of clause-initial negation in Swedish
(2014) In Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 17(2). p.97-128- Abstract
- The possibility of topicalizing sentential negation is severely restricted in the Germanic V2-languages. In this paper, we show that negative preposing was more frequent and less restricted in earlier stages of Swedish: approx. 8 % of all occurrences of negation are clause initial in Old Swedish, compared to less than 0.5 % in present day Swedish. We propose that this change in frequency can be traced to the syntactic status of the negative element. More specifically, we argue that Old Swedish eigh 'not' may function as a syntactic head and cliticize to the finite verb in [C-0]. This possibility is not open to the XP inte 'not' in Modern Swedish. In Modern Swedish, we argue that the restrictions on negative preposing instead are related to... (More)
- The possibility of topicalizing sentential negation is severely restricted in the Germanic V2-languages. In this paper, we show that negative preposing was more frequent and less restricted in earlier stages of Swedish: approx. 8 % of all occurrences of negation are clause initial in Old Swedish, compared to less than 0.5 % in present day Swedish. We propose that this change in frequency can be traced to the syntactic status of the negative element. More specifically, we argue that Old Swedish eigh 'not' may function as a syntactic head and cliticize to the finite verb in [C-0]. This possibility is not open to the XP inte 'not' in Modern Swedish. In Modern Swedish, we argue that the restrictions on negative preposing instead are related to more general pragmatic restrictions on the information expressed in [Spec,CP]: according to our hypothesis, negative preposing is licensed by contrast. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4709693
- author
- Brandtler, Johan LU and Hakansson, David
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- change, Diachronic, Negation, Topicalization, Old Swedish, Modern Swedish, Spec, CP, Germanic languages
- in
- Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics
- volume
- 17
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 97 - 128
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000342083700001
- scopus:84939896166
- ISSN
- 1572-8552
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10828-014-9068-4
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Swedish (015011001)
- id
- a77d5cf6-62f8-4d77-a4f9-58dec445a544 (old id 4709693)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:52:23
- date last changed
- 2022-01-25 17:30:17
@article{a77d5cf6-62f8-4d77-a4f9-58dec445a544,
abstract = {{The possibility of topicalizing sentential negation is severely restricted in the Germanic V2-languages. In this paper, we show that negative preposing was more frequent and less restricted in earlier stages of Swedish: approx. 8 % of all occurrences of negation are clause initial in Old Swedish, compared to less than 0.5 % in present day Swedish. We propose that this change in frequency can be traced to the syntactic status of the negative element. More specifically, we argue that Old Swedish eigh 'not' may function as a syntactic head and cliticize to the finite verb in [C-0]. This possibility is not open to the XP inte 'not' in Modern Swedish. In Modern Swedish, we argue that the restrictions on negative preposing instead are related to more general pragmatic restrictions on the information expressed in [Spec,CP]: according to our hypothesis, negative preposing is licensed by contrast.}},
author = {{Brandtler, Johan and Hakansson, David}},
issn = {{1572-8552}},
keywords = {{change; Diachronic; Negation; Topicalization; Old Swedish; Modern Swedish; Spec; CP; Germanic languages}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{97--128}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics}},
title = {{Not on the edge The syntax and pragmatics of clause-initial negation in Swedish}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10828-014-9068-4}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10828-014-9068-4}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2014}},
}