The Northern Subject Rule: Analysing the Effect of V2 in the L1 of Dutch Speakers
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2019-07-08
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en
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The Northern Subject Rule (NSR) is a grammatical feature present in Northern English dialects
which states that verbs can take an –s suffix in third person plural contexts. This is restricted by
two constraints, the Type of Subject constraint and the Subject Adjacency constraint.
Hoendervangers (2016) found that speakers of Dutch and Standard English show a sensitivity
towards the NSR. The NSR was not included in their language input, so their sensitivity goes
beyond their input. Sleegers (2017) has revised Hoendervangers by examining Danish speakers,
and found them to be sensitive towards the NSR. Danish is a language that lacks overt
agreement, which is why Danish speakers could give insight into whether agreement potentially
triggers sensitivity. The sensitivity of Danish speakers suggests overt agreement cannot have
caused the sensitivity. This study aims to discover whether the property V2 could have played a
role in the sensitivity that goes beyond input. It will examine Dutch speakers, as they have V2 in
their underlying structure as well. The results from a grammatical judgement test suggest that
Dutch speakers are not sensitive towards the TS constraint of the NSR when they are presented
with subordinate clauses. Freriksen (2019) conducted a complementary study, which has shown
Dutch speakers are sensitive towards the TS constraint of the NSR in main clauses. The Dutch
main clause does contain V2 whereas the subordinate clause does not. The results therefore
suggest V2 might have played a role in Dutch speaker sensitivity towards the TS constraint.
Dutch speakers did show a sensitivity towards the SA constraint of the NSR in subordinate
clauses, whereas they did not in main clauses. The exact reason as to why Dutch speakers are
sensitive towards the SA constraint in subordinate clauses but not in main clauses is hard to
establish as of yet.
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