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Question 3: Correlation between different reflexes of standardisation
Different chapters in the dissertation set out the trajectory of different variables
that were all the target of standardisation efforts. This gives rise to the question:
Is there a correlation between the supposed effects of standardisation on the dif-
ferent variables discussed in the thesis? For example, at one point in the discus-
sion of the generic pronoun maður there is a footnote observing that the periodi-
cal Ný félagsrit showed a surprisingly high rate of the “non-standard” generic
pronoun maður and that this contrasts with the very low rate in the same period-
ical of the “non-standard” order Adv–Vfin. This is an interesting observation,
and it raises the question more generally of whether all the “non-standard” vari-
ants pattern together. Would this be expected under Heimir’s assumptions?
Would it be possible to test for such a correlation?
4. Questions on the detail of the analysis of the Adv–Vfin order
Question 4: A change in speakers’ analysis of the Adv−Vfin order in the late 19 th
century?
The dissertation invokes a kind of reanalysis of the Adv−Vfin order in the late
19th century as Stylistic Fronting, and then a subsequent reanalysis as arising
from a high position for the Adverb, following Bobaljik and Thráinsson (1998)
and Ásgrímur Angantýsson (2001, 2007, 2011) (at least, there seems to be some
back-and-forth in Chapter 3 as to whether or not this is the right analysis for
current cases of Adv–Vfin ordering). In Sundqvist’s (2002, 2003) work on the
history of Danish, he also invoked a reanalysis of Stylistic Fronting as the basis
for the change to a Neg–Vfin order in that language. But the subsequent devel-
opments in Danish and in Icelandic are quite different. Partly because of this,
but also just in terms of the Icelandic data, what is to be gained from positing
that there are two stages to the reanalysis (Adv−Vfin first reanalysed as Stylistic
Fronting, and then reanalysed again) rather than just one?
Question 5: The effect of clause-type on change in the frequency of Adv–Vfin order
Heimir explores the effect of clause-type on the frequency of the Adv–Vfin
order, tracking this over time. The graph in Figure 3.15, reproduced here, shows
the changes in frequency of this order between 1784 and 1900 in four “basic
clause types” (all subordinate clauses): declarative complement clauses (tht), rel-
ative clauses (rel), interrogative clauses (int), adverbial clauses (adv) (although
there are two panes, as I understand it one is predictable from the other except
for the actual counts, since both graphs track the relative proportions of the two
orders in sentences which instantiate one or the other).
In the text, the reader’s attention is drawn to a distinction between the tra-
jectory of the Adv−Vfin order in these different clause types as follows:
Caroline Heycock290