Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2011, Qupperneq 158

156
Ásgrímur Angantýsson
cussion is mostly restricted to certain embedded constructions in Icelandic and
related languages, in particular Faroese and Övdalian. A general finding of the
work presented here is that Icelandic is not syntactically unique among the
Scandinavian languages, as is sometimes assumed. This is especially true for the
so-called Embedded Topicalization (Topicalization in embedded clauses, cf.
below).
Examples (1) through (5) present some “minimal pairs” of word order varia-
tion in embedded clauses in Icelandic and related languages, where both variants
are accepted by the same speaker (intra-speaker variation) to varying degrees,
depending on the speaker (inter-speaker variation). In the b-examples in (1-5) we
observe the movement or merging of words or phrases in the left periphery of a
sentence or clause (the relevant elements are in boldface):
Adv-Vfin (V3) and Vfín-Adv (V2)
(1) a. Það er ein Islendingasaga sem ég hef ekki lesið. (Icelandic)
there is one Icelandic saga that I have not read
b. Það er ein Islendingasaga sem ég ekki hef lesið.
there is one Icelandic saga that I not have read
‘There is one Icelandic saga that I have not read.’
(2) a. Karen siger at Peter ikke har læst den bog. (Danish)
Karen says that Peter not has read this book
b. Karen siger at Peter har ikke læst den bog.
Karen says that Peter has not read this book
‘Karen says that Peter has not read this book.’
Topicalization
(3) a. Gunnar miener at Ilma ar stuolið iss-jár peningger. (Övdalian)
Gunnar claims that Ilma has stolen this-here money
b. Gunnar miener at iss-jár peningger ar Ilma stuolið.
Gunnar claims that this-here money has Ilma stolen
‘Gunnar claims that Ilma has stolen this money.’
Stylistic Fronting (SF) and Expletive Insertion
(4)a. Hetta eru
these are
b. Hetta eru
these are
c. Hetta eru
these are
mál, sum__________
matters that has
mál, sum tosað
matters that
mál, sum tað
matters that EXPL
hevur verið tosað um. (Faroese)
been discussed about
hevur verið _____ um.
discussed has been about
hevur verið
has been
tosað um.
discussed about
‘These are matters that have been discussed.’