The Syntax of the Verbal Noun in Manx Gaelic. (1st January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lewin, Christopher
• Is Part Of: Journal of Celtic linguistics. Volume 17(2016)
• Page Start: 147
• Page End: 238
• Publication Date: 2016-01-01
• Subjects: Celtic languages -- Periodicals; Linguistics -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Celtic languages; Linguistics; Great Britain; Periodicals; 491.6
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0962-1377

Abstract

While accounts of the syntax of the element usually called the 'verbal noun' are available for different periods of Irish and Scottish Gaelic, as well as the Brythonic languages, the details of verbal noun constructions in Manx have never been fully described. Thomson (1952: 285–9) deals cursorily with the topic, and touches on various aspects in his grammar of Early Manx (Thomson 1953: 51–4, 62–9), in two lectures (Thomson 1969, 1986) and in commentaries on Manx texts (Thomson 1981, 1998). The matter is also discussed briefly by Broderick (2010: 345–6). Many of their ideas and suggestions will be explored in depth here This paper focuses particularly on the way pronominal objects of verbal nouns are expressed (whether by means of a possessive proclitic or as an object personal pronoun), and how this is related to the changing analysis of the verbal noun in Manx (and to varying extents the other Celtic languages), from a noun to a non-finite verb. The shift is examined in terms of reanalysis and grammaticalization, with particular reference to the common cross-linguistic phenomenon of the development of verbal nouns into infinitives and other non-finite verbal elements.