Non-negative word order in Breton: maintaining verb-second

Journal article

This paper examines variation in Breton word order patterns in non‐negative utterances across speakers of different ages. Not only has there been some disagreement on how best to characterise unmarked word order in Breton, it has also been claimed that younger speakers of so‐called Neo‐Breton overuse subject‐initial word order under influence from French. Data from fieldwork provide a complex picture of word order variability. This seems to be driven by a number of factors, including the nature of the subject (lexical or pronominal), regional variation among older speakers, and a corresponding lack of regional features among younger speakers. Rather than overusing subject‐initial word order, the Neo‐Breton speakers tend to avoid this word order pattern when other word orders are available, such that the verb‐second pattern is being maintained.

Authors: Kennard, H

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Transactions of the Philological Society
• Volume: 116
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 153-178
• Publication date: 2018-01-12
• Acceptance date: 2017-11-29
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-968X.12119
• EISSN: 1467-968X
• ISSN: 0079-1636
• Keywords: new speakers; Breton; word order; variation; V2