Lecture
Micro-variation, contact and change: the absentive in Frisian and Dutch
- Myrthe Bergstra (Utrecht University)
- Date
- Thursday 14 February 2019
- Time
- Location
-
P.N. van Eyckhof 2
P.N. van Eyckhof 2
2311 BV Leiden - Room
- 0.06
Abstract
In both Frisian and Dutch we find the absentive, a syntactic construction to express the
absence of a subject. The absentive is formed (in these languages) by a finite form of to be and
an infinitive (a bare infinitive in Dutch, a te-infinitive in Frisian).
In this talk, I will argue that the absentive can be analyzed as a case of go-deletion,
following Abraham (2008). That is, the examples below actually include a silent form of
perfective go:
(1)
Jan is te fiskjen gongen Frisian
Jan is to fish.inf gone
“Jan is off fishing”
(2)
Jan is gaan vissen / Jan is vissen gegaan Dutch
Jan is gone fish.inf / Jan is fish.inf gone
“Jan is off fishing”
Besides being able to explain the meaning of the absentive, I will argue that this analysis is the
key in another problem: it explains the differences that we find between the Dutch and Frisian
absentive: 1) why Frisian included a to-infinitive, rather than a bare infinitive, 2) why the finite
verb in the absentive can also be gean (“go”) or a modal verb in Frisian, and 3) why the Frisian
absentive can have a passive interpretation.
Finally, I will present some data showing that the absentive in Frisian is changing
under influence of Dutch, but that this does not mean that the Frisian system is lost.