Order and structure in embedded clauses in Northern Norwegian

Abstract

This dissertation consists of a collection of six papers, and the unifying topic for all of the papers is the position of verbs in embedded clauses in Northern Norwegian. This has relevance for linguistic theory because Northern Norwegian displays patterns which have not been discussed in detail before, and which under certain analyses are somewhat unexpected. The current study addresses various aspects of this topic. For example, Northern Norwegian is shown to allow verbs preceding adverbs in so-called non-V2 contexts, that is clauses in which Verb Second (V2) is not available. Since the verb is separated from its complements by the adverb, we take the verb to have moved from its base position. This indicates that Northern Norwegian employs a sort of short verb movement that is independent of the V2 operation found in main clauses. Such verb movement is not found in Standard Norwegian. Furthermore, this short verb movement in Northern Norwegian also differs from the verb movement found in non-V2 contexts in Icelandic. <br><br> The first part of the dissertation (chs. 1-3) explores the verb placement patterns found in embedded clauses in Northern Norwegian (NN) in more detail. I discuss both patterns where verbs follow all adverbs (ch. 1), and patterns where verbs intervene between or precede adverbs (ch. 2). NN verb movement in embedded clauses also affects the distribution of subjects in various ways, and this is addressed in ch. 3. <br><br> In the second part of the dissertation (chs. 4-6) the NN verb movement patterns are discussed in a broader perspective. Chs. 4-5 (joint with Gunnar Hrafn Hrafnbjargarson, Thorbjörg Hróarsdóttir, and Anna-Lena Wiklund) address NN verb movement in a cross-Scandinavian context. Ch. 4 compares the verb movement in NN and Icelandic non-V2 clauses, and argues that the two differ in several respects. Ch. 5 concerns embedded V2 in Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese, and suggests that these languages display the same restrictions with respect to this phenomenon. Finally, ch. 6 (joint with Marit Westergaard) deals with the acquisition of verb placement in Norwegian embedded clauses, where children are found to overgeneralise verb movement for an extended period of time.