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NP-Internal Chains in Norwegian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Toril Fiva
Toril Fiva
Affiliation:
School of Languages & Literature, PO Box 1090, N-9001 Tromsø, Norway
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Abstract

In Norwegian, these two types of constructions expressing an NP with a (prenominal) possessor exist:

(i) Pers bil ‘Peter's car’

(ii) Per sin bil Peter his, refl. car ‘Peter's car’

I argue that the s in (i) is not a case affix, but rather a variant of sin. Furthermore, I discuss how [Per] in (ii) assigned Case, and the fact that Per and sin apparently share a theta-role. I suggest that they constitute a chain in (ii), to which Case and a theta-role is assigned.

I shall compare the definition of “chain” in Chomsky 1981 to the modified definition of Kayne 1981. The modified definition, together with other principles suggested by Kayne 1981/1983, not only permits our analysis of (ii), but also provides interesting predictions about this construction, and indirectly about the lack of it in a related language, Icelandic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , June 1985 , pp. 25 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

REFERENCES

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