Topicality in Icelandic : Null arguments and Narrative Inversion
(2019) In Studies in Generative Grammar [SGG] 136. p.249-271- Abstract
- This paper discusses topicality in Icelandic grammar as realized in several phenomena: referential third person pro drop in Old Icelandic, diverse types of topic drop in Old and Modern Icelandic, and Narrative Inversion (declarative VS clauses), also in both Old and Modern Icelandic. These phenomena all involve aboutness topics, given topics or both, thus showing that distinct types of topicality are active in Icelandic. However, in contrast to Italian, Icelandic does not provide evidence that different topic types have different structural correlates, a fact that suggests that topicality types are not generally structuralized in language (while not excluding that a topicality hierarchy may be PF-licensed by externalization properties... (More)
- This paper discusses topicality in Icelandic grammar as realized in several phenomena: referential third person pro drop in Old Icelandic, diverse types of topic drop in Old and Modern Icelandic, and Narrative Inversion (declarative VS clauses), also in both Old and Modern Icelandic. These phenomena all involve aboutness topics, given topics or both, thus showing that distinct types of topicality are active in Icelandic. However, in contrast to Italian, Icelandic does not provide evidence that different topic types have different structural correlates, a fact that suggests that topicality types are not generally structuralized in language (while not excluding that a topicality hierarchy may be PF-licensed by externalization properties specific to languages like Italian). Topicality is presumably a universally available category or phenomenon, but it is plausibly an interface third factor phenomenon (in the sense of Chomsky 2005), not provided by Universal Grammar but interacting with it in the shaping of externalized grammar, differently so in different languages. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- This paper discusses topicality in Icelandic grammar as realized in several
phenomena: referential third person pro drop in Old Icelandic, diverse types
of topic drop in Old and Modern Icelandic, and Narrative Inversion (declarative
VS clauses), also in both Old and Modern Icelandic. These phenomena all involve
aboutness topics, given topics or both, thus showing that distinct types of topicality are active in Icelandic. However, in contrast to Italian, Icelandic does not provide evidence that different topic types have different structural correlates, a fact that suggests that topicality types are not generally structuralized in language (while not excluding that a topicality hierarchy may be PF-licensed by externalization... (More) - This paper discusses topicality in Icelandic grammar as realized in several
phenomena: referential third person pro drop in Old Icelandic, diverse types
of topic drop in Old and Modern Icelandic, and Narrative Inversion (declarative
VS clauses), also in both Old and Modern Icelandic. These phenomena all involve
aboutness topics, given topics or both, thus showing that distinct types of topicality are active in Icelandic. However, in contrast to Italian, Icelandic does not provide evidence that different topic types have different structural correlates, a fact that suggests that topicality types are not generally structuralized in language (while not excluding that a topicality hierarchy may be PF-licensed by externalization properties specific to languages like Italian). Topicality is presumably a universally available category or phenomenon, but it is plausibly an interface third factor phenomenon (in the sense of Chomsky 2005), not provided by Universal Grammar but interacting with it in the shaping of externalized grammar, differently so in different languages. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f1ab7c50-1fd6-49fd-a473-ce013ecb29f9
- author
- Sigurdsson, Halldor Armann LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Icelandic, narrative inversion, pro drop, topic drop, topicality, verb-initial declaratives
- host publication
- Architecture of Topic
- series title
- Studies in Generative Grammar [SGG]
- editor
- Molnár, Valéria ; Egerland, Verner and Winkler, Susanne
- volume
- 136
- pages
- 249 - 271
- publisher
- Mouton de Gruyter
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85123744366
- ISSN
- 0167-4331
- 0167-4331
- ISBN
- 978-1-5015-0448-8
- 978-1-5015-0438-9
- 978-1-5015-1261-2
- DOI
- 10.1515/9781501504488-009
- project
- Pronouns and pronominal features
- “Jag vill vara dig”: Nominative and oblique case in Modern Swedish
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f1ab7c50-1fd6-49fd-a473-ce013ecb29f9
- date added to LUP
- 2019-11-29 12:26:31
- date last changed
- 2024-01-07 00:25:57
@inbook{f1ab7c50-1fd6-49fd-a473-ce013ecb29f9,
abstract = {{This paper discusses topicality in Icelandic grammar as realized in several phenomena: referential third person pro drop in Old Icelandic, diverse types of topic drop in Old and Modern Icelandic, and Narrative Inversion (declarative VS clauses), also in both Old and Modern Icelandic. These phenomena all involve aboutness topics, given topics or both, thus showing that distinct types of topicality are active in Icelandic. However, in contrast to Italian, Icelandic does not provide evidence that different topic types have different structural correlates, a fact that suggests that topicality types are not generally structuralized in language (while not excluding that a topicality hierarchy may be PF-licensed by externalization properties specific to languages like Italian). Topicality is presumably a universally available category or phenomenon, but it is plausibly an interface third factor phenomenon (in the sense of Chomsky 2005), not provided by Universal Grammar but interacting with it in the shaping of externalized grammar, differently so in different languages.}},
author = {{Sigurdsson, Halldor Armann}},
booktitle = {{Architecture of Topic}},
editor = {{Molnár, Valéria and Egerland, Verner and Winkler, Susanne}},
isbn = {{978-1-5015-0448-8}},
issn = {{0167-4331}},
keywords = {{Icelandic; narrative inversion; pro drop; topic drop; topicality; verb-initial declaratives}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{249--271}},
publisher = {{Mouton de Gruyter}},
series = {{Studies in Generative Grammar [SGG]}},
title = {{Topicality in Icelandic : Null arguments and Narrative Inversion}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781501504488-009}},
doi = {{10.1515/9781501504488-009}},
volume = {{136}},
year = {{2019}},
}