Syntactic reconstruction and proto-germanic

Abstract

This book investigates methods, possibilities, and limitations in the reconstruction of syntax in a framework which holds that the object of enquiry is knowledge of language and which acknowledges that the transmission of that knowledge is discontinuous. The main objections to syntactic reconstruction raised in the literature are assessed, and it is argued that the reconstruction of syntax is qualitatively different from lexical-phonological reconstruction due to the so-called ‘correspondence problem’ it is also suggested that other objections to syntactic reconstruction based on assumed lack of parallel between syntax and phonology, such as the supposed absence of directional tendencies and inability to identify contact influence, are either illusory or reduce to the correspondence problem. It is argued that the approach taken in current Minimalist theories of syntactic variation, in which all such variation is attributed to the properties of lexical items, sheds light on the problem of syntactic reconstruction by enabling a clear comparison between syntactic and phonological variation, and opens the door for syntactic reconstruction as lexical reconstruction. Practical solutions for circumventing the correspondence problem are also discussed, in particular the use of both distributional properties of lexical items and the phonological forms of such items in order to establish cognacy. The bulk of the book is devoted to case studies from the early Germanic languages intended to illustrate this methodology, dealing with verb position in main clauses, the syntax of the wh-system, and the (non-)occurrence of null pronominal subjects and objects.