16 The Syntax of Icelandic.pdf

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The Syntax of Icelandic

Icelandic is a syntactically interesting language, with aspects of its word

order, clause structure, agreement patterns and case system arousing much

theoretical interest and debate in recent years. This is an informative and

accessible guide to the structure of Icelandic, focusing in particular on those

characteristics that have contributed greatly to syntactic research. Each

chapter is divided into two main sections – providing both a descriptive

overview and a discussion of the theoretical and comparative issues involved –

and a wide range of topics is covered, including case, agreement, grammatical

relations, thematic roles, word order, clause structure, fronting, extraposition,

complement, adjuncts, pronouns and inflection. Also explored in detail are

the similarities and differences between Icelandic and other related languages.

Presupposing only a basic knowledge of syntax and complete with an exten-

sive bibliography, this comprehensive survey will be an important tool for

all those working on the structure of Scandinavian and Germanic languages.

H ¨ SKULDUR THR ´ INSSON is Professor in the Department of Icelandic,

University of Iceland. His recent books include ´ slensk tunga: Setningar

(A Handbook on Icelandic Syntax, 2005), and Faroese: An Overview and

Reference Grammar (2004).

CAMBRIDGE SYNTAX GUIDES

General editors:

P. Austin, B. Comrie, J. Bresnan, D. Lightfoot, I. Roberts, N. V. Smith

Responding to the increasing interest in comparative syntax, the goal of the

Cambridge Syntax Guides is to make available to all linguists major findings,

both descriptive and theoretical, which have emerged from the study of

particular languages. The series is not committed to working in any parti-

cular framework, but rather seeks to make language-specific research avail-

able to theoreticians and practitioners of all persuasions.

Written by leading figures in the field, these guides will each include an

overview of the grammatical structures of the language concerned. For the

descriptivist, the books will provide an accessible introduction to the meth-

ods and results of the theoretical literature; for the theoretician, they will

show how constructions that have achieved theoretical notoriety fit into the

structure of the language as a whole; for everyone, they will promote cross-

theoretical and cross-linguistic comparison with respect to a well-defined

body of data.

Other books available in this series

The Syntax of Early English

O . FISCHER ET AL .

The Syntax of Spanish

K . ZAGONA

The Syntax of Hungarian

K . KISS

The Syntax of Chichewa

S . MCHOMBO

The Syntax of Icelandic

H ¨ OSKULDUR THR ´ AINSSON

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