Brill's Studies in Historical Linguistics25 Rethinking Syntactic Boundaries Old Norse

Against the general view of syntactic uniformity within Old Norse, this book reveals early word order divergence between Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian, offering insights into syntactic variation in older Germanic languages through the analysis of Old Norwegian material. What if Old Norwegian syntax diverged from Old Icelandic earlier than previously assumed? Discover the hidden dynamics of Old Norwegian syntax in this groundbreaking volume that challenges the long-held view that Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic can, on a syntactic level, be treated uniformly under the broader term ‘Old Norse.’ Through detailed analyses of information structure and prosodic weight, this book reveals – among other findings – an early shift toward fixed VO word order in Old Norwegian, contrasting with Old Icelandic’s freer syntax. Drawing on thoroughly annotated Old Norwegian corpus data and comparative insights from other Germanic languages, this monograph offers new perspectives for scholars of historical linguistics and Scandinavian studies, as well as manuscript research.