Subject placement with respect to negation

Abstract

Most main clauses in the Scandinavian languages are subject-initial, which combined with the V2 (verb second) requirement means that the subject is immediately followed by the finite verb. However, in embedded clauses without verb movement in Mainland Scandinavian, as well as in non-subject-initial matrix clauses, the position of the subject may interact with the position of sentential adverbials and negation. The issue of the relative order between subjects and adverbs/negation in such contexts has been discussed extensively in the literature on Scandinavian languages. This chapter will focus on Mainland Scandinavian, as these are the languages for which we have relevant data in the Nordic Syntax Database.