PhD, Docent
Research interests
- Syntax - Swedish, Nordic and general comparative
- Language history
- Swearing from a sociolinguistic and pragmatic point of view and the role of swear words in grammar and lexicon
Present research
The syntax of the early Scandinavian noun phrase
Financially supported by the Swedish Research Council 2011-2013.
The aim of the project is to investigate the development of the noun phrase in early forms of Scandinavian. During a period of time dating from the Viking Age to the late Middle Ages, the Scandinavian noun phrase undergoes several important changes, which may very well interrelate. The focus of the project lies on the development of formal definiteness marking and the changes of word order withing the noun phrase, from principally "noun first" to "noun after demonstratives, possessives and adjectives".
An important point of departure is that the role of regional variation within the Scandinavian area has to be seriously considered. What is, for instance, the significance of the fact that inflexion for definiteness seems to be earlier established in the western parts?
Articles with relevance for the project
- A Semantic approach to noun phrase structure and the definite - indefinite distinction in Germanic and Romance. In: The Noun Phrase in Romance and Germanic. Structure, Variation and Change. (Eds. Petra Sleeman & Harry Perridon) Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2011, 127-140.
- On the development of definiteness markers in Scandinavian. In: Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 83. 2009, 1-25.