verb-first as covert marker of perfectivity in old icelandic mic conference, 18-19 novembre 2010...

Verb-first as covert marker of perfectivity in Old Icelandic

MIC Conference, 18-19 novembre 2010Université Paris-Sorbonne, CELTA

Elisabeth Leiss

CENTRAL THESIS

Central thesis (Leiss 2000):

Verb first (V1) in declarative sentences perfectivizes verbs in Old Icelandic:

• V1 means that the verb appears in the forefield (before canonical V2).

• NPs in the forefield are (covert) definites. • V1-serialization uses the inherent definiteness of the

forefield to perfectivize verbs (DV1 according to Abraham‘s paper).

218.04.23Elisabeth Leiss - V1 and perfectivity

Loss of formal perfectivity

Loss of overt marking of perfective aspect:• Old Icelandic/Old Norse is the first of the Germanic

languages to lose verbal prefixes.

• Verbal prefixes: marking of verbal aspect (perfectivity) and aktionsart. Aktionsart expresses perfectivity + an additional lexical meaning.

• Old Icelandic loses the formal markings of perfective aspect and perfective aktionsarten; however it does not lose the perfective meaning of these verbs.

# 318.04.23Elisabeth Leiss - V1 and perfectivity

Covert marking of perfectivty

Loss of perfective verbal prefixes (formal perfectivity) &

preservation of perfective verb meanings


These are hints to covert marking of perfective aspectuality

Research context

The consequences of the loss of overt marking of perfective aspect in Old Icelandic (Leiss 2000):a. Rise of the definite article (overt marking of

definiteness)

b. Rise of techniques of covert marking of perfective aspect:

i. So called „historical present“ equals perfective PAST

ii. Verb first in declaratives is a means to create perfective verbs


perfectivity and definiteness

Definiteness effects are characteristic of perfective verbs:Perfective verb + object (Akk)

definite object

imperfective verb + object (Akk)

indefinite object

The loss of perfective verbal prefixes =

loss of definiteness effect (Leiss 2000)


Overt marking of definiteness

p 718.04.23Elisabeth Leiss - V1 and perfectivity

Definiteness in the rhema

(1)þa verþr hann varr viþ griþung-enn.

then become:3SG.PRES. he aware PREP. Bull-AKK.SG.DEF.

‘Then, he perceived the bull.’

The object griþung-enn refers to a specific and already mentioned bull. It appears in rhematic position, where NEW information and not OLD information is presupposed. Definite objects have to be marked to be identifiable as definite.


Definiteness in the forefield

(2)griþungr snýr í móte

Bull-NOM.SG. turn:3SG.PRES. PREP. collision

‘The bull turns against him’

griþungr refers to the aforementioned bull marked with the definite article. However, the topic position (forefield) avoids definite marking. The inherent definiteness of the forefield inhibits overt marking of definiteness. Therefore, anaphoric uses of definite articles are unknown in Old Icelandic.


Definiteness in the thema and rhema

(3)griþungr stakk horn-onom ì

Bull-NOM.SG. stabbedhorn-DAT.PL.DEF. PREP.

‘The bull stabbed the horns into

síþ-o hest-enom

side-DAT.SG. horse-DAT.SG.DEF.

the bulls side.‘

griþungr refers again to the aforementioned bull. It is not marked with the definite article; hestenom refers to a specific horse in rhematic position and has to be marked as definite; the same holds for hornonom.


Definiteness in the thema and rhema

(4)konungs men drópo griþung-enn

king:GEN:SG man:NOM.PL. kill:3SG.PRET. bull-AKK.SG.DEF.

‘The king’s men killed the bull.’

Rhematic griþungenn refers again to the aforementioned bull. It is old information in a context where new information is presupposed as the unmarked case. In (4) therefore, it is marked with the definite article; the definite konungs men appears without an article because of it’s inherent definiteness (thematic position; possessive genitive, which is also inherently definite).


Loss of perfective verbs and narrative foregrounding

Characteristic of perfective verbs are effects of aspectual foregrounding of tense.

Perfective tenses are prototypical narrative tenses (i.e., French passé simple).

Does the loss of perfective verbs correlate with the loss of temporal foregrounding?


Covert techniques of narrative foregrounding

Working hypothesis:

When we look for covert techniques of perfectivity, we are well advised looking for techniques of aspectual foregrounding of tense in Old Icelandic.

There are two techniques of aspectual foregrounding in Old Icelandic

• Verb first in declarative sentences

• Historical present (= perfective past)


V1 versus V2 in Old Icelandic

• Alternation between Verb first and Verb second in Old Icelandic

• Verb second: unmarked word order

• Verb first: marked word order

• Verb appears never later than in V2-position


DV1 in Old Icelandic

The slot before the canonical V2-position (forefield) is inherently definite.

Noun phrases in this slot are definite NPs. Therefore the definite article never appears in this slot.

Verb phrases in this slot are inherently definite

(DV1).


Covert marking in the forefield

Perfectivity and definiteness are closely related grammatical functions

Verbal perfectivity ≈ verbal definiteness

Nominal definiteness ≈ nominal perfectivity

The forefield is the field of covert marking of definiteness AND of perfectivity


Covert perfectivity

Aspectually neutral verb + DEFINITENESS = perfective Verb

(DEFINITENESS corresponds to definite contexts or to definiteness marking)


narrative V1 / narrative DV1

The „stylistic function“ of verb first in Old Icelandic

(Rieger 1968):

• „Sukzessionsemphase“ (Rieger 1968:91).• „Beliebt für Perioden [von V1] sind Schlacht- und

Kampfschilderungen“ (Rieger 1968: 113).

• Verb first emphasises the succession of events.• A series of V1 is frequent in descriptions of battles

and fights.


boundedness and foregrounding


event 1 event 2 event 3 event 4

Narrative texts are strongly characterized by the succession of bounded events. The boundedness of events triggers the so called „then-and-then-and-then“-effect. Perfective verbs create this foregrounding effect.

DV1 in Old Icelandic (Egils saga, ch.1)

(5) Hennar fekk Úlfr; for hann þá ok til búa sinna

‘Ulfr married her and brought her also to his farm’.

(6) Hafði Đórólfr heim margu dýrgripi ok [… ]

‘Đórólfr took a lot of jewels to his home’

(7) Var Đórólfr manna vænstr ok gørviligastr;

‘Đórólfr turned out to be a very imposing and capable

man’



(5a) for hann þá ok til búa sinna

go:3SG.PAST he:NOM her also to farm his

‚he brought her also to his farm‘

The verb fara is aspectually neutral/polysemous. In DV1 the perfective reading is preferred.


DV1 in the Egil’s saga

(6a) Hafði Đórólfr heim margu dýrgripi ok [… ]

Have:3SG.PAST Đórólfr to his home a lot of jewels and

‘Đórólfr took a lot of jewels to his home’

perfective ‘have’ can be translated by ‘take’ .

In (6) Đórólfr does not possess a lot of jewellery at his

home, but he brings a lot of jewellery to his home.



(7a) Var Đórólfr manna vænstr …..

be:3SG.PAST Đórólfr:NOM man:GEN.PL. good:ELATIVE

‘Đórólfr turned out to be a most imposing and capable man’

The verb vera seems to be a prototypical imperfective verb. However, in DV1 it displays a perfective reading. Kurt Schier translates ‘Thorolf war ein überaus stattlicher und tüchtiger Mann’.

Hypothesis: The perfective reading ‘turned out to be’ is closer to the intended reading of the text than the imperfective ‘was’.


Historical Present in Old Icelandic

Verbs in the present tense can also display perfective meaning. There are especially three syntactic contexts which monosemize otherwise aspectually polysemous verbs as perfective verbs (historical presents)

1. Verb first (DV1)

2. Definite article in its syntactic proximity

3. Perfective adverb(ial)s such as nú

(Leiss 2000:95-96)


Historical present in Old Icelandic

(8) Lídr stund ok kemr gói;

go:3PS.SG.PRES. time span and come:3PS.SG.PRES. Goi

Time passed by and/until (the month of) Goi arrived.

(9) þeir ala à mál-it

3PL.NOM./DEM.NOM.PL. force:3PL.PRES. PREP. thing-DET./DEF.ART.

‘They forced the matter’

(10) Nú lídr sumar, ok kemr vintr

ADV.PF. go:3PS.SG.PRES. summer and come:3PS.SG.PRES. winter

‘Then the summer passed by and winter arrived


Historical Present

The grammatical function of historical presents:

perfective PAST (≠ stylistic uses of historical present in German or other modern European languages)

Alternation between historical present and preterit is possible within the same sentence (Wolfson 1979; compare also the use of French passé simple).

Identical narrative function as DV1 (“vividness of narration” etc. - Sprenger 1950; Kossuth 1980:126: agentive-perfective aspect in the narrative body)


Historical present in Latin and Old Greek

Perfective present forms are normally incompatible with present tense reference. They are either used with future time reference (such as in Russian; so-called prospective tense systems) or with past time reference (such as in Old Icelandic, early Latin).

Grammatical (“true”) historical presents are regularly formed by perfective verbs; durative/imperfective verbs and stative verbs do not form historical presents in Herodot (Koller 1951:74).


Process of Grammaticalization

Conclusion:

The loss of overt marking of perfectivity triggers a process of grammaticalization where three means of perfectivization occur at about the same time (between 1100 and 1200). They compete for the same function:

• Definite article

• Verb first (DV1)

• Historical present

Two of the competitors in grammativalization finally lost ground: DV1 and the historical present. The definite article is the winner of the process of grammaticalization of nominal/verbal perfectivity/definiteness


References (1)


References (2)


References (3)


verb-first as covert marker of perfectivity in old icelandic mic conference, 18-19 novembre 2010...

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