In Search of Universal Grammar : From Old Norse to Zoque / edited by Terje Lohndal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

In Search of Universal Grammar; Editorial page; Title page; LCC data; Table of contents; Introduction; 1. From Old Norse to Zoque; 2. Outline of the chapters; Acknowledgments; Scandinavian; On the syntax of the accusative/dative alternation in spatial PPs in Norwegian dative dialects; 1. Introduction; 2. A syntactic difference; 3. Articulating the analysis; 4. The structure of spatial PPs; 5. A potential problem: Directional dative?; 6. Alternating prepositions in presentational structures; 7. Conclusion; References; Spurious topic drop in Swedish; 1. Introduction; 2. Topic drop.

2.1 Introduction2.2 Parallel movement; 2.3 Two Spec-CPs in Swedish; 2.4. Proposal; 3. Initial locative and invisible subject in Swedish; 4. The Engdahl observation; 5. Clause anticipating pronoun; 6. Quantifier scope and expletives; 7. Split topicalization; 8. Additional cases with spurious topic drop; 8.1 Relative clauses; 8.2 Subject initial main clauses; 9. Summary and conclusion; References; Germanic sociolinguistics; "The voice from below; 1. Introduction; 2. Historical background; 3. Background for the 2011-proposal; 4. The 2009 mandate.

5. The committee and the process -- "the voice from below"6. Responses to the proposal and the process; 7. Conclusion; References; Gender maintenance and loss in Totenmålet, English, and other major Germanic varieties; Totenmålet; Bergen; Copenhagen; Afrikaans; Dutch/Flemish; High German; Frisian and low German; Relief from puzzlement?; Contact and simplification; Contact and language shift; Contact and geographical diffusion; English; Totenmålet again; References; French; Non-finite adjuncts in French; 1. Introduction; 2. Ant-forms in French; 3. One or two forms?; 3.1 The two proposals.

4. The inner structure of the participle constructions5. Conclusions; References; Topics and the left periphery; 1. Introduction; 2. V2 and the split CP; 3. The left periphery of Old French; 3.1 A V2 language; 3.2 Several elements in front of the finite verb; 3.3 FocusP and the position of the wh-word; 3.4 Remnant movement and the finite verb; 3.5 The topics; 3.6 Scene Setting; 3.7 Interim summary; 4. The left periphery of Modern Germanic; 4.1 Left dislocation; 4.2 Hanging Topics; 4.3 Verb movement to Fin°; 4.4 Fronted elements and the si/så construction; 5. The Topics; 5.1 Occupying ForceP?

5.2 Moved or base-generated?5.3 The informational value of the fronted element; 6. Conclusion; Appendix: Cited texts; References; Language change; The developmental logic of the analytic past in German and Polish; 1. What's new: The emergence of a novel analytic past tense in Polish?; 2. The logic of emergence of the analytic past: German; 3. Signs of a newly emerging analytic past in spoken Polish; 4. Grammaticalizing into the new analytic active past in Modern Polish; 5. Signals testifying to the new development of analytic tensing; 6. Conclusion -- summary; References.

Over the past two decades, studies of the phylogenetic emergence of language have typically focused on grammatical characteristics, especially those that distinguish modern languages from animal communication. The relevant literature has thus left the reader with the impression that language is either exclusively or primarily mental; in the latter case, its physical features, phonetic or manual, would be epiphenomena that may be overlooked. I argue that language is natural collective technology that evolved primarily to facilitate efficient communication in populations whose social structures.

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