LINGUIST List 23.4416
Mon Oct 22 2012
Diss: Germanic/ Historical Linguistics/ Syntax: Walkden: 'Syntactic Reconstruction and Proto-Germanic'
Editor for this issue: Lili Xia
<lxialinguistlist.org>
Date: 22-Oct-2012
From: George Walkden <george.walkden
gmail.com>
Subject: Syntactic Reconstruction and Proto-Germanic
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Institution: Cambridge University
Program: PhD in Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2012
Author: George Walkden
Dissertation Title: Syntactic Reconstruction and Proto-Germanic
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
Syntax
Language Family(ies): Germanic
Dissertation Director:
David Willis
Dissertation Abstract:
This thesis investigates methods, possibilities and limitations in thereconstruction of syntax in a framework which holds that the object ofinquiry is knowledge of language and which acknowledges that thetransmission of that knowledge is discontinuous. The main objectionsto syntactic reconstruction raised in the literature are assessed, and itis argued that the reconstruction of syntax is qualitatively different fromlexical-phonological reconstruction due to the so-called'correspondence problem'; it is also suggested that other objections tosyntactic reconstruction based on assumed lack of parallel betweensyntax and phonology, such as the supposed absence of directionaltendencies and inability to identify contact influence, are either illusoryor reduce to the correspondence problem. It is argued that theapproach taken in current Minimalist theories of syntactic variation, inwhich all such variation is attributed to the properties of lexical items,sheds light on the problem of syntactic reconstruction by enabling aclear comparison between syntactic and phonological variation, andopens the door for syntactic reconstruction as lexical reconstruction.Practical solutions for circumventing the correspondence problem arealso discussed, in particular the use of both distributional properties oflexical items and the phonological forms of such items in order toestablish cognacy.
The bulk of the thesis is devoted to case studies from the earlyGermanic languages intended to illustrate this methodology, dealingwith verb position in main clauses, the syntax of the wh-system, andthe (non-)occurrence of null pronominal subjects and objects. Withregard to verb position it is argued that all the early Germaniclanguages except Gothic exhibit robust evidence for verb movement tothe C-domain in neutral declarative main clauses, and that otherpositions may well have been associated with specific interpretiveeffects. In the wh-system verb movement to the C-domain was evenmore clearly established, again with certain classes of well-definedexceptions that can be accounted for on a principled basis; treating theearly Germanic wh-system as a whole also leads to a less stipulativeaccount of the supposed West Germanic 'interjection' *hwat, as anunderspecified wh-item introducing an exclamative clause. Subjects(and, more rarely, objects) could be null in all the early Germaniclanguages, with slight variations; a partial null argument analysis ofthese languages is argued for, and it is suggested that this propertycan be reconstructed at least for Proto-Northwest Germanic.
Page Updated: 22-Oct-2012