Dutch "Focus Scrambling" and the Constant Rate Hypothesis
Jack Hoeksema
Abstract:
Dutch, German and other SOV languages are known for their intricate scrambling patterns, whereby material moves to the left in the middlefield. Less well-known perhaps is so-called focus scrambling, involving most typically expressions headed by zo "so" or zulk "such". This type of scrambling permits even predicates to move to the left, something which is otherwise impossible:
(1) Dat is niet zo erg / Dat is zo erg niet
that is not so bad / That is so bad not
(2) Dat is niet erg / *Dat is erg niet
that is not bad / *that is bad not
In my talk I will show that the class of expressions involved in focus scrambling is larger than hitherto assumed, but that the pattern itself is slowly disappearing from usage. Based on a corpus study of early modern and contemporary Dutch, I will show that the loss of focus scrambling is lexically diffuse, and therefore appears to pose a problem for Kroch's famous (1989) Constant Rate Hypothesis.
Last Modified: January 22, 2006