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Two types of case variation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2013

Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson
Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson*
Affiliation:
Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson, Department of Icelandic, University of Iceland, Árnagarði v. Suðurgötu, Reykjavík 101, Iceland. jj@hi.is
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Abstract

Building on data from Icelandic, this article argues that there are two kinds of case variation, formal and semantic. The first type features lexical case as one of the variants whereas the second type involves structural vs. inherent case. The semantic effect found with the latter kind of variation follows from the semantic requirements associated with inherent case and these may cut across different uses of the same verb. It is also shown how the weak status of disappearing lexical case manifests itself in the grammar of Icelandic and Faroese.

Keywords

formal variationinherent caselexical casesemantic variationstructural case

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Type
Research Article
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Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , May 2013 , pp. 5 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Nordic Association of Linguistics 2013 

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