Description
Complemen(ser agreement in Limburg: gramma(cal, social, and geographical factors ofvaria(on
Astrid van Alem (Utrecht University), Marjo van Koppen (Meertens Ins;tute & Utrecht
University) & Stef Grondelaers (Meertens Ins;tute)
The Limburgian dialects are among the West Germanic languages with ‘complemen;ser
agreement’ (CA): when the subject of an embedded clause is second person singular, a
morpheme reflec;ng the features of the subject aLaches to the complemen;ser (1).
(1) Ich dink dat-s ;ch de westrijd geis winne.
I think that-2SG you the game go.2SG win
‘I think that you are going to win the game.’
When an element intervenes between the complemen;ser and the subject, varie;es differ
as to what happens to CA: CA can be unaffected (2a); it can shiT to a posi;on directly
preceding the subject (2b); or it can disappear en;rely (2c).
(2) a. dat-s auch dich (Van Koppen 2005)
b. dat auch s-;ch (Van Alem 2023, to appear)
c. dat auch dich (Van Alem 2023)
‘… that also you’
However, very liLle is known about the geographical distribu;on or the underlying causes of
this varia;on. This talk will present the results of a large-scale experiment inves;ga;ng the
role of gramma;cal, social, and geographical factors on interven;on effects on CA. We
conducted a gramma;cality judgement task as well as a transla;on task, inves;ga;ng the
effect of different types of interveners: focus par;cles, adverbs, or a combina;on of those.
We also collected data on language a\tudes and the background of the speakers. In the
analysis of the geographical data, we will focus on the role of the na;onal border between
Dutch and Flemish Limburg, and the natural border created by the river Meuse (Maas).
References
Van Alem, A. (2023). Life of Phi: Phi-features in West Germanic and the syntax-morphology
interface. PhD thesis, Leiden University.
Van Alem, A. (to appear). Complemen;ser agreement is cli;c doubling: Evidence from
interven;on effects in Frisian and Limburgian. Natural Language & Linguis=c Theory.
Van Koppen, J.M. (2005). One Probe, two Goals: Aspects of agreement in Dutch dialects. PhD
thesis, Leiden University.
| Period | 27 Sept 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Limburg as a linguistic laboratory: The impact of territorial reorganization and coalmining on language variation and grammar |
| Event type | Workshop |
| Location | Genk, BelgiumShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |