Nordic Atlas of Language Structures (NALS) Journal, Vol 1

Copyright © J. B. Johannessen 2014

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Left dislocation in main and subordinate clauses

Janne Bondi Johannessen

University of Oslo

1. Introduction

Left dislocation is a common feature in the Nordic languages. In main clauses, a lexical noun phrase is positioned in a dislocated position in the left periphery, while a pronoun occurs in the clause-internal, prefield position, i.e., in the position preceding the finite verb. This is described by Faarlund et al (1997:904-5) for Norwegian, Teleman et al (1999 4:440–447) for Swedish and Hansen and Heltoft (2011:1828) for Danish.

(1)	Ibsen	han	var	ein	stor	dramatikar	(Norwegian)
	Ibsen	he	was	a	great	playwright
	‘Ibsen was a great playwright.’ (Faarlund et al. 1997:904)

 

(2)	Ja	Oslo	det	er	en	dejlig	by	(Danish)
	yes	Oslo	it	is	a	nice	town
	‘Yes, Oslo is a nice town.’ (Hansen and Heltoft 2011:1828)

 

(3)	Johan,	han	är	bra	komisk	ibland.	(Swedish)
	Johan	he	is	good	comic	sometimes
	‘Johan is very comic sometimes.’ (Teleman et al 1999 4:440)

In Danish, this type of left dislocation can also occur in subordinate clauses – the “neutral sentence model”, according to Hansen and Heltoft (2011:1828). They say that the subject can be extraposed so that it occurs just after the subjunction and before the subject position. This is exemplified in (4).

(4)	Ved	du	om	Merete	hun	kommer	med	(Danish)
	Know	you	whether	Merete	she	comes	with
	‘Do you know whether Merete will come?’ (Hansen and Heltoft 2011:1828)

Hansen and Heltoft (2011:1830) further say that pronouns cannot themselves be left dislocated, so that (5) is ungrammatical:

(5)	De0	de	afleverer	alltid	til	tiden	(Danish)
	they	they	deliver	always	to	time.DEF
	‘They always deliver on time.’ (Hansen and Heltoft 2011:1830)

Teleman et al (1999 4:447) point out that this type of dislocation occurs in certain subordinate clauses, as in the authentic example from spoken language in (6).  Elisabet Engdahl (p.c.), who has provided the example in (6) points out that the subordinate clause has main clause word order, with the negation following the finite verb. This seems to be necessary in this construction, since (7) is ungrammatical.

(6)	Jag	har	en	känsla	av	att	ungdomarna	nu	för	tiden	(Swedish)
	I	have	a	feeling	of	that	youths.pl.def.	now	for	time.def
	dom	vill	inte	så	gärna	berätta	om	vad	...
	they	wil	not	so	rather	tell	about	what	...
	‘I have a feeling that youths nowadays do not want to tell about what ...’ (Teleman et al 1999 4:447)

 

(7)

* Jag

har

en

känsla

av

att

ungdomarna

nu

för

tiden

(Swedish)

I

have

a

feeling

of

that

youths.pl.def.

now

for

time.def

dom

inte

vill

så

gärna

berätta

om

vad

...

they

not

wil

so

rather

tell

about

what

...

‘I have a feeling that youths nowadays do not want to tell about what ...’ (Elisabet Engdahl, p.c.)

2. Results

2.1 Nordic Syntax Database

Since it is generally acknowledged that left dislocation in main clauses exists in all the Nordic languages, this was not tested in the ScanDiaSyn survey. However, left dislocation in subordinate clauses was tested. Sentence (8) containing a sentence with left dislocation in a subordinate polarity question clause, and (9) containing a subordinate clause with a lexical noun as subject were tested in Norway and Sweden.  The results are shown on maps 1 and 2.

(8)	Han	ville	vite	om	bussen	den	stopper	før	motorvegen	(#272) (Norwegian)
	he	wanted	know	whether	bus.DEF	it	stops	before	motorway.DEF
	‘He wanted to know if the bus stops before the motor way.’

 

(9)	Han	ville	vite	om	bussen	stopper	før	motorvegen	(#1203) (Norwegian)
	He	wanted	know	whether	bus.DEF	stops	before	motorway.DEF
	‘He wanted to know if the bus stops before the motor way.’

Map 1:  Left dislocation in subordinate clauses.

(#272: Han ville vite om bussen den stopper før motorvegen. ‘He wanted to know if the bus stops before the motorway.’)

(black= low score)

Map 2: Lexical items in the prefield position in subordinate clauses.

(#1203:Han ville vite om bussen stopper før motorvegen. ‘He wanted to know if the bus stops before the motorway.’)
 (White=high score; black = low score)

The maps show very clear results. In Norwegian and Swedish, independently of dialect, a lexical noun phrase in the subject position of the subordinate clause is fine. However, there is no place for a dislocated phrase to its left. The survey was not performed in Denmark, nor in Iceland or the Faroe Islands. I will supplement the survey with data from the Nordic Dialect Corpus.

3. Discussion

3.1. Introduction

Hansen and Heltoft (2011) give examples of left dislocation in subordinate clauses, as we saw in section 1. They say nothing, however, about the frequency of dislocated structures, or about any dialectal differences. Jørgensen (2008:2.3), however, in a web-based information site for dialectologists, says about the West Jutlandic dialects that those sentences where the constituent in the prefield is purely pronominal seem most natural. If a heavier constituent is desired at the front, it should be put in the extraposition and be repeated pronominally.^[1] Jørgensen (2000:105) takes a broader view, and says about spoken language generally that the prefield does not accept anything but pronouns, and that sentences without left dislocation (but with a lexical noun phrase) would sound artificial in informal speech.  Hansen (1967) also mentions such constructions. We will take a closer look at Danish first, and then the other Nordic languages.

3.2. Data from the Nordic Dialect Corpus

3.2.1 Danish

For the topic in this paper, it is vital to be able to test natural, spoken data. The Nordic Dialect Corpus is very useful for this purpose, since it contains a lot of informal dialogue, and since it is grammatically tagged and easy to search in. Starting with Denmark, I will test constructions left dislocation as well as lexical items in the prefield in both main and subordinate clauses. I start with testing Hansen and Heltoft’s (2011:1828) claim that left dislocation can occur in subordinate clauses. This is interesting because the Syntax Database reveals that this construction is rejected in Swedish and Norwegian. The corpus is morphologically tagged, but not syntactically, so I have chosen not to look for complex noun phrases, but only simple nouns. A basic search for subjunction + noun + pronoun should give us examples of the desired construction, if it exists. The results of the search show that this construction can indeed be found in Danish; there are 36 proper hits (after irrelevant hits have been removed). The hits are from all over Denmark, so there seems to be no dialectal differences here. The construction has been found in Århus, Ærø, Als, Bornholm, Falster, Fyn, Harboøre, Copenhagen, North Jutland, East Jutland, Sevel, Zealand, Spjald, Thorminde and West Jutland (the areas mentioned –Jutland and Zealand – represent individual places not further specified in the national Danish DanDiaSyn project; many of the other places in the list are also in Jutland and Zealand).  In (10) I present some examples of the subordinate left dislocation.

(10)	a.	Når	mor	hun	var	færdig	med	at	vaske	op	(Danish)
		when	mother	she	was	finished	with	to	wash	up
		‘When mother had finished doing the washing up.’ (thorsminde_67)

 

	b.	...	for	at	folk	de	vil	handle	der	(Danish)
			for	that	people	they	will	shop	there
		‘in order that people will want to shop there.’ (fyn6)

 

	c.	...	da	Svendsen	han	kom	med	mig	(Danish)
			when	Svendsen	he	came	with	me
		‘when Svendsen came with me.’ (sjaelland6)

 

	d.	...	når	dyrlægen	han	holder	nede	(Danish)
			when	veterinary.DEF	he	holds	down
		‘when the vet stays down.’ (aeroe1)

 

e.

...

fordi

at

turister

de

elsker

jo

sol

og

varme

(Danish)

because

that

tourists

they

love

yes

sun

and

heat

‘because tourists of course love sun and warm weather.’ (bornholm3)

 

	f.	...	inden	muren	den	blev	væltet	(Danish)
			before	wall.DEF	it	was	tilted
		‘before the wall was torn down.’ (falster8)

There is definitely, then, left dislocation in subordinate clauses in Danish. There are hits from all across the country. It is also important to point out that it seems that any kind of subjunction can introduce the subordinate clause. This is surprising given that main clause word order in subordinate clauses is usually restricted to clauses introduced by at/att ‘that’. This is very different from the situation in some of the other Nordic languages, as we shall see below.  While Hansen and Heltoft (2011) say nothing about the frequency of the left dislocation, Jørgensen (2000 and 2008) says that it would sound artificial not to have left dislocation. However, a search for subjunction + noun + verb – i.e., for subordinate clauses without left dislocation – yield 83 proper hits (as against 36 with dislocation). This means that there are more hits without than with dislocation, thus showing a result somewhat different from Jørgensen’s claims. Again, the examples are from all over Denmark: Århus, Ærø, Als, Bornholm, Falster, Fyn, København, North Jutland, East Jutland, Sevel, Zealand, Thorsminde, West Jutland. I provide two examples of subordinate clauses without left dislocation:

(11)

a.

det

var

ikke

før

muren

falt

de

fik

lov

til

at

rejse

(Danish)

it

was

not

until

wall.DEF

fell

they

got

allowed

to

to

travel

‘It wasn’t until the wall came down that they were allowed to travel.’ (oestjylland5)

 

	b.	...	at	konerne	stod	i	døren	og	græd	(Danish)
		...	that	women.DEF	stood	in	door.DEF	and	cried
		‘...that the women stood in the door and cried.’ (sjælland6)

Left dislocation in main clauses is well-known, as said in section 1. Searching for noun[segment start] + pronoun in the Danish part of the corpus gives 22 proper hits, from across Denmark: Århus, Ærø, Bornholm, Falster, Harboøre, North Jutland, East Jutland, Spjald and Thorsminde. Some examples are provided:

(12)	a.	pigen	hun	var	meget	syg	(Danish)
		girl.DEF	she	was	very	ill
		‘The girl was very ill.’ (aarhus5)
	b.	forretningerne		de	lukker	jo	ikke	(Danish)
		shops.DEF		they	close	yes	not
		‘The shops don’t close of course.’ (falster4)

There are also examples without left dislocation. Actually, the search for “Segment start” + noun + verb gives more hits: 52 proper ones. Again, they come from across Denmark, but it seems that Zealand is much better represented now, as 21 of the hits are from Zealand and Copenhagen. This could mean that there is a difference between Zealand and the rest of Denmark. More research is needed to be conclusive here. I provide two examples.

(13)	a.	østerbro	er	nok	rimelig	forskånet		(Danish)
		Østerbro	is	probably	quite	protected
		‘Østerbro is probably quite protected.’ (kbh4)
	b.	storebror	blev	gift	med	min	søster		(Danish)
		big brother	became	married	with	my	sister
		‘The older brother got married to my sister.’ (thorsminde_67)

3.2.2 The other Nordic languages: Norwegian, Swedish, Faroese and Icelandic

Left dislocation in main clauses is mentioned in the reference grammars and is attested in the Nordic Dialect Corpus, exemplified in (14).

(14)

a.

Fia

hun

skal

jo

selge

Passaten

sin

(Norwegian)

Fia

she

shall

yes

sell

Pasat.DEF

her

Fia is of course going to sell her Passat.’ (alvdal_02uk)

b.

kompisen

han

ha

en

stuga

på

en

holme

(Swedish)

mate.DEF

he

had

a

cottage

on

an

island

‘The mate had a cottage on an island.’ (arjeplog_om1)

c.

fisk

tað

burdu

vit

snakka

um

(Faroese)

fish

that

ought

we

talk

about

‘Fish, we ought to talk about.’ (klaksvik_k32)

d.

Thailand

það

er

nú

bara

mjög

ódýrt

(Icelandic)

Thailand

that

is

now

only

very

cheap

‘Thailand is just very cheap.’ (Iceland_b1)

We do, however, also find left dislocation in subordinated clauses in the other Nordic languages. In these, however, unlike Danish, we only find left dislocation in at/att ‘that’-clauses, which are already known for allowing main clause word order in certain semantic contexts. Consider (15), which exemplifies Norwegian, Swedish and Faroese:

(15)	a.	...	at	årene	de	lå	vrangveien		(Norwegian)
		...	that	oars.DEF	they	lay	wrong.way.DEF
		‘...that the oars lay the wrong way.’ (andoeya_ma_04)
	b.	...	att	flickorna	de	hade	medhåll		(Swedish)
		...	that	girls.DEF	they	had	acceptance
		‘...that the girls were taken to be right.’ (jamshog_ow1)
	c.	...	at	konan	hon	fór	at	lesa	(Faroese)
		...	that	wife.DEF	she	started	to	study
		‘...that my wife started to study.’ (klaksvik_k7)

There is no example of subordinate left dislocation in Icelandic. However, this well may be due to the very small size of the Icelandic part of the corpus (23 000 words in total, as compared to, for example, the 62 000 in the Faroese part and the 211 000 in the Danish part). One must assume, however, that there is left dislocation in Icelandic subordinate clauses. Vikner (1995) indeed suggested that Icelandic is a general embedded V2 language, as against the rest of the Nordic languages, called limited embedded V2 languages. Notice that while the Danish subordinate clauses can occur with any kind of subjunction in subordinate left dislocation, Norwegian, Swedish and Faroese only occur with the semantically neutral subjunction at/att ‘that’. It is exactly this subjunction that is generally accepted with the limited V2 languages, or rather, there are some (semantically defined) predicates that accompany this particular subjunction and allows embedded V2 word order (Julien 2007, Bentzen 2014). This points to a sharp difference between Danish and the other languages. Whether this difference is accompanied by other systematic differences in the embedded clause structure remains an open question.

4. Conclusion

Left dislocation is a well-known feature of the Nordic languages. However, it is only the Danish reference grammar (Heltoft and Hansen 2011) that mentions explicitly the possibility of left dislocation in embedded clauses. In Teleman et al (1999) it is, admittedly, mentioned, but only in a footnote. Jørgensen (2000) even says that sentences without left dislocation would sound artificial. Indeed, the Nordic Syntax Database shows clearly that for Swedish and Norwegian, left dislocation in subordinate clauses is not acceptable amongst the informants. Looking then at the Nordic Dialect Corpus, it is clear that left dislocation is a very frequent phenomenon in Danish, supporting the general views taken by Jørgensen (2000, 2008), although the quantitative measurements show that utterances without left dislocation are somewhat more frequent, thus contradicting the claim about artificiality in Jørgensen (2000).  There are 36 examples of embedded left dislocation (subjunction  + noun + pronoun) in Danish, but also 83 examples without embedded left dislocation. Examples of embedded left dislocation in the Nordic languages Norwegian, Swedish and Faroese can be found in the dialogues in the Nordic Dialect Corpus, but only with the subjunction at/att ‘that’. There are no examples of Icelandic embedded left dislocation there (at the beginning of 2013).

As expected, left dislocation in main clauses is found in all the Nordic languages. There are indeed many in Danish, supporting Jørgensen’s general impression. 22 proper hits followed the general search pattern (“Segment start” + noun + pronoun), as against 52 without dislocation. Although left dislocation is also common in the other languages, the impression, without counting, is that Danish is in a league of its own.

References

Bentzen, Kristine. 2014. Embedded Verb Second (V2). Nordic Atlas of Language Structures (NALS). http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/nals#/chapter/10.

Faarlund, Jan Terje, Svein Lie og Kjell Ivar Vannebo. 1997. Norsk referansegrammatikk. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo.

Hansen, Erik og Lars Heltoft. 2011. Grammatik over det Danske Sprog. Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab, København.

Hansen, Aage. 1967. Moderne dansk. Vol. 1. Grafisk Forlag, Copenhagen,  p. 81-3 og 145.

Julien, Marit. 2007. Embedded V2 in Norwegian and Swedish. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax. Volume: 80, Department of Scandinavian Languages, Pages: 103-161

Jørgensen, Henrik. 2000. Indføring I Dansk Syntaks. 3. foreløbige utgave. Aarhus Universitet.

Jørgensen, Henrik. 2008. Faglige informationer. Webside for NORMS-ekskursion til Vestjylland 7.-11. januar 2008. http://www.hum.au.dk/dandiasyn/vestjyl-faglig.htm

Teleman, Ulf, Staffan Hellberg and Erik Andersson. 1999. Svenska Akademiens Grammatik. Stockholm: Norstedts.

Vikner, Sten. 1995. Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Web sites:

Nordic Atlas of Language Structures (NALS) Journal: http://tekstlab.uio.no/nals

Nordic Dialect Corpus: http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/nota/scandiasyn/index.html

Nordic Syntax Database: http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/nota/scandiasyn/index.html