Variation in Mainland Scandinavian Object Shift and Prosodic Repair

Gunlög Josefsson, Nomi Erteschik-Shir, Björn Köhnlein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this paper we argue for an analysis of Object Shift in Mainland Scandinavian in which the shifted word order is the result of a prosodic repair to enable weak pronoun incorporation. We observe that varieties with optional OS also have a tone accent contrast. We argue that the in-situ word order is licensed in these dialects because tonal accent creates a prosodic domain licensing the incorporation of the weak pronoun. The proposal has important implications for our understanding of the architecture of the grammar – it provides evidence that at least some cases of word order can better be attributed to phonological computation, rather than to narrow syntax.
Translated title of the contributionÖbject shift - variation inom det fastlandsskandinaviska området och prosodisk reparation
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages57
JournalLinguistic Inquiry
Publication statusSubmitted - 2017 Oct 3

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Specific Languages

Free keywords

  • object shift
  • prosodic repair
  • tone accent unit
  • match theory
  • swedish
  • ærø danish
  • syntax
  • phonology

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