Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T16:57:48.246Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Case alternations in Icelandic ‘get’-passives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2013

Einar Freyr Sigurðsson  and
Jim Wood
Einar Freyr Sigurðsson
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics, 619 Williams Hall, 255 S 36th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. einarsig@ling.upenn.edu
Jim Wood
Affiliation:
Yale University, Department of Linguistics, 370 Temple St, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. jim.wood@yale.edu
Get access

Abstract

The analysis of ‘get’-passives across Germanic poses a number of challenges to our understanding of valency alternations: they exhibit surprising case alternations and recalcitrant thematic properties (Alexiadou 2012, Alexiadou, Anagnostopoulou & Sevdali to appear). In this article, we present novel data on ‘get’-passives in Icelandic; while Icelandic has played an important role in our understanding of case marking and valency alternations, ‘get’-passives have not, to our knowledge, been studied in this language before. By situating ‘get’-passives within the landscape of well-established case patterns of Icelandic, we are able to argue in favor of the following conclusions: (i) Icelandic ‘get’-passives involve unambiguously verbal passives; (ii) the surface subject of recipient ‘get’-passives (‘I got a letter sent to me’) does not originate as the dative indirect object of the passive participle, but rather originates as an (external) argument of ‘get’; and (iii) at least some intransitive ‘get’-passives (‘This got changed’) involve anticausativization of the corresponding causative ‘get’-passive (‘I got this changed’), as proposed for English by Haegeman (1985).

Keywords

anticausativesapplicativescase-marking‘get’-passivesIcelandicmiddle voicepassive
Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 35 , Special Issue 3: Case Variation and Change in the Nordic Languages , December 2012 , pp. 269 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Nordic Association of Linguistics 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abels, Klaus. 2003. Successive Cyclicity, Anti-Locality, and Adposition Stranding. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Connecticut.Google Scholar
Alexiadou, Artemis. 2012. Non-canonical passives revisited: Parameters of non-active Voice. Linguistics 50, 1079–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexiadou, Artemis, Anagnostopoulou, Elena & Sevdali, Christina. To appear. Patterns of dative-nominative alternations. In LaCara et al. (eds.).Google Scholar
Alexiadou, Artemis & Doron, Edit. 2012. The syntactic construction of two non-active Voices: Passive and middle. Journal of Linguistics 48, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anagnostopoulou, Elena. 2003. The Syntax of Ditransitives: Evidence from Clitics. Mouton: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Anderson, Stephen R. 1990. The grammar of Icelandic verbs in -st. In Maling & Zaenen (eds.), 235–273.Google Scholar
Andrews, Avery. 1976. The VP-complement analysis in Modern Icelandic. The Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 6, 1–21.Google Scholar
Andrews, Avery. 1982. The representation of case in Modern Icelandic. In Bresnan, Joan (ed.), The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relations, 427–503. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Andrews, Avery. 1990. Case structures and control in Modern Icelandic. In Maling & Zaenen (eds.), 427–503.Google Scholar
Angantýsson, Ásgrímur. 2011. The Syntax of Embedded Clauses in Icelandic and Related Languages. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iceland.Google Scholar
Arad, Maya. 2003. Locality constraints on the interpretation of roots: The case of Hebrew denominal verbs. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21, 737–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arad, Maya. 2005. Roots and Patterns: Hebrew Morpho-Syntax. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna & Valéria Molnár. 2003. The passive in Icelandic – compared to Mainland Scandinavian. In Hetland, Jorunn & Molnár, Valéria (eds.), Structures of Focus and Grammatical Relations, 231–260. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benediktsson, Hreinn. 1980. The Old Norse passive: Some observations. In Hovdhaugen, Even (ed.), The Nordic Languages and Modern Linguistics 4, 108–119. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan David. 2008. Where's phi? Agreement as a postsyntactic operation. In Harbour, Daniel, Adger, David & Béjar, Susana (eds.), Phi Theory: Phi-Features across Modules and Interfaces, 295–328. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan David & Jonas, Dianne. 1996. Subject positions and the roles of TP. Linguistic Inquiry 27, 195–236.Google Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan David & Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 1998. Two heads aren't always better than one. Syntax 1, 37–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boneh, Nora & Sichel, Ivy. 2010. Deconstructing possession. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 28, 1–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosse, Solveig & Bruening, Benjamin. 2011. Benefactive versus experiencer datives. In Washburn, Mary Byram (ed.), The Proceedings of the 28th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 69–77. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Brownlow, Oliver Samuel. 2011. Towards a Unified Analysis of the Syntax and Semantics of Get Constructions. Ph.D. dissertation, Queen Mary University of London.Google Scholar
Caha, Pavel. 2009. The Nanosyntax of Case. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Malden, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2001. Derivation by phase. In Kenstowicz, Michael (ed.), Ken Hale: A Life in Language, 1–52. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2007. Approaching UG from below. In Sauerland, Uli & Gärtner, Hans-Martin (eds.), Interfaces + Recursion = Language? Chomsky's Minimalism and the View from Syntax-Semantics, 1–29. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2008. On phases. In Freidin, Robert, Otero, Carlos P. & Zubizarreta, Maria Luisa (eds.), Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory: Essays in Honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud, 133–166. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. Problems of projection. Lingua, doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.003. Published online by Elsevier, 6 January 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, Chris & Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 1996. VP-internal structure and Object Shift in Icelandic. Linguistic Inquiry 27, 391–444.Google Scholar
Cook, Phillippa. 2006. The datives that aren't born equal: Beneficiaries and the dative passive. In Hole, Daniel, Meinunger, André & Abraham, Werner (eds.), Datives and Similar Cases: Between Argument Structure and Event Structure, 141–184. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuervo, María Cristina. 2003. Datives at Large. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Den Dikken, Marcel. 2007. Phase Extension: A reply. Theoretical Linguistics 33, 133–163.Google Scholar
Doron, Edit. 2003. Agency and voice: The semantics of the semitic templates. Natural Language Semantics 11, 1–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Embick, David. 2004. On the structure of resultative participles in English. Linguistic Inquiry 35, 355–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eythórsson, Thórhallur. 2008. The New Passive in Icelandic really is a passive. In Eythórsson, Thórhallur (ed.), Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory: The Rosendal Papers, 173–219. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Danny & Grodzinsky, Yosef. 1998. Children's passive: A view from the by-phrase. Linguistic Inquiry 29, 311–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeze, Ray. 1992. Existentials and other locatives. Language 68, 553–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friðjónsson, Jón G. 1987. Samsettar myndir sagna í íslensku. Reykjavík: University of Iceland.Google Scholar
Gísladóttir, Rósa Signý. 2007. The New Passive in Icelandic: A Dynamic Syntax perspective. Master's thesis, King's College, University of London.Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane. 1985. The get-passive and Burzio's generalization. Lingua 66, 53–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harley, Heidi. 2002. Possession and the double object construction. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 2, 31–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harley, Heidi. 2009. The morphology of nominalizations and the syntax of vP. In Giannakidou, Anastasia & Rathert, Monika (eds.), Quantification, Definiteness, and Nominalization, 321–343. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harves, Stephanie & Kayne, Richard S.. 2012. Having need and needing have. Linguistic Inquiry 43, 120–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmberg, Anders & Platzack, Christer. 1995. The Role of Inflection in Scandinavian Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingason, Anton Karl, Legate, Julie Anne & Yang, Charles. 2012. Structural and evolutionary basis of the Icelandic New Impersonal Passive. Ms., University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Johnson, Greg. 2011. Perception complements in Appalachian English. Handout from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, January 2011.Google Scholar
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli. 1996. Clausal Architecture and Case in Icelandic. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli. 2000. Case and double objects in Icelandic. Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics and Phonetics 8, 71–94.Google Scholar
Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli. 2009. The new impersonal as a true passive. In Alexiadou, Artemis, Hankamer, Jorge, McFadden, Thomas, Nuger, Justin & Schäfer, Florian (eds.), Advances in Comparative Germanic Syntax, 281–306. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Julien, Marit. 2007. On the relation between morphology and syntax. In Ramchand, Gillian & Reiss, Charles (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces, 209–238. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard S. 1993. Toward a modular theory of auxiliary selection. Studia Linguistica 47, 381–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kayne, Richard S. 2012. Comparative syntax and English is to. Ms., New York University.Google Scholar
Kissock, Madelyn. 1997. Middle verbs in Icelandic. American Journal of Germanic Linguistics 9, 1–22.Google Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. Severing the external argument from its verb. In Rooryck, Johan & Zaring, Laurie (eds.), Phrase Structure and the Lexicon, 109–137. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaCara, Nicholas, Fainleib, Yelena & Park, Yangsook (eds.). To appear. The Forty-First Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society. Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications.Google Scholar
Lakoff, Robin. 1971. Passive resistance. Chicago Linguistics Society 7, 149–162.Google Scholar
Lasnik, Howard & Fiengo, Robert. 1974. Complement object deletion. Linguistic Inquiry 5, 559–582.Google Scholar
Levinson, Lisa. 2011. Possessive with in Germanic: Have and the role of P. Syntax 14, 355–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundin, Katarina. 2003. Small Clauses in Swedish: Towards a Unified Account. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Lund.Google Scholar
Lundquist, Björn. 2012. The category of participles. Ms., CASTL, University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Lødrup, Helge. 1996. The theory of complex predicates and the Norwegian verb få ‘get’. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 57, 76–91.Google Scholar
Maling, Joan. 2001. Dative: The heterogeneity of the mapping among morphological case, grammatical functions, and thematic roles. Lingua 111, 419–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maling, Joan. 2002a. Það rignir þágufalli á Íslandi: Sagnir sem stjórna þágufalli á andlagi sínu [Verbs with dative objects in Icelandic]. Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði 24, 31–106.Google Scholar
Maling, Joan. 2002b. Icelandic verbs with dative objects. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 70, 1–60.Google Scholar
Maling, Joan. 2006. From passive to active: Syntactic change in progress in Icelandic. In Lyngfelt, Benjamin & Solstad, Torgrim (eds.), Demoting the Agent: Passive, Middle and Other Voice Phenomena, 197–223. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maling, Joan & Sigurjónsdóttir, Sigríður. 2002. The ‘new impersonal’ construction in Icelandic. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 5, 97–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maling, Joan & Sigurjónsdóttir, Sigríður. 2013. Nothing personal? A system-internal syntactic change in Icelandic. In King, Tracy H. & de Paiva, Valeria (eds.), From Quirky Case to Representing Space: Papers in Honor of Annie Zaenen, 109–126. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Maling, Joan & Sigurjónsdóttir, Sigríður. In press. From passive to active: Stages in the Icelandic “New Impersonal”. In Biberauer, Theresa & Walkden, George (eds.), Syntax over Time: Lexical, Morphological, and Information-Structural Interactions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Maling, Joan & Zaenen, Annie (eds.). 1990. Modern Icelandic Syntax. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marantz, Alec. 1995. The Minimalist Program. In Webelhuth, Gert (ed.), Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program, 349–382. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Marantz, Alec. 2007. Phases and words. In Choe, Sook-Hee, Yang, Dong-Wee, Kim, Yang-Soon, Kim, Sung-Hun & Marantz, Alec (eds.), Phases in the Theory of Grammar, 191–222. Soeul: Dong-In Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Matushansky, Ora. 2006. Head movement in linguistic theory. Linguistic Inquiry 37, 69–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFadden, Thomas. 2004. The Position of Morphological Case in the Derivation: A Study on the Syntax–Morphology Interface. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
McGinnis, Martha. 1998. Locality in A-movement. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
McIntyre, Andrew. 2011. English get-passives, middle voice and causative-passive ambiguities. Ms., Humboldt-Universität.Google Scholar
Medova, Lucie. 2009. Reflexive Clitics in the Slavic and Romance Languages: A Comparative View from an Antipassive Perspective. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Ottósson, Kjartan. 1986. Mörk orðmyndunar og beygingar: Miðmynd í nútímaíslensku [The boundaries between derivation and inflection: The middle in Icelandic]. Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði 8, 63–119.Google Scholar
Pesetsky, David. 1995. Zero Syntax: Experiencers and Cascades. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Platzack, Christer. 1999. The subject of Icelandic psych-verbs: A minimalistic account. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 64, 103–115.Google Scholar
Postal, Paul. 2004. Skeptical Linguistic Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pylkkänen, Liina. 2002. Introducing Arguments. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Pylkkänen, Liina. 2008. Introducing Arguments. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, Lisa. 2011. Get-passives. The Linguistic Review 28, 41–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, Norvin. 2001. An idiomatic argument for lexical decomposition. Linguistic Inquiry 32, 183–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Ian. 2010. Agreement and Head Movement: Clitics, Incorporation, and Defective Goals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schäfer, Florian. 2008. The Syntax of (Anti-)Causatives. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schäfer, Florian. To appear. The passive of reflexive verbs and its implications for theories of binding and case. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics.Google Scholar
Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr. 2012. Germynd en samt þolmynd: Um nýju þolmyndina í íslensku [Active but still passive: On the New Passive in Icelandic]. M.A. thesis, University of Iceland.Google Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. 1989. Verbal Syntax and Case in Icelandic. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Lund.Google Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. 2008. The case of PRO. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 26, 403–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. 2010. On EPP effects. Studia Linguistica 64, 159–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. 2011. On the New Passive. Syntax 14, 148–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. 2012a. Minimalist C/case. Linguistic Inquiry 43, 191–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. 2012b. On UG and Materialization. Linguistic Analysis 37, 367–388.Google Scholar
Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann & Holmberg, Anders. 2008. Icelandic dative intervention: Person and number are separate probes. In D'Alessandro, Roberta, Fischer, Susann & Hrafnbjargarson, Gunnar Hrafn (eds.), Agreement Restrictions, 251–280. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigurjónsdóttir, Sigríður & Maling, Joan. 2001. Það var hrint mér á leiðinni í skólann: Þolmynd eða ekki þolmynd? [There was pushed me on the way to school: Passive or not passive?]. Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði 23, 123–180.Google Scholar
Sveinsson, Sölvi. 1995. Íslensk orðtök. Með skýringum og dæmum úr daglegu máli [Icelandic idioms: With explanations and examples from daily speech], 2nd edn.Reykjavík: Iðunn.Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 2006. Case Alternations and the Icelandic Passive and Middle. In Manninen, Satu, Nelson, Diane, Hiietam, Katrin, Kaiser, Elsi & Vihman, Virve (eds.), Passives and Impersonals in European Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 2012. Spanning. Ms., CASTL, University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Taraldsen, Knut Tarald. 1996. Participle-based small clause complements of få ‘get’ in Norwegian. In Cardinaletti, Anna & Guasti, Maria Teresa (eds.), Small Clauses, 207–236. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Taraldsen, Knut Tarald. 2010. Unintentionally out of control. In Duguine, Maia, Huidobro, Susana & Madariaga, Nerea (eds.), Argument Structure and Syntactic Relations, 283–302. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 1979. On Complementation in Icelandic. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 1986. Setningafræði [Syntax]. Reykjavík: University of Iceland.Google Scholar
Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 1999. Íslensk setningafræði [Icelandic syntax]. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.Google Scholar
Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 2007. The Syntax of Icelandic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tungseth, Mai Ellin. 2007a. Benefactives across Scandinavian. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 80, 187–228.Google Scholar
Tungseth, Mai Ellin. 2007b. Interactions of particles, adjectival resultatives and benefactive double object constructions in Norwegian. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 30, 209–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiese, Heike & Maling, Joan. 2005. Beers, Kaffi, and Schnaps: Different grammatical options for Restaurant Talk coercions in three Germanic languages. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 17, 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Jim. 2011. Icelandic let-causatives and case. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 87, 1–52.Google Scholar
Wood, Jim. 2012. Icelandic Morphosyntax and Argument Structure. Ph.D. dissertation, New York University.Google Scholar
Wood, Jim. To appear. The unintentional causer in Icelandic. In LaCara et al. (eds.).Google Scholar
Wood, Jim & Sigurðsson, Halldór Ármann. To appear. Let-causatives and (a)symmetric dat-nom constructions. Syntax.Google Scholar
Zaenen, Annie, Maling, Joan & Thráinsson, Höskuldur. 1985. Case and grammatical functions: The Icelandic passive. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 3, 441–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar