General
The term topicalization is used as a common name for constructions where a non-wh element that is not the subject of the clause is in first position. Usually a clause that is not beginning with the subject is pragmatically marked in some way or another. Often the element in first position is interpreted as the topic of the sentence, that which is talked about (the rest of the clause is the comment, what is said about the topic). This is illustrated in (1). Occasionally, the first element is in focus, being stressed, as in (2); in this case the rest of the clause constitute the ground. The focus part of an utterance corresponds to those constituents that express the new information that the speaker wants the hearer to add to his/her information state. An element in first position can also be a scene-setter, see (3):
(1) John, Mary kissed.
(2) JOHN, Mary kissed, not Peter.
(3) Tomorrow I will come. Here I have never been.
Swedish
As mentioned in section 1.2., almost any clause element may occur in the first position in a Swedish main clause. Since the subject is found in first position in about 60-70% of the cases, topicalization is used in roughly 30-40% of all declarative main clauses. The topicalized element is an adverbial in about 70% of the cases, an object in about 20% of the cases. Together, other types of topics occur in roughly 10% of the cases. Concerning the pragmatic function of the initial element, which we will focus on in this section, it may be the focus, the topic, or a scene-setter.
Focus in first position
The first element of a Swedish clause may be the focus of the utterance, as shown with the simple question-answer pair in (1):
(1) Vad tycker du om att dricka? KAFFE tycker jag om, men inte TE.
what do you like to drink coffee I like but not tee
Topic in first position
The most common function of a non-subject in first position is presumably to be a topic. There are at least two types of topics in Swedish, contrastive topics as in (2), and continuous topics, as in (3):
Contrastive topic
(2) Vad tycker du om pojkarna? Kalle tycker jag om, men Pelle avskyr jag.
what do you think about the boys Kalle I like but Pelle I can’t stand
The question introduces a contextually relevant set of boys and the answer picks up one individual boy in this set.
Continuous topic
(3) Igår köpte jag en ny cykel. Den ställde jag i köket.
yesterday I bought a new bike. It I put in the kitchen
The second sentence in (3) is uttered with no particular stress on the initial object pronoun den ‘it’. In this use, den resumes the noun phrase en ny cykel ‘a new bike’, introduced in the previous sentence. There is no sense of contrast between this bike and other things. Rather, the speaker uses the fronting as a way of establishing cohesion between the two utterances. If the initial pronoun in the second clause of (3) is stressed, it is usually interpreted as contrastive topic:
(4) Igår köpte jag en ny cykel. Den ställde jag i köket (inte något annat)
It is not uncommon that the first position of a declarative clause contains an element that tells the listener when or where the event reported has taken place. Some examples are given in (5):
(5) a. I morgon ska jag resa till Halmstad.
Tomorrow I will go to Halmstad.
b. Nu börjar vi!
now we begin
c. Nere vid sjön låg ett vackert hus.
Down by the lake was a nice house.
1.12.2. Verb First Declaratives
General
The prototypical verb first sentence in all the Germanic languages is the yes/no question (1), also imperative sentences are prototypically verb first (2):
(1) a. Have you seen him?
b. Har du sett honom?
c. Hast du ihn gesehen?
(2) a. Help me!
b. Hjälp mig!
c. Hilf mir!
However, all the Germanic languages also have verb first declaratives, more or less used in written language.
(3) a. Said the Prime Minister:
b. Kam da ein Mann zur Tür herein.
came then a man through-the door in
A man came in through the door.
There are two main types of verb first declaratives, narrative inversion and topic drop. Characteristically, a verb first declarative of the narrative inversion type contains all obligatory elements, whereas a verb first declarative of the topic drop type lacks an obligatory element; compare the two German examples in (4), where the first sentence illustrate narrative inversion, the second one topic drop (the topic ein Mann 'a man', introduced in the first sentence, is not overtly expressed in the second one):
(4) Kommt ein Mann in die Kneipe. Bestellt zwanzig Bierchen.
came a man into the pub ordered twenty beers
Swedish
Narrative inversion
Narrative inversion, i.e. a verb first declarative where all the obligatory elements are present, is typically for oral narration in Swedish, and hence this construction is seldom found in writing, although it might be found in passages rendering spoken language. Not seldom narrative inversion is used when the teller want to highlight a particular part of his story. The background part is put within paranthesis.
(5) (Så kommer killen som han verkligen skulle vänta på.) Tar han tag i gummibåten.
so comes guy.the that he really should wait for takes he grip in rubberboat.the
Topic drop
Swedish is relatively liberal with respect to topic drop, allowing the non-realized topic in front of the finite verb to be either the subject or the object of the verb first declarative. In the examples below, the part where the topic is introduced is put within paranthesis.
(6) a. Object drop: (Var hade du rabarberna? ) — Fick jag av Anna.
where had you rhubarbs.the got I from Anna
b. Subject drop: (Var hade du rabarberna? ) — Ligger på bordet i köket.
where had you rhubarbs.the Lie on table.the in kitchen.the
A first person subject is often left out in diaries and on post cards:
(7) Har just anlänt. Skriver detta vid kanten av poolen.
have just arrived is-writint this at edge.the of pool.the
Although not a topic, also the expletive subject may be dropped in first position:
(8) Regnar ute nu igen.
rains outside now again
Topic drop is only allowed from first position, hence although just as easy to infer from the context as the topics in (6), the examples in (9) are not well-formed:
(8) a. (Var hade du rabarberna? ) — *Anna fick jag av.
where had you rhubarbs.the Anna got I from
b. (Var hade du rabarberna? ) — I köket ligger på bordet.
where had you rhubarbs.the in kitchen.the lie on table.the
A topic dropped object may semantically belong to an embedded clause:
(10) (Var hade du rabarberna?) — Minns du väl att jag fick av Anna.
where had you rhubarbs.the remember you surely that I got from Anna
You must remember that I got them from Anna.
General
When the subject contains new, heavy information it is usually possible to postpone it, as in the following English examples, where the expletive there is used as the grammatical subject:
(1) a. There may have been fifty people in the room.
b. There were several people sick after the banquet.
c. There arrived a man from New York.
d. There walked into the room a babbling linguist.
In the prototypical existential sentence, the verb is intransitive and the "real" subject must be indefinite. However, Dutch, German and Icelandic have existential sentences with transitive verbs (2), and German also sometimes may have the real subject in definite form (3):
(2) a. Er heeft niemand iets gekocht. Dutch
there has nobody anything bought
b. Es hat jeder Mensch seine Schwächen. German
there has everyone his weaknesses
c. ?a? hefur einhver éti? hákarlinn.
there has someone eaten the shark
(3) Es kommt der Frühling.
there comes the spring
Swedish
Swedish has a particular freedom in constructing existential sentences with almost any intransitive verb. The expletive subject is the pronoun det, formally a personal pronoun in 3rd person neuter singular. As in English, the real subject must be indefinite, and it occurs in a position after the main verb, corresponding to the position of the direct object.
(1) a. Det hade suttit en katt på bordet.
there had sut a cat on the table
b. Det hade tilldelats honom en belöning.
there had beem-given him a reward
The expletive subject inverts with the finite verb in questions and when something is topicalized:
(2) a. Hade det suttit en katt på bordet?
had there sut a cat on the table
b. På bordet hade det suttit en katt.
on the table had there sut a cat
In existential sentences with bli-passive, the real subject may occur either after the participle (3a) or in front of the participle. The participle agrees with a preceding real subject, but with the expletive subject when the real subject is behind the participle:
(3) a. Det hade blivit skadat många studenter.
there had been injured.3rd sg neutr many students
b. Det hade blivit många studenter skadade.
there had been many students injured.3rd plural
Existential sentences can be formed with a passive form of a verb taking the double objects (type give); in this case only the noun phrase corresponding to the direct object can function as the real subject (being indefinite):
(4) Det hade tilldelats honom ett pris.
there had assigned.PASS him a reward
General
In traditional grammar, the clause is said to come in two voices, active and passive, often distinguished with the help of certain endings or auxiliaries. Both voices refer to the same event, but the most active element of the event expressed by the active voice is supressed in the passive voice.
(1) a. Active: The man opened the window.
b. Passive: He was considered a genius (by his wife).
It is typically the object of the active clause that is the subject of the corresponding passive clause: compare the functions of the window in (1a) and (1b). If we want to express the most active role of the event also in the passive voice, we have to add it in some kind of adverbial phrase; in all the Germanic languages we use a prepositional phrase introduced by a particular preposition, like by in English. In traditional grammar, this sentence element is referred to as the agent, not to be mixed up with the semantic role Agent (it expresses the role Agent in (1b), but not in (2b)).
Swedish
There are three ways to express the passive voice in Swedish: s-passive, bli-passiveand vara-passive. The sentence element agent is expressed by a prepositional phrase with av:
(1) a. Böckerna såldes på auktion (av min bror).
books.the sold.PASS by auction by my brother
b. Böckerna blev sålda på auktion.
books.the became sold by auction
c. Böckerna var sålda på auktion.
books.the were sold by auktion
The s-passive is sometimes referred to as the morphological passive, the bli- and vara-passives as the periphrastic passives. The bli-passive is formed with the copula bli ‘become’ and a past participle, the vara-passive with the copula vara ‘be’ and a past participle. The s-passive is formed by adding -s to the tensed form, to the infinitive, or to the supine:
(2) bollen kastades bollen ska kastas bollen har kastats
(3) man kastar bollen med vänster hand bollen kastas med vänster hand
(4) a. Bron hade förstörts under kriget.
bridge.the had destroyed.PASS during war.the
b. Han överfölls av en galning.
he attacked.PASS by a madman
c. Frukost kommer att serveras klockan 7.
breakfast comes to serve.PASS clock 7 (Breakfast will be served at 7 o’clock)
d. Ordet stavas med två l.
word.the spell.PASS with two l
e. Samtidigt delas Nobels fredspris ut i Oslo.
simultaneously deal.PASS Nobel’s peace-price out in Oslo
f. Det sägs att ...
it say.PASS that ...
It is said that ...
g. Hans pengar skulle användas för att ...
his money would use.INF.PASS for to
His money would be used to ...
The bli-passive usually expresses a definite isolated occurrence.
(5) a. Han blev rånad igår.
he became robbed yesterday
He was robbed yesterday.
b. Han blev vald till ordförande.
he became elected to chairman
He was elected chairman.
The vara-passive provides a picture of an object or state and stresses the result of an action or a completed transition.
(6) a. Sjön är täckt av is.
lake.the is covered by ice
b. Matchen är redan avgjord.
game.the is already settled
Intransitive verbs taking an agentive subject may be passivized with the s-passive; in these cases an expletive subject det ‘there’ must be used (impersonal passive):
(7) a. Det dansades hela natten.
there danced.PASS whole night.the
b. Nu talades det till och med om revolution.
now spoke.PASS there to and with about revolution
Now one was even speaking about the revolution.
When a ditransitive verb is passivized, either the indirect object or the direct object is promoted to subject:
(8) a. Konungen hade tilldelat statsministern en belöning. (Active)
king.the had given prime-minister a reward
b. Statsministern hade tilldelats en belöning. (Passive; IO as subject)
prime-minister had given.PASS a reward
c. En belöning hade tilldelats statsministern. (Passive, DO as subject)
a reward had given.PASS prime-minister
General
In traditional grammar, a third voice in addition to active and passive was discerned, called the middle voice. It was thought of as intermediate between the primary opposition of active and passive. The implications of the middle are that the action or state affects the subject of the verb or his interests, without any conception of an actor (agent).
Swedish
Deponent verbs, i.e. intransitive verbs ending in -s with an active meaning, express the middle voice when the subject is the Theme, the Patient, or the Experiencer of the event, as in (1):
(1) a. Jag minns inte vad han sade.
I remember not what he said
b. Han skämdes för sitt uppträdande.
he was-ashamed for his behavior
c. Antalet ansökningar har fördubblats.
amount.the applications have doubled
The amount of applications has doubled.
d. Han färdades vida omkring.
he travelled wide around
General
The event expressed in a clause may either be considered with respect to its course or its result, whether there is a limit to the event/process expressed or not. This distinction is referred to as the aspect (or aktionsart) of the clause (or the verb pharse). In many cases the aspect of an event is expressed by the verb that is used: thus, e.g., John is awake indicates a state without a limit, whereas the limit is highlighed in John woke up. In other cases, languages have grammaticalized certain means to express different aspects. English, for instance, uses be + present participle to express progressive aspect, which indicates an ongoing event or process: I am/was writing a letter, He was sitting at his desk.
Swedish
The category aspect is not systematically grammaticalized in Swedish.
Nevertheless, there are certain ways to express aspectual differences,
chiefly by using different forms of the object (or subject with transitive
verbs), or by means of combinations of verbs. Some of the possibilities
are illustrated below.
| (2) | Unlimited action/process | Limited action/process |
| a. Different forms of the object | Jag drack öl i flera timmar
we drank beer for many hours |
Jag drack två flaskor öl.
I drank two bottles of beer |
| b. Different forms of the subject | Olja rann ut i flera timmar
oil ran out for several hours |
Oljan rann ut på två timmar.
oil.the poured out in two hours |
| c. Object with object predicative | Han sprang.
he ran (=was running) |
Han sprang sig trött.
he ran himself tired |
| d. Verb with a particle | Han läste boken.
he read book.the (=was reading) |
Han läste ut boken.
he read out book.the He finished the book. |
| e. Choice of adverb | Han sprang i tio minuter.
he ran for ten minutes |
Han sprang på tio minuter
he ran in ten minutes |
| f. Use of higher verb | Han höll på att svimma.
he held on to faint He was fainting. Han satt och läste. he sat and read He was reading. |
Han svimmade.
he fainted Han tog och läste. he took and read He began to read. |
1.12.7. Free word order (Scrambling)
General
The term free word order or scrambling is used for the case where the order of the major elements within a clause is free, within certain limits. Languages like Latin, Russian, Czech etc have been classified as scrambling languages, and among the Germanic languages there is scrambling in the OV-variants, e.g. in Afrikaans, Dutch, Flemish, German and Jiddisch, but not in the VO-variants. A German example is given in (1):
(1) a. ...weil der Professor dem Studenten das Buch ausgeliehen hat
because the professor to.the student the book lent has
b. ...weil dem Studenten das Buch der Professor ausgeliehen hat
because to.the student the book the professor lent has
c. ...weil das Buch der Professor dem Studenten ausgeliehen hat
because the book the professor to.the student lent has
Swedish
Swedish is generally not considered to have scrambling. Thus, corresponding to the various possible word orders in the German example in (1) above, there is only one possible word order:
(1) ...eftersom professorn har lånat studenten boken.
because professor.the has lent student.the book.the
However, there is a certain freedom with regard to the order of sentence advberbial and the subject in embedded clauses: when the subject is a noun phrase with a noun as head, or a stressed pronoun, it may be preceded by one or several sentence adverbials. Compare 1.4, 1.9.1.1. and 1.10.
(2) a. eftersom professorn förmodligen inte har lånat studenten boken
because professor.the probably not has lent student.the book.the
b. eftersom förmodligen professorn inte har lånat studenten boken
c. eftersom förmodligen inte professorn har lånat studenten
boken
1.12.8. Weak Pronouns, Clitics and Object Shift
General
In all Romance languages there are two series of pronouns, strong pronouns and clitics. The clitics are morphologically reduced pronouns, with a special syntax, whose main characteristic is the displacement to a position adjacent to a verbal form. Clitics cannot be conjoined or stressed. The strong pronouns behave essentially like noun phrases: they have the same positions in the clause as a noun phrase, and they can be conjoined and stressed. Some differences between strong pronouns and clitics are illustrated in the Italian examples in (1).
(1) Strong pronoun lui ‘him’ Clitics lo
‘him’
| a. Maria conosce lui
Maria knows him |
a’. *Maria conosce lo.
Maria knows him |
| b. *Maria lui conosce.
Maria him knows |
b’. Maria lo nonosce.
Maria him knows |
| c. Maria conosce lui e voi
Maria knows him and you |
c’. *Maria lo e vi conosce
Maria him and you knows |
| d. Maria conosce LUI
Maria knows HIM |
d’. *Maria LO conosce
Maria HIM knows |
In spite of the poverty of morphological evidence, pronouns with a special syntax, different from strong pronouns and full noun phrases, exist in the Germanic languages as well. These pronouns have been called weak pronouns. In English, e.g., a weak pronoun must precede the verb particle, but strong pronouns (stressed, conjoined), as well as full noun phrases, occur after the particle:
(2) a. I took it in.
b. *I took in it.
c. I took in IT.
d. I took in him and her.
Swedish
In Swedish, weak pronouns are shifted to the left of sentence adverbials in main clauses with a finite main verb (Object Shift), whereas strong pronouns must occur after sentence adverbials; in the examples below strong pronouns are spelled with capitals, indicating they may be stressed:
(1) Strong pronoun henne ‘her’ Weak pronoun henne
‘her
| a. Maria såg kanske inte HENNE
Maria saw maybe not her |
a’. Maria såg kanske inte henne.
Maria saw maybe not her |
| b. *Maria såg kanske HENNE inte
Maria saw maybe her not |
b’. Maria såg kanske henne inte
Maria saw maybe her not |
| c. *Maria såg HENNE kanske inte
Maria knows him and you |
c’. Maria såg henne kanske inte
Maria sa her maybe not |
As the examples in the right hand column show, a weak object pronoun may be unshifted (a’), placed between sentence adverbials (including the negation, b’), and before sentence adverbials (c’).
As soon as there is a verb or a particle between the sentence adverbial and the object, no shift to the left is possible:
(2) a. *Maria hade sett henne kanske inte.
Mary had seen her maybe nog
b. *Maria hade sett kanske henne inte.
Mary had seen maybe her not
c. *Maria såg henne inte på.
Mary looked her not at
d. Maria såg inte på henne. (henne is strong or weak)
Mary looked not at her
Mary didn’t look at her.
In addition to Object Shift, Swedish also have Long Object Shift (LOS), where a weak object pronoun appears between the finite verb and the subject in a verb second main clause with inversion.
(3) a. På stationen mötte honom hans far och mor med en bukett blommor.
at station.the met him his father and mother with a bunch (of) flowers
b. Nu tog sig Kalle fram utan kryckor.
now took REFL Kalle forward without crutches
Now Kalle got along without crutches.
Long object shift is possible only with pronouns whose object form differs from the subject form. E.g. a singular object pronoun den ‘it’ (common gender), which is indistinguishable from the corresponding subject pronoun den ‘it’ can be used in the Object Shift construction but not in the Long object shift construction (4a,b), whereas the corresponding examples with hon ‘she’, henne ‘her’ (4c,d) are both fine:
(4) a. Numera såg byborna den aldrig.
now saw village-people.the it never
b. *Numera såg den byborna aldrig. (This example is OK with den ‘it’ as the subject)
now saw it village-people.the never
c. Numera såg byborna henne aldrig.
now saw village-people.the her never
d. Numera såg henne byborna aldrig.
now saw her village-people.the her never
Case is an inflection on nouns and pronouns, in Icelandic also adjectives, expressing how the noun/ pronoun is used in the sentence. The Germanic languages distinguish at most four cases, nominative ("subject case"), accusative ("direct object case"), dative ("indirect object case") and genitive ("possessor case"). In the languages with productive case systems, certain verbs, adjective and prepositions assign case to their objects; in these languages, also determiners and adjectives (including past participles) are inflected for case. In English, Dutch and the mainland Scandinavian languages, case is not productive in this respect. The only case marking that is not a frozen remnant of an earlier system is found in possessively used noun phrases, to which is attached a genitive ending, usually —s: the boy’s hammer, the man in the moon’s face. As the second example show, the genitive ending is not attached to the head of the noun phrase, as it is in languages with productive case, but to the last word, or more precisely, to the whole phrase.
Swedish
At the clause level, Swedish uses the case distinctions of personal pronouns to indicate whether a noun phrase with a pronominal head is the subject (nominative case) or the object (oblique case); the oblique form is also used after prepositions. See 3.1.3.3. and 3.3.1.1.
(1) Jag köpte boken. Boken tillhör mig. Han gav mig boken. Detta är min bok.
I bought book.the book.the belongs me he gave me book.the this is my book
I bought the book The book belongs to me. He gave me the book This is my book.
1.12.10. Agreement Phenomena at the clausal level
1.12.10.1. Subject-finite verb agreement
General
In a majority of the languages of the world, the tensed verb has different forms depending on the choice of subject; in some languages, the verb also has different forms for different objects. English has a simple rest of this system, inflecting the present tense verb with -s when the subject is 3rd person singular: John loves his father. The boys love their father.
Swedish
The finite verb in Swedish has the same form, irrespectively of the subject:
(1) a. Jag kom hem i går. Du kom hem igår. Han kom hem igår
I came home y'day you came home y'day he came home y'day
b. Vi kom hem igår. Ni kom hem igår. De kom hem igår.
we came home y'day you came home y'day they came home y'day
In texts written roughly before the middle of the 20th century, strong verbs (verbs of conjugation 4) were usually inflected for number.
(2) Vi kommo hem igår. Ni kommo hem igår. De kommo hem igår.
we came.pl home y'day you came.pl home y'day they came.pl home y'day
There was no similar inflection on weak verbs (conjugations 1-3).
1.12.10.2. Other agreement phenomena at the clause level
General
In addition to finite verb agreement, some Germanic languages have predicative agreement, where a participle or adjective agrees with the subject in a subject predicative, and with the object in an object predicative.
Swedish
Swedish has predicative agreement, hence a past participle or adjective functioning as subject predicative agrees with the subject in gender and number, and functioning as object predicative, a past participle or adjective agrees with the object in gender and number:
(3) a. Han är rädd. De är rädda.
he is afraid.sg they are afraid.pl
b. Han målade stolen röd (common gender)
he painted chair.the red.sg..
c. Han målade huset rött. (neuter gender)
he painted house.the red.sg.
. d. Han målade stolarna röda.
he painted chairs.the red.pl
1.13. COORDINATION AT THE CLAUSE LEVEL
General
From the grammatical point of view, coordination is a way to multiply an element in the structure without changing the structure in any other way. Thus, the only difference between (1a) and (1b) is that there is one person involved in (1a), two in (1b):
(1) a. The police found a man in the garden.
b. The police found a man and a woman in the garden.
All kinds of sentence elements, including main and subordinate clauses, may be conjoined:
(2) a. They decided [that Bill had to go] and [that his duties should be taken over by Mary].
b. [Bill had to go] and [his duties should be taken over by Mary].
Swedish
Coordination in Swedish is usually expressed by och ‘and’, eller ‘or’, men ‘but’ or ty, för ‘for, as’. These conjunctions can be used to coordinate main clauses (1) or subordinate clauses (2):
(1) a. Han stannar och jag gå.
he stays and I leave
b. Han stannar eller jag går.
he stays or I leave
c. Han stannar men jag går
he stays but I leave
d. Han stannar för jag går.
he stays for I leave
e. Han stannar ty jag går
he stays for I leave
(2) Sa du att han skulle stanna och/eller/men att hon skulle gå?
said you that he should stay and/or/but that she should leave
There are other means to conjoin elements, e.g. with dels ... dels ‘partly ... partly’,
(3) Dels var det för få deltagare, dels var lärarna för dåliga.
partly were there too few participants, partly were teachers.the too bad
On the one hand there were too few participants, and on the other the teachers were too bad.
There is no theoretical upper limit to the number of elements that can be conjoined. When more than two elements are conjoined, there is usually no conjunction except before the last element:
(4) Solen skiner, fåglarna kvittar, våren har kommit och jag är kär.
sun.the shines birds.the twitter spring has come and I am in-love
The sun is shining, the birds are twittering, spring has come and I am in love.
On the main clause level, declaratives are usually conjoined with declaratives (see e.g. 4 above), questions with questions (5a), and imperatives with imperatives (5b):
(5) a. När kommer Bengt och varför är inte Eva här?
when comes Bengt and why is not Eva here
When will Bengt arrive and why isn’t Eva here?
b. Släck ljuset, stäng dörren och lås den!
put-out light.the, shut door.the and lock it
Put out the light, shut the door and lock it.
When two conjoined clauses have the same general structure, reduction of identical elements is possible:
(6) a. Karl gav en bok till Lina och Mats en till Carita. (och Mats gav en bok till Carita)
Karl gave a book to Lina and Mats one to Carita and Mats gave a book to Carita
b. Olle talade med Oskar och Peter med Ylva. (och Peter talade med Ylva)
Olle talked to Oskar and Peter to Ylva and Peter talked to Ylva
c. Den där har jag hemma och den där på jobbet. (och den där har jag på jobbet)
This there have I home and this there at job.the and this there have I at job.the
This one I have at home, and that one at my job.
d. Lena arbetar teoretiskt men Hans empiriskt. (men Hans arbetar empiriskt)
Lena works theoretically but Hans more empirically but Hans works more
empirically