Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1980, Blaðsíða 182

180
Joan Maling
(7)a . . . og nú eigum við að vita . . . hvort ekki finnst meira þýfi hjá
piltinum (Tilh., 4. k.)
b Hún horfði á þennan stóra sterka mann, sem aldrei hafði beygt
lund sína fyrir nokkrum kvenmanni (Tilh., 1. k.)
c . .. og Sveinn fór smátt og smátt að . .. muna eftir öllu,
sem fram hafði farið (Tilh., 6. k.)
d Þá gæti enginn sagt með vissu, að svo hefði verið (Tilh., 5. k.)
e Aldrei var Hans ánægðari en þegar svo bar undir (Hans V.)
2.1 Topicalization versus Stylistic Inversion
A preliminary dichotomy between Topicalization and Stylistic Inver-
sion is given in (8) below. The distinction between the two fronting
processes is sometimes a fuzzy one, particularly when it comes to the
fronting of adverbials (see Section 4.2 below), and needs to be investi-
gated further.
(8) TOPICALIZATION
Applies to object NPs, PPs,
etc.
Emphasis or focus on
fronted constituent
Uncommon in embedded Ss
Judgments vary on fronting
in relatives, questions, etc.
Unbounded
No Subject Gap required
STYLISTIC INVERSION
Applies to past participles,
Adjs, some Advs, particles, etc.
No such emphasis or focus
necessarily present
Common in embedded Ss
Accepted by all speakers
Clause-bounded
Requires a Subject Gap
The most obvious difference between the two fronting processes lies in
the frequence of occurrence. As noted above, Topicalization in em-
bedded clauses is quite unusual. The sentence given in (1) was the only
example I noted in approximately 75 pages of text, whereas the ex-
amples in (5)-(7) are but a small sampling of the Stylistic Inversions in
the same corpus.5 Furthermore, the fronting of object NPs within
5 Kossuth(1978) observes that an average of 6.5% (with a range of 1%-14%)
of embedded clauses begin with nonsubjects, as opposed to 20% of main clauses.
Unfortunately, the two kinds of inversion are lumped together in her study, making
it difficult to evaluate the significance of the different frequencies, which may or
may not be entirely attributable to the markedness of Topicalization in embedded
clauses.