Optional word order in wh-questions in two Norwegian dialects: a diachronic analysis of synchronic variation
Based on a corpus of spontaneous production data, this paper compares the word order of wh -questions in two Norwegian dialects, Kåfjord and Tromsø. While the choice of word order (V2 or non-V2) in Tromsø is dependent on information structure, the Kåfjord speakers produce considerably more non-V2 in...
| Published in: | Nordic Journal of Linguistics |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2005
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0332586505001459 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0332586505001459 |
| Summary: | Based on a corpus of spontaneous production data, this paper compares the word order of wh -questions in two Norwegian dialects, Kåfjord and Tromsø. While the choice of word order (V2 or non-V2) in Tromsø is dependent on information structure, the Kåfjord speakers produce considerably more non-V2 in questions with monosyllabic wh -elements. The majority of questions with multisyllabic wh -constituents, on the other hand, occurs with V2. This synchronic variation is given a diachronic analysis within a Split-CP model of clause structure and a cue-based approach to acquisition and change, where an economy principle (head preference) also plays an important role. Furthermore, an information structure drift from V2 to non-V2 is argued to cause the cue for verb movement to fall below a critical level in the input to children, the result being that V2 only survives in lexically marked cases in Kåfjord, i.e. with the verb ‘be’. |
|---|