Cover not available

In:Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change: Studies in honor of Henning Andersen
Edited by Lars Heltoft, Iván Igartua, Brian D. Joseph, Kirsten Jeppesen Kragh and Lene Schøsler
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 345] 2019
► pp. 151–178

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

Word order as grammaticalised semiotic systems

 | University of Copenhagen
Published online: 18 June 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.345.06hel
Abstract
Meillet (1921 [1912]: 147-48) briefly states that word order is grammatical and that word order change is an alternative way of grammaticalisation, a stance that has had few followers within mainstream grammaticalisation studies. In the context of Henning Andersen’s view of morphology and the principles of its analysis, I propose a typology of the ways word order can grammaticalise, i.e. organise in closed paradigms, built on the distinction between symbolic, indexical and iconic meaning.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: The neglect of word order
  • 2.Symbolic and indexical signs in morphology
    • 2.1Andersen’s analysis of Latin cucurristi
    • 2.2Indexicality in the analysis of case and word order
    • 2.3The symbolic function of constructional case
  • 3.Word order systems as diagrams of morphosyntactic structure
    • 3.1Valency, construction and topological diagrams: Danish direct objects and prepositional objects
    • 3.2The semantic change of several and diagrammatic mappings
  • 4.Word order differences as symbolic signs
    • 4.1Diagrammatic representations of information structure
    • 4.2Germanic V2 examples
  • 5.The example of Old English
    • 5.1Old English V2 order and SOV order
    • 5.2Topological integrity of pronominal forms
    • 5.3Examples for topological generalisation
      • 5.4The grammatical function of the second position in Old English
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • Appendix
References (49)
Sources
DgL = Danmarks gamle Landskabslove. Eds. Johs Brøndum Nielsen et al.. Copenhagen 1933-.
GL = Gammeldansk læsebog. Eds. Nelly Uldaler & Gerd Wellejus. Copenhagen 1968.
Harpestreng = Harpestræng. Gamle danske Urtebøger, Stenbøger og Kogebøger. Udgivne for Universitets-Jubilæets danske Samfund ved Marius Kristensen. København 1908–1920. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
JyL = Jutish Law. Text from GL.
ML = Mariager Legendehåndskrift. ed. by Gunnar Knudsen, for Samfund til Udgivelse af gammel nordisk Litteratur. Copenhagen 1917–1930.
PC = The Parker Chronicle. A. H. Smith (ed.), The Parker Chronicle (832–900). London: Methuen & Co. 1951.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scanian Ecclesiastical Law. Text from GL.
SkL = Scanian Law. Text from GL.
References
Andersen, Henning. 1980. Morphological change: towards a typology. In Jacek Fisiak (ed.), Historical Morphology, 1–50. The Hague, Paris, New York: Mouton Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. From Morphologization to Demorphologization. In Silvia Luraghi & Vit Bubenik (eds.), 117–146.
. No year. Some remarks on indexes. Conference handout.
Breban, Tina. 2008. The grammaticalization and subjectification of English adjectives expressing difference into plurality/distributivity markers and quantifiers. Folia Linguistica 42.2, 259–306.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, Alistair. 1959. Old English Grammar. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diderichsen, Paul. 1941. Sætningsbygningen i Skaanske Lov [The syntax of the Scanian Law]. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1946. Elementær dansk Grammatik [Elementary Danish Grammar]. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1966 [1943]. Logische und topische Gliederung des germanischen Satzes. In Anders Bjerrum et al.. (eds.), Paul Diderichsen. Helhed og Struktur, 53–63. Copenhagen: Gad.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dik, Simon C. 1998. The Theory of Functional Grammar. Part 1: The Structure of the Clause. Second, revised edition, edited by Kees Hengeveld. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Durst-Andersen, Per & Michael Herslund. 1996. The syntax of Danish verbs. Lexical and syntactic transitivity. In Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, Michael Fortescue, Peter Harder, Lars Heltoft & Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen (eds.), Content, Expression and Structure. Studies in Danish Functional Grammar, 65–102. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Faarlund, Jan Terje. 1989. Discourse Functions and Syntax. CLS 25 (= Papers from the 25th Annual Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society). Part Two: Language in Context, Chicago Linguistic Society. 30–40.
Fourquet, Jean. 1938. L’ordre des éléments de la phrase en germanique ancien. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heltoft, Lars. 1992. The Topology of Verb Second and SVO Languages. A Study in the Sign Functions of Word Order. In Michael Herslund (ed.), Word Order. Two Studies on Central Issues in the Syntax of Danish and French. Copenhagen Studies in Language 15, 13–64. Copenhagen: Handelshøjskolens Forlag, Nyt Nordisk Forlag Arnold Busck.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996. Paradigms, Word Order and Grammaticalization. In Content, Expression, and Structure: Studies in Danish Functional Grammar, ed. by Elisabeth Engberg Pedersen, Michael Fortescue, Peter Harder, Lars Heltoft & Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen, 199–234. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011a. Lette pronomeners placering – klise og topologisk integritet [The position of light pronouns – clisis and topological integrity]. Ny forskning i grammatik [Recent research in grammar] 18, 61–79. Odense Universitet, Institut for Sprog og Kommunikation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011b. Word order change as grammaticalisation. Paradigm structure and change in Scandinavian. In Jens Nørgård-Sørensen et al.. 171–235.
. 2014. Topologi og grammatikalisering [Topology and grammaticalisation]. Ny Forskning i Grammatik [Recent research in grammar] 21, 103–122. Odense Universitet, Institut for Sprog og Kommunikation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. 1960. Closing statement. Linguistics and poetics. In Thomas Sebeok (ed.), Style in Language, 350–377. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, John E. 2015. Preface: Meillet and grammaticalisation. In Andrew D. M. Smith et al. (eds.), New Directions in Grammaticalization Research, p.xiii. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kemenade, Ans van. 2009. Discourse relations and word order change. In R. Hinterhötzl & S. Petrova (eds.), Information Structure and Language Change. New Approaches to Word Order Variation in Germanic, 91–118. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kemenade, Ans van & Marit Westergaard. 2012. Syntax and Information Structure: Verb Second Variation in Middle English. In A. Meurman Solin, M. José López-Couso & B. Los (eds.), Information Structure and Syntactic Change in the History of English, 87–118. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luraghi, Silvia & Vit Bubenik (eds.). 2010. The Bloomsbury Companion to Historical Linguistics. The Bloomsbury Publishing Company PLC.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthews, Peter H. 1972. Inflectional morphology: a theoretical study of based on aspects of Latin verb conjugations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meillet, Antoine. 1921 [1912]. L’évolution des formes grammaticales. In Linguistique historique et linguistique générale par A. Meillet, 130–148. Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, éditeur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1964 [1937]. Introduction à l’étude comparative des langues indo-européennes. Reprint. University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Melčuk, Igor. 2006. Aspects of the Theory of Morphology. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitchell, Bruce. 1985. Old English Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mithun, Marianne. 1992. Is Basic Word Order Universal? In Doris L. Payne (ed.), Pragmatics of Word Order Flexibility, 15–61. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Narrog, Heiko & Bernd Heine (eds.). 2011. The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nielsen, Peter Juul. 2016. Functional Structure in Morphology and the Case of Nonfinite Verbs. Theoretical Issues and the Description of the Danish Verb System. Series: Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory (EALT). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens. 2011. Patterns of connecting grammaticalisation in Russian. In Jens Nørgård-Sørensen, Lars Heltoft & Lene Schøsler, 115–170.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens, Lars Heltoft & Lene Schøsler. 2011. Connecting Grammaticalisation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens & Lars Heltoft. 2015. Grammaticalisation as paradigmatisation. In Andrew D. M. Smith et al. eds.), New Directions in Grammaticalization Research, 261–292. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nöth, Winfried. 2000. Handbuch der Semiotik. 2., vollständig neu bearbeitete und erweiterte Ausgabe mit 89 Abbildungen. Stuttgart & Weimar: Verlag J.B. Metzler. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Semiotic foundations of natural linguistics and diagrammatic iconicity, in Klaas Willems & Ludovic De Cuypere (eds.), Naturalness and Iconicity in Language, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pedersen, Karen Margrethe. 1993. Letledsreglen og lighedsreglen. Novation, ekspansion og resistens. In Karen Margrethe Pedersen & Inge Lise Pedersen (eds.), Jyske studier. Tilegnede Magda Nyberg og Bent Jul Nielsen. Universitets-Jubilæets danske Samfunds skrifter 524, 199–218. Institut for Dansk Dialektforsknings publikationer. Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzel.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pintzuk, Susan. 2003. Variationist Approaches to Syntactic Change, in Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda (eds.), The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, 509–528. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph & C. L. Wrenn 1957. An Old English Grammar. London: Methuen. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shannon, Ann. 1964. A descriptive syntax of the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 734 to 891. Janua Linguarum Series Practica XIV. The Hague: Mouton & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sun, Chaofen & Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 2011. Grammaticalization and Word Order Change. In Narrog & Heine (eds.), 378–388.
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Nielsen, Peter Juul & Lars Heltoft
2023. Indexicality across the boundaries of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. In Ditransitives in Germanic Languages [Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 7], ► pp. 150 ff. DOI logo
Hansen, Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard
2021. From case to topology. NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution 74:2 ► pp. 278 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 december 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