Eric Reuland and Sigr¡dur Sigurj¢nsd¢ttir
Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS/University of Reykjavik
Various proposals have been developed in the literature to account for the long distance use of 'sig' in Icelandic. These proposals can be divided into two groups depending on their approach to the long distance subjunctive case. First, one group of approaches assumes a unified syntactic analysis of long distance 'sig' in subjunctives and infinitives (e.g. Anderson (1986), Wexler and Manzini (1987), Pica (1985, 1987)). The other approach to long distance anaphora in Icelandic maintains that the long distance use of 'sig' out of subjunctives is ruled by discourse factors rather than syntactic principles (Thrainsson (1976, 1990, 1991), Maling (1984), Sells (1987), Sigurësson (1990), and Sigurj¢nsd¢ttir (1992)).
These two approaches to long-distance anaphora in Icelanding make different predictions regarding the antecedent possibilities of 'sig'. According to the first approach, long distance 'sig' should be subject to the same constraints in subjunctive and infinitive clauses, i.e. structural conditions such as c-command and discourse factors such as perspective or point of view should play the same role in both domains. The second approach, on the other hand, predicts that long distance 'sig' in subjunctives and infinitives is governed by different factors. Whereas discourse factors should be relevant for the logophor 'sig' in subjunctives, such factors should not play a role in the infinitive case where the interpretation of 'sig' should only be constrained by structural principles.
In this paper it will be argued that the Icelandic data provides support for the second approach. That is, there are consistent differences between the antecedent possibilities of 'sig' in subjunctives vs. infinitives. In the literature so far the focus of research has been the subjunctive domain and how it differs from the indicative. Much less attention has been paid to the infinitive case and until now the different tests for discourse vs. structural principles have not been applied systematically to the two domains.
In this article we will first attempt to systematically provide the relevant contrasts. In the
second part we will provide a principled account of the role subjunctive plays in the licensing of logophoric 'sig'. Crucial use will be made of the contrast between interpretive dependencies that are syntactically encoded and those that are not, following the lines set out in Reuland (1996). It will be argued that subjunctive blocks the possibility for 'sig' to enter a syntactically encoded dependency.
References
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