Cover not available

In:Historical Linguistics 2013: Selected papers from the 21st International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Oslo, 5-9 August 2013
Edited by Dag T.T. Haug
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 334] 2015
► pp. 179–194

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Stages in deflexion and the Norwegian dative

Published online: 1 October 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.334.10ber
The four cases of Old Norse were lost in Norwegian during the Late Middle Ages. The present paper examines what happened in more detail, aiming to sort out discernible stages in the deflexion process and suggesting a relative and absolute chronology. Some Modern Norwegian (and Swedish) dialects still retain a dative case, which in itself shows that case inflection did not simply disappear. Two main phenomena will be discussed here: (a) Former genitive-governing prepositions are increasingly found with dative complements, showing that the genitive was lost as a lexical case; and (b) changes in the paradigm of some pronouns and especially the demonstrative þessi “this” indicate that marking the dative remained decisive. It thus seems that Norwegian at one stage, presumably much more widely than in present dialects, had a two-case system where dative was the only marked alternative.
References (30)
References
Aasen, Ivar. 1864. Norsk Grammatik. Kristiania: Malling.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
AB = Aslak Bolts jordebok. Ed. by Jon Gunnar Jørgensen. Oslo: Riksarkivet, 1997.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arkadiev, Peter M. 2009. “Poor (Two-term) Case Systems. Limits of Neutralization”. The Oxford Handbook of Case ed. by Andrej Malchukov & Andrew Spencer, 686–699. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna. 2011. “Lexical vs. Structural Case: A False Dichotomy”. Morphology 21:2.619–654. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berg, Ivar. “Nokre sider ved det norske kasusbortfallet i seinmellomalderen”. Maal og Minne 107:1.1–35.
Blake, Barry J. 2001. Case. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 2007. The Grammar of Words. An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Butt, Miriam. 2006. Theories of Case. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delsing, Lars-Olof. 1999. Review of Norde 1997. Nordic Journal of Linguistics22:1.77–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DN = Diplomatarium Norvegicum I–XXIII. 1847–2011. Christiania/Oslo. Vols. I–XXI online: [URL].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gjøstein, Ingerid. 1934. “Uregelmessige genitivformer i norske diplomer fra det 14. århundre”. Arkiv för nordisk filologi 50.90–129.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hægstad, Marius. 1902. Maalet i dei gamle norske kongebrev. Kristiania: Dybwad.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larsen, Amund B. 1897. “Antegnelser om substantivbøiningen i middelnorsk”. Arkiv för nordisk filologi 13.244–253.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1917. “Dat. fem. av eiendomspronominerne i vore bygdemaal”. Maal og Minne 1917.71–73.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lass, Roger. 1997. Historical Linguistics and Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mo, Eilert . 1917. “Dei rindalske formene for dativ eintal hokyn av nokre pronomen”. Maal og Minne 1917.70–71.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norde, Muriel. 1997. The History of the Genitive in Swedish. Ph.D. dissertation, Universiteit van Amsterdam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. “The Loss of Lexical Case in Swedish”. Grammatical Relations in Change ed. by Jan Terje Faarlund, 241–272. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik. 4th ed. Halle: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Næss, Åshild. 2009. “Varieties of Dative”. The Oxford Handbook of Case ed. by Andrej Malchukov & Andrew Spencer, 572–580. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pettersen, Egil. 1991. Språkbrytning i Vest-Norge 1450–1550. II: Morfologi. Bergen: Alma Mater.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reinhammar, Maj. 1973. Om dativ i svenska och norska dialekter. 1. Dativ vid verb. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1992. “‘Till kyrkan’ och ‘åt skogen’. Om två prepositioner i svenska och norska dativdialekter”. The Nordic Languages and Modern Linguistics 7 ed. by Jonna Louis-Jensen & Hendrik W. Poulsen, 511–521. Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rindal, Magnus. 1987. Ortografi, fonologi og morfologi i Sth. perg. fol. nr. 6 (Barlaams ok Josaphats saga). Oslo: Novus.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sandøy, Helge. 2012. “Syntaktisk og semantisk styrt dativ”. Fra holtijar til holting. Språkhistoriske og språksosiologiske artikler til Arne Torp på 70-årsdagen ed. by Unn Røyneland & Hans-Olav Enger, 319–338. Oslo: Novus.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seiler, Guido. 2003. Präpositionale Dativmarkierung im Oberdeutschen. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seip, Didrik Arup. 1955. Norsk språkhistorie til omkring 1370. 2nd ed. Oslo: Aschehoug.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thráinsson, Höskuldur, Hjalmar P. Petersen, Jógvan í Lon Jacobsen & Zakaris Svabo Hansen. 2012. Faroese. An Overview and Reference Grammar. 2nd ed. Tórshavn/Reykjavík: Fróðskapur/Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toft, Ellen Hellebostad. 2009. Adnominal and Adverbal Genitive Constructions in Old Norse. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oslo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wipf, Elisa. 1908. Die Mundart von Visperterminen im Wallis. Frauenfeld: von Huber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Blaxter, Tamsin
2021. Diachronic dialectology: new methods and case studies. Transactions of the Philological Society 119:S1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Berg, Ivar
2019. Gender and declension mismatches in West Nordic. In Historical Linguistics 2015 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 348], ► pp. 97 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue