Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 2020, Page 124

(1) Það eru mýs í baðkerinu. (Ice.)
expl are mice in bathtub.def
ʻThere are mice in the bathtub.’
(2) Det sitter en fågel på taket. (Swe.)
expl sits a bird on roof.def
ʻThere is a bird on the roof.’
The reason for concentrating on presentational sentences is that they
provide a good testing ground for investigating how thematic roles influ-
ence the preferred word order in various ways. By comparing Icelandic,
where the expletive það can be shown to be generated in initial position,
outside the core clause, and Swedish, where the expletive det is generated
inside the core clause, we can show how this structural difference affects
the word order options in both languages. Despite these structural differ-
ences, we find systematic similarities when it comes to which thematic
roles can be realized in which positions. In section 2 we summarize the
main differences between the languages and outline Platzack’s (1983)
account, which we dub the standard account. We also point out two facts
that are unexplained on the standard account and which both have to do
with transitive verbs. In section 3 we pursue the idea that it is the argu-
ment structure that is relevant and introduce Platzack’s (2010) argument
structure with associated thematic roles. We give an overview of the
interaction between roles and positions and propose that pivots in the VP
obey similar constraints in the two languages. In section 4 we look at the
positioning of negated pivots and in section 5 we discuss three related
constructions where the languages differ.
2. Two well-known differences
Presentational sentences in Icelandic and Swedish share certain funda-
mental properties but there are some well-known differences having to
do with where pivots may appear and whether they can be agents of tran-
sitive verbs. In Icelandic the pivot can appear either in the VP (3a) or (in
several positions) in the higher IP domain (3b,c) (examples from Thráins -
son 2007:314).
Engdahl, Sigurðsson, Zaenen and Maling124
def = definite, dft = default, exp = Experiencer, expl = expletive, gen = genitive, nom
= nominative, pass = passive, perf = Performer, pl = plural, refl = reflexive, sg = sin-
gular.