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SUMMARY:VO-OV alternations and information structure in North Sami - Krist
 ine Bentzen\, University of Tromsø
DTSTART:20170503T171500Z
DTEND:20170503T190000Z
UID:TALK72486@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Hanna Danbolt Ajer
DESCRIPTION:It is well-known from several languages that variable object p
 lacement tends to interact with information structure. Some examples from 
 current languages are Object Shift in Scandinavian (Holmberg 1999\, André
 asson 2008\, Josefsson 2010\, Mikkelsen 2011\, Bentzen et al. 2013)\, obje
 ct scrambling in German and Dutch (Corver & van Riemsdijk 1994\, de Hoop 2
 000\, Haider 2005)\, and VO-OV alternations in Slavic languages (e.g. Jung
 hanns & Zybatow 1995\, Sekerina 2003\, Mykhaylyk 2009) and e.g. in Finnish
  (Vilkuna 1989\, 1995\, 2014\, Holmberg 2000). For Finnish\, it has been s
 uggested that objects that are old information\, carry contrastive stress\
 , or are in some way D-linked or specific are the ones that tend to occur 
 in the OV-pattern. (Holmberg 2000\, Boef & Dal Pozzo 2012).\n\nThis paper 
 addresses VO-OV alternations in the Finno-Ugric language North Sami. North
  Sami is an SVO language\, as shown in (1)\, but SOV order also occurs\, (
 2).\n\n\n(1) Mun lean oastán alit buvssaid. (VO)\n\n    I.NOM have bought
  blue pants.ACC\n\n    ‘I have bought blue pants.’\n\n\n(2) Mun lean a
 lit buvssaid oastán . (OV)\n\n    I.NOM have blue pants.ACC bought\n\n   
  ‘I have bought blue pants.’\n\n\nVery little work has been done on th
 is word order alternation in North Sami. While native speakers typically h
 ave the intuition that the alternation between the two orders varies quite
  freely\, the standard grammar (Nickel & Sammallahti 2011) states that OV 
 only is occasionally available when something in the clause is emphasized.
  Vilkuna (1998) argues that OV word order is available when the subject is
  focused. In this paper\, I investigate the nature of VO-OV alternation in
  North Sami in more detail\, primarily based on results from experimentall
 y elicited production. My investigations confirm that VO indeed is the mos
 t common and default word order. However\, OV is certainly both accepted a
 nd used to some extent. My results indicate that variable object placement
  is neither random nor completely optional\, but rather guided by certain 
 discourse effects. While there is quite a bit of variation among speakers\
 , certain tendencies can be found\, suggesting that the alternation clearl
 y is linked to information structure of the overall clause and discourse\,
  but also on the types of objects and verbs involved. As I will show in my
  presentation\, factors that typically facilitate the OV order include (i)
  objects as given information/topics\, (ii) focus on some other constituen
 t in the clause\, (iii) shape of the verb and the object (OV more frequent
  with non-finite main verbs and with pronominal objects).\n\nKristine Bent
 zen is Professor of English and Nordic Linguistics at the University of Tr
 omsø in Northern Norway. Her research mainly focuses on Norwegian\, Engli
 sh and North Sami. She is currently running a project on child language ac
 quisition in North Sami\, called DASAGO.
LOCATION:Faculty of English\, Room GR-04
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