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Re: NAT: Scandinavian word order

From:Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...>
Date:Monday, January 10, 2000, 18:42
> Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 18:03:23 +0100 > From: BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
> Early Medieval Scandinavian was sometimes V1 in consecutive sentences, > especially in legal texts -- "Drepr maðr mann blah blah blah" --, but that > seems to have died out even in Icelandic. Probably it arose from sentences > beginning with a temporal adverb.
Actually, there's an if-then construction in Danish that is similar, but I don't know if it's a carryover from this mediaeval usage. Instead of saying 'Hvis S1 V1 [O1 ...], [så] V2 S2 [O2 ...]' you can just say 'V1 S1 [O1 ...], [så] V2 S2 [O2 ...].' This is somewhat marked, and suitable for dramatic pronouncements, sports journalism and song texts. Examples: Blir hun her, så går jeg! If she stays, I leave! Scorer de nu, er de i finalen! If they score now, they're in the final! Glemmer du, så husker jeg det ord for ord... [very romantic song] If you forget, I'll remember word for word... Er du en trold får du børn med en heks. [nursery rhyme] If you're a troll you'll have children with a witch. Don't you have that in Swedish? Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)