Assessing variation in Germanic: Are the Faroes really between Iceland and Denmark?

Monday, 16 November 2009, Colloquium

Caroline Heycock, University of Edinburgh.

Abstract

In her seminal 1996 dissertation, Diane Jonas investigated the syntax of the Scandinavian language Faroese, in particular with respect to the positions occupied by the finite verb. Faroese appears to have been undergoing a transition between a verbal system like modern Icelandic, in which the finite verb occupies a high position within the clause, and one like modern Danish, in which the finite verb remains in a low position (below negation and all sentential adverbs). The progress of this change is however to some extent obscured by the fact that in all three languages show “verb second” in main clauses and in a subset - possibly not the same across the languages - of subordinate clauses. In this talk I will present new data from Faroese that gives a fuller picture of the extent of variability within the language and makes a direct comparison with both Danish and Icelandic. In addition I will show how data from children suggests that an acquisitional bias against movement is unlikely to be the driver for the change; for a considerable period children in fact show a greater tendency to produce and accept the “old” order than the adults from the same community.