Bettelou Los
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199274765
- eISBN:
- 9780191705885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274765.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This chapter discusses the rise of to-infinitival Exceptional Case-Marking (ECM) constructions as in, He believes the results to be unscientific, in late Middle English. It argues that a distinction ...
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This chapter discusses the rise of to-infinitival Exceptional Case-Marking (ECM) constructions as in, He believes the results to be unscientific, in late Middle English. It argues that a distinction should be made between the construction after verbs like want (I want you to do it), which appears to arise out of a reanalysis of the to-infinitive as THEME with verbs of commanding and permitting, and the construction after verbs like believe (‘the verbs of thinking and declaring’). It is argued that emergence of ECMs with believe-verbs is connected with changes in information structure causes by the loss of verb-second. The register restriction on this type of ECM, as well as the restriction on embedded subjects (witness *They alleged the results to be unscientific), appears to suggest that the construction is still outside the core grammar of English and requires additional routines (viruses) that are acquired after the core grammar is in place.Less
This chapter discusses the rise of to-infinitival Exceptional Case-Marking (ECM) constructions as in, He believes the results to be unscientific, in late Middle English. It argues that a distinction should be made between the construction after verbs like want (I want you to do it), which appears to arise out of a reanalysis of the to-infinitive as THEME with verbs of commanding and permitting, and the construction after verbs like believe (‘the verbs of thinking and declaring’). It is argued that emergence of ECMs with believe-verbs is connected with changes in information structure causes by the loss of verb-second. The register restriction on this type of ECM, as well as the restriction on embedded subjects (witness *They alleged the results to be unscientific), appears to suggest that the construction is still outside the core grammar of English and requires additional routines (viruses) that are acquired after the core grammar is in place.
John Sundquist
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199582624
- eISBN:
- 9780191731068
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199582624.003.0015
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter analyzes the Negative Movement (NM) pattern in Norwegian, where, as in other Scandinavian languages, objects containing a negative quantifier (e.g., no books) must appear to the left of ...
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This chapter analyzes the Negative Movement (NM) pattern in Norwegian, where, as in other Scandinavian languages, objects containing a negative quantifier (e.g., no books) must appear to the left of the verb, albeit with a slightly archaic or marginal flavour. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 15.2 discusses Complement-Verbmain (XV) and Verbmain-Complement (VX) order, and gives a presentation of word order patterns in Early Norwegian that resemble scrambling, quantifier movement (QM), and NM in modern Germanic languages. These three types of XV word order are described in terms of semantically-driven movement regulated by information structure. QM and NM in nineteenth-century and contemporary Modern Norwegian is also discussed. Section 15.3 discusses NM as a remnant of these once-productive movement operations, framing the discussion in terms of Virus Theory. It examines four characteristics shared by grammatical viruses and point out the similarities between NM and other prestige constructions in Modern Standard English. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Virus Theory as a tool for the description and analysis of data on syntactic variation and change.Less
This chapter analyzes the Negative Movement (NM) pattern in Norwegian, where, as in other Scandinavian languages, objects containing a negative quantifier (e.g., no books) must appear to the left of the verb, albeit with a slightly archaic or marginal flavour. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 15.2 discusses Complement-Verbmain (XV) and Verbmain-Complement (VX) order, and gives a presentation of word order patterns in Early Norwegian that resemble scrambling, quantifier movement (QM), and NM in modern Germanic languages. These three types of XV word order are described in terms of semantically-driven movement regulated by information structure. QM and NM in nineteenth-century and contemporary Modern Norwegian is also discussed. Section 15.3 discusses NM as a remnant of these once-productive movement operations, framing the discussion in terms of Virus Theory. It examines four characteristics shared by grammatical viruses and point out the similarities between NM and other prestige constructions in Modern Standard English. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Virus Theory as a tool for the description and analysis of data on syntactic variation and change.
