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SUMMARY
‘On Verbal Inflection, Verb Movement and Syntactic Structure
in Faroese and Some Other Languages’
Keywords: syntactic theory, morphosyntax, verb movement, Scandinavian syntax,
syntactic change, variation
This paper briefly discusses previous attempts to relate “rich verbal morphology” and
verb movement (V-to-I movement) and claims that they typically fail to provide any
kind of theoretical explanation for the observed correlation. The paper then outlines
the theory proposed in by Bobaljik and Höskuldur Thráinsson (1998, henceforth
B&T) and points out that their theory maintains that there should only be a one way
correlation between rich verbal morphology and verb movement. More precisely,
B&T argue that languages differ with respect to the complexity of inflectional projec-
tions in the syntax, some languages having a Split IP (separate Tense and Agreement
projections along the lines originally suggested by Pollock 1989 and Chomsky 1991)
but others a simplex IP projection. B&T describe this difference in terms of the Split
IP Parameter and claim that a clear distinction between tense and agreement markers
in the morphology will serve as a morphological trigger for a positive setting of the
Split IP Parameter. Then B&T maintain that a split IP structure will require move-
ntent of the finite verb out of the VP to satisfy checking requirements under standard
ntinimalist assumptions about checking domains, whereas a simplex IP will not
require such movement and hence rule it out under economy conditions. But since
syntactic evidence (including V-to-I movement itself!) can also trigger a positive sett-
*ng of the Split IP Parameter, a given language (or a given grammar) can have split IP
without an unambiguous morphological evidence for such a structure (and thus possi-
bly require a morphological analysis involving null morphemes or a morphologically
unnatural splitting of morphemes to match the functional structure in the syntax).
Under B&T’s assumptions, then, the biconditional (if and only if) holds between the
split IP structure and verb movement of the kind under discussion, whereas the cor-
relation between rich verbal morphology and verb movement is one way only.
Given this, B&T’s theory predicts that it should be possible to find languages (or
dialects) without rich verbal morphology but with V-to-I movement (more precisely,
ut least V-to-T). Furthermore, it maintains that there is no reason to expect an imme-
diate loss of V-to-T once the verbal morphology has been simplified. The present
Paper surveys Scandinavian diachronic and dialectal evidence and shows that this
Prediction fits the facts: Verbal morphology is always simplified at least a couple of
centuries before V-to-I disappears and in some Modlem Scandinavian dialects there
ure at least remnants of V-to-I although the verbal morphology appears to be quite
sintple, This includes Faroese, as is extensively documented in this paper, both on the
basis of text research and on the basis of a survey among Faroese High School stu-