Long Object Shift does not apply to objects

Summary, in Swedish

The term 'Object Shift' means that a weak object pronoun has been raised to a position to the left of a sentence adverbial. In Swedish, there are mainly two positions to which a weak object pronoun can be raised; one of them is called 'Long Object Shift' or 'LOS'. In this paper, I deal with argument structures in constructions with LOS in Old Swedish. The purpose is to provide more clues on the nature of 'the launching site' for those pronouns that are moved by LOS. Using a generative model for Case assignment, θ-role assignment and argument structures in the V-domain, I argue that the pronominal arguments that are moved by LOS are merged in a specifier-position, either spec-VP or in a [DP XP] configuration. Put differently, I argue that LOS does not apply to objects. The most salient results of my study indicate that LOS in Old Swedish was an uncommon option for some verbs and four verbs stood out: möta 'meet', te 'show/reveal', synas 'become visible' and oppenbara 'show/reveal'; LOS occurs more frequently with divalent verbs that do not select an external (ACTOR) argument, as compared to verbs that do select ACTOR-arguments; shifted objects are most often assigned an EXPERIENCER-role; pronouns in dative are more common than pronouns in accusative in constructions with LOS.

• Author: Mikael Berger
• Department/s: Master's Programme: Language and Linguistics
• Publishing year: 2015
• Language: English
• Full text: Available as PDF - 2 MB; Download statistics
• Document type: Student publication for Master's degree (one year)
• Topic: Languages and Literatures
• Keywords: Object Shift; Long Object Shift; argument structures; Case assignment; θ-role assignment; transitivity; Old Swedish
• Supervisor: Lars-Olof Delsing (Professor)