"We Olaf": Pro[(x-)NP] constructions in Icelandic and beyond

Halldór Ármann Sigurosson; Jim Wood

doi:10.5334/GJGL.1054

"We Olaf": Pro[(x-)NP] constructions in Icelandic and beyond

Halldór Ármann Sigurosson, Jim Wood

Yale University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article discusses and analyzes an unusual construction in Icelandic, with a plural pronoun in the singular reading and a directly juxtaposed or annexed NP (or DP), where, for example, vio Ólafur (literally "we.nom Olaf.nom") means 'Olaf and I'. We refer to this construction as Pro[NP]. Pro[NP] constructions have been reported for a handful of languages that lack a case system. Icelandic, in contrast, is a case language, and Pro[NP] in this language is case congruent: the pronoun and its NP/DP annex are always in the same case. No such language has to our knowledge ever been described in detail before; we provide the first in-depth investigation of case-congruent Pro[NP]. The article further compares the Icelandic construction to apparently similar constructions, including English we linguists and the Russian type of Pro[x-NP], as in my s Petej (literally "we.nom with Peter.instr"), meaning 'Peter and I', showing that the Icelandic construction differs from these, despite having similar (but not identical) semantic properties. We propose that plural personal pronouns consist of two parts: a set of variables, {X, Y}, that determine the form of the pronoun, and an NP annex, which constrains the interpretation of the Y variable. Typically, the annex is phonetically silent (bare plural pronouns), but the Icelandic construction is unusual in that the annex is partly overt, thereby allowing a rare insight into the construction of plural personal pronouns.

Original language	English
Article number	16
Journal	Glossa
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5334/GJGL.1054
Publication status	Published - 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research for this article was partly funded by a grant to the first author from Riksbankens Jubelumsfond, P15-0389:1. For helpful comments, information, and discussions, we thank Anders Holmberg, Cecilia Falk, David Erschler, Höskuldur Þráinsson, Martin Haspelmath, Seth Cable, Þórhallur Eyþórsson, and our many informants. Finally, we thank Johan Rooryck and our thorough reviewers.

Funding Information:
The research for this article was partly funded by a grant to the first author from Riksbankens Jubelumsfond, P15-0389:1. For helpful comments, information, and discussions, we thank Anders Holmberg, Cecilia Falk, David Erschler, H?skuldur ?r?insson, Martin Haspelmath, Seth Cable, ??rhallur Eyp?rsson, and our many informants. Finally, we thank Johan Rooryck and our thorough reviewers.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Specific Languages

Free keywords

Icelandic
Inclusory constructions
Plural pronoun constructions
Plural pronouns
Pronominal lock
Pro[NP]s
Pro[x-NP]s
Russian

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10.5334/GJGL.1054Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{89a8f35ab4f840f8a5e06fa1b2e0b9d2,

title = "{"}We Olaf{"}: Pro[(x-)NP] constructions in Icelandic and beyond",

abstract = "This article discusses and analyzes an unusual construction in Icelandic, with a plural pronoun in the singular reading and a directly juxtaposed or annexed NP (or DP), where, for example, vio {\'O}lafur (literally {"}we.nom Olaf.nom{"}) means 'Olaf and I'. We refer to this construction as Pro[NP]. Pro[NP] constructions have been reported for a handful of languages that lack a case system. Icelandic, in contrast, is a case language, and Pro[NP] in this language is case congruent: the pronoun and its NP/DP annex are always in the same case. No such language has to our knowledge ever been described in detail before; we provide the first in-depth investigation of case-congruent Pro[NP]. The article further compares the Icelandic construction to apparently similar constructions, including English we linguists and the Russian type of Pro[x-NP], as in my s Petej (literally {"}we.nom with Peter.instr{"}), meaning 'Peter and I', showing that the Icelandic construction differs from these, despite having similar (but not identical) semantic properties. We propose that plural personal pronouns consist of two parts: a set of variables, {X, Y}, that determine the form of the pronoun, and an NP annex, which constrains the interpretation of the Y variable. Typically, the annex is phonetically silent (bare plural pronouns), but the Icelandic construction is unusual in that the annex is partly overt, thereby allowing a rare insight into the construction of plural personal pronouns.",

keywords = "Icelandic, Inclusory constructions, Plural pronoun constructions, Plural pronouns, Pronominal lock, Pro[NP]s, Pro[x-NP]s, Russian",

author = "Sigurosson, {Halld{\'o}r {\'A}rmann} and Jim Wood",

note = "Funding Information: The research for this article was partly funded by a grant to the first author from Riksbankens Jubelumsfond, P15-0389:1. For helpful comments, information, and discussions, we thank Anders Holmberg, Cecilia Falk, David Erschler, H{\"o}skuldur {\TH}r{\'a}insson, Martin Haspelmath, Seth Cable, {\TH}{\'o}rhallur Ey{\th}{\'o}rsson, and our many informants. Finally, we thank Johan Rooryck and our thorough reviewers. Funding Information: The research for this article was partly funded by a grant to the first author from Riksbankens Jubelumsfond, P15-0389:1. For helpful comments, information, and discussions, we thank Anders Holmberg, Cecilia Falk, David Erschler, H?skuldur ?r?insson, Martin Haspelmath, Seth Cable, ??rhallur Eyp?rsson, and our many informants. Finally, we thank Johan Rooryck and our thorough reviewers. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.5334/GJGL.1054",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Glossa",

issn = "2397-1835",

publisher = "Ubiquity Press Ltd.",

number = "1",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - "We Olaf"

T2 - Pro[(x-)NP] constructions in Icelandic and beyond

AU - Sigurosson, Halldór Ármann

AU - Wood, Jim

N1 - Funding Information: The research for this article was partly funded by a grant to the first author from Riksbankens Jubelumsfond, P15-0389:1. For helpful comments, information, and discussions, we thank Anders Holmberg, Cecilia Falk, David Erschler, Höskuldur Þráinsson, Martin Haspelmath, Seth Cable, Þórhallur Eyþórsson, and our many informants. Finally, we thank Johan Rooryck and our thorough reviewers. Funding Information: The research for this article was partly funded by a grant to the first author from Riksbankens Jubelumsfond, P15-0389:1. For helpful comments, information, and discussions, we thank Anders Holmberg, Cecilia Falk, David Erschler, H?skuldur ?r?insson, Martin Haspelmath, Seth Cable, ??rhallur Eyp?rsson, and our many informants. Finally, we thank Johan Rooryck and our thorough reviewers. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - This article discusses and analyzes an unusual construction in Icelandic, with a plural pronoun in the singular reading and a directly juxtaposed or annexed NP (or DP), where, for example, vio Ólafur (literally "we.nom Olaf.nom") means 'Olaf and I'. We refer to this construction as Pro[NP]. Pro[NP] constructions have been reported for a handful of languages that lack a case system. Icelandic, in contrast, is a case language, and Pro[NP] in this language is case congruent: the pronoun and its NP/DP annex are always in the same case. No such language has to our knowledge ever been described in detail before; we provide the first in-depth investigation of case-congruent Pro[NP]. The article further compares the Icelandic construction to apparently similar constructions, including English we linguists and the Russian type of Pro[x-NP], as in my s Petej (literally "we.nom with Peter.instr"), meaning 'Peter and I', showing that the Icelandic construction differs from these, despite having similar (but not identical) semantic properties. We propose that plural personal pronouns consist of two parts: a set of variables, {X, Y}, that determine the form of the pronoun, and an NP annex, which constrains the interpretation of the Y variable. Typically, the annex is phonetically silent (bare plural pronouns), but the Icelandic construction is unusual in that the annex is partly overt, thereby allowing a rare insight into the construction of plural personal pronouns.

AB - This article discusses and analyzes an unusual construction in Icelandic, with a plural pronoun in the singular reading and a directly juxtaposed or annexed NP (or DP), where, for example, vio Ólafur (literally "we.nom Olaf.nom") means 'Olaf and I'. We refer to this construction as Pro[NP]. Pro[NP] constructions have been reported for a handful of languages that lack a case system. Icelandic, in contrast, is a case language, and Pro[NP] in this language is case congruent: the pronoun and its NP/DP annex are always in the same case. No such language has to our knowledge ever been described in detail before; we provide the first in-depth investigation of case-congruent Pro[NP]. The article further compares the Icelandic construction to apparently similar constructions, including English we linguists and the Russian type of Pro[x-NP], as in my s Petej (literally "we.nom with Peter.instr"), meaning 'Peter and I', showing that the Icelandic construction differs from these, despite having similar (but not identical) semantic properties. We propose that plural personal pronouns consist of two parts: a set of variables, {X, Y}, that determine the form of the pronoun, and an NP annex, which constrains the interpretation of the Y variable. Typically, the annex is phonetically silent (bare plural pronouns), but the Icelandic construction is unusual in that the annex is partly overt, thereby allowing a rare insight into the construction of plural personal pronouns.

KW - Icelandic

KW - Inclusory constructions

KW - Plural pronoun constructions

KW - Plural pronouns

KW - Pronominal lock

KW - Pro[NP]s

KW - Pro[x-NP]s

KW - Russian

U2 - 10.5334/GJGL.1054

DO - 10.5334/GJGL.1054

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111985132

SN - 2397-1835

VL - 5

JO - Glossa

JF - Glossa

IS - 1

M1 - 16

ER -

"We Olaf": Pro[(x-)NP] constructions in Icelandic and beyond

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Free keywords

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