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Hans-Olav Enger

Professor - Scandinavian linguistics

Email h.o.enger@iln.uio.no

Phone +47 22 85 60 92

Room HW 511

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Visiting address ILN Henrik Wergelands hus 5th floor (or 4th depending on the counting) Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 OSLO

Postal address Postboks 1102 Blindern 0317 Oslo

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Research interests

Scandinavian linguistics, with emphasis on grammar and diachrony.

Morphology (especially inflection); gender, agreement and grammaticalisation.

Background

Part-time position at the University of Zürich autumn 2012–2019.

Professor of Scandinavian linguistics, University of Oslo autumn 2008–

Professor of Scandinavian linguistics, University of Stavanger 2003–2008.

Lecturer in Norwegian at Stockholm University (in sum five years in the nineties)

Tags: Nordic languages

Sims-Williams, Helen & Enger, Hans-Olav (2021). The loss of inflection as grammar complication: Evidence from Mainland Scandinavian. Diachronica. ISSN 0176-4225. 38(1), s 111- 150
Haugen, Tor Arne & Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). The semantics of Scandinavian pancake constructions. Linguistics. ISSN 0024-3949. 57(3), s 531- 575 . doi: 10.1515/ling-2019-0008 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv.
Enger, Hans-Olav; Spilling, Eivor Finset & Sameien, Marianne Brodahl (2018). Making sense of grammatical variation in Norwegian, In Antje Dammel; Matthias Eitelmann & Mirjam Schmuck (ed.), Reorganising Grammatical Variation: Diachronic studies in the retention, redistribution and refunctionalisation of linguistic variants. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027201645. Ch 7. s 209 - 230 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv.
Enger, Hans-Olav & Conzett, Philipp (2016). Morfologi, I: Helge Sandøy (red.), Mønster. Norsk språkhistorie I. Novus Forlag. ISBN 978-82-7099-847-0. Kapittel 3. s 213 - 316
Reinforcement in inflection classes: Two cues may be better than one. Word Structure 7 (2014), 153–181.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Inflectional change, 'sound laws' and the autonomy of morphology The case of Scandinavian case and gender reduction. Diachronica. ISSN 0176-4225. 30(1), s 1- 26 . doi: 10.1075/dia.30.1.01eng
Enger, Hans-Olav & Corbett, Greville G. (2012). Definiteness, Gender, and Hybrids: Evidence from Norwegian Dialects. Journal Of Germanic Linguistics. ISSN 1470-5427. 24(4), s 287- 324 . doi: 10.1017/S1470542712000098
Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil; Runde, Ålov Synnøve; Lind, Marianne & Enger, Hans-Olav (2011). "Vi skal på kino" : modalverb i norsk med og uten infinitt verb. Maal og Minne. ISSN 0024-855X. (1), s 65- 86 Fulltekst i vitenarkiv.
Enger, Hans-Olav & Nesset, Tore (2011). Constraints on diachronic development: the Animacy Hierarchy and the Relevance Constraint. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung. ISSN 0942-2919. 64, s 193- 213 . doi: 10.1524/stuf.2011.0015
Enger, Hans-Olav (2009). The role of core and non-core semantic rules in gender assignment. Lingua. ISSN 0024-3841. 119(9), s 1281- 1299 . doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2009.02.004
Enger, Hans-Olav. 2004. On the relation between gender and declension: a diachronic perspective from Norwegian. Studies in Language 28 (2004), 51–82.
Enger, Hans-Olav. 2004. Scandinavian pancake sentences as semantic agreement. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 27 (2004), 5–34.

Vindenes, Urd & Enger, Hans-Olav (2026). Dette burde man forsket mer på: Fem spørsmål om «ha-utelatelse». European Journal of Scandinavian Studies. ISSN 2191-9399. 56(2), p. 385–412. doi: https:/www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ejss-2026-3021/html. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article investigates the phenomenon of ha-omission in Norwegian, as in Dette burde man forsket mer på (‘One should (have) studied this more’), referred to as MUPP, and compares it to variants with overt ha (MIPP). Contrary to traditional views, we argue that MUPP is not an ellipsis, but an independent construction. Corpus data show that MUPP is as frequent as MIPP in writing and significantly more common in speech. Its frequency varies with modal verbs, and collostructional analyses reveal distinct preferences for certain participles in MUPP versus MIPP, particularly favoring high-frequency verbs in MUPP. These findings support a construction-based approach, in which MUPP and MIPP are treated as formally and semantically distinct, though related, constructions. The article also argues against the idea that Norwegian MUPP is dependent on the Swedish construction involving the omission of finite ha(va) in subordinate clauses.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2026). How new morphology can arise: North Germanic examples of roads less traveled by. Word Structure. ISSN 1750-1245. 19(2-3), p. 174–201. doi: 10.3366/word.2026.0268. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2025). Modal verbs in Norwegian (and Swedish): Between analogical regularisation and analogical irregularisation? In Bach, Xavier; Esher, Louise & Gaglia, Sascha (Ed.), Comparative and Dialectal Approaches to Analogy. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780191995231. p. 91–109. doi: 10.1093/9780191995231.003.0005. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This chapter first presents a set of old Norse verbs that, by traditional accounts, are both preterite present and modal. The paradigms of Norwegian modal verbs turn out to be, in the later dialects, even more defective than much earlier literature tends to emphasize. Diachronically, the modal verbs are subject to two kinds of pressure—a tendency to lose members of certain cells and a tendency to reinstall them. These tendencies may have partly different reasons. There are many analogical changes in the modal verbs, some of them quite unexpected. Product-oriented generalizations can be helpful to explain some of these analogies, and such a change in two verbs supports the view that analogy may sometimes be a matter of ‘modification’. The term ‘preterite present’ turns out to be unhelpful in a synchronic description of modern Norwegian.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2024). Gender, meaning and arbitrariness: Evidence from Norwegian (and Swedish). SKY Journal of Linguistics. ISSN 1456-8438. 37, p. 9–33. doi: 10.61197/fjl.146830. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Despite some claims in the literature, even NP-internal agreement can be meaningful in Norwegian and Swedish, and the arbitrariness of lexical gender (also known as ‘formal gender’ or ‘syntactic gender’) in these two languages has been overstated. This shows up also in homonyms of different genders, which pattern in a way linked to animacy. Furthermore, not all pronominal gender agreement in these languages is meaningful, either. Although there are differences between pronominal gender agreement and other kinds of agreement, this is a difference in degree, not in kind, so we should not draw a sharp distinction between pronominal gender agreement and other kinds of gender agreement. The paper also contributes to the long-standing discussion on the redundancy and usefulness of gender: gender is not as outlandish and different from other grammatical categories (such as tense and number) as it may seem, since no grammatical category correlates directly with conceptual distinctions.
Lødrup, Helge & Enger, Hans-Olav (2024). To grammatikere kikker i Bokmålsordboka. NLT - Norsk lingvistisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-3076. 42, p. 235–260. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Bokmålsordboka kom i ny versjon på www i 2022. I denne artikkelen gir vi en kritisk diskusjon av tre forhold ved den grammatiske informasjonen i ordboka som vi synes er utilfredsstillende. For det første har ordboka for lite fokus på den syntaktiske konteksten som ord kan opptre i. For det andre oppfører den rutinemessig ordformer som ikke (eller bare helt marginalt) finnes i språket, f.eks. gidne (bestemt adjektivisk perfektum partisipp av gidde) og dyende (presens partisipp av dy (seg)). For det tredje gir den en behandling av genus som vi mener bygger på en feilaktig oppfatning av begrepet, og tilslører forholdene i bokmålsnormalen. Vi har også noen betraktninger om hvilken informasjon ordbokbrukeren har bruk for.
Laanemets, Anu & Enger, Hans-Olav (2024). Danske pannekakesetninger i diakront perspektiv. In Skafte, Eva & Schack, Jørgen (Ed.), Mange grublende Dage ere gaaede forud. Dansk Sprognævn. ISSN 9788789410913. p. 175–194. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2023). Meta-morphomic patterns in North Germanic. Nordic Journal of Linguistics. ISSN 0332-5865. 46(1), p. 1–19. doi: 10.1017/S0332586521000214. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The paper presents examples of meta-morphomes (a kind of morphomic patterns, involving syncretisms) in North Germanic. There has been some debate over the notion of such patterns, and the aim is therefore to present relatively clear cases. Five cases are presented, involving inflection in verbs, nouns and adjectives. The syncretisms are all ‘unnatural’; they do not make much sense for syntax, semantics or phonology. While patterns that are obvious to the linguist are not necessarily obvious to speakers, the paper presents diachronic evidence that these morphomic patterns have been noticed by speakers. At least some criticism against ‘morphomic’ analyses is based on implausible premises: An analysis in terms of features is not automatically preferable only by being possible; the idea of ‘taking morphology seriously’ is untenable; the claim that the morphomic approach is a mere enumeration of facts may involve a self-contradiction.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2023). Defaultkongruens eller semantisk kongruens i pannekakesetninger? Språk och stil: Tidskrift för svensk språkforskning. ISSN 1101-1165. 32, p. 171–176. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2023). Nominal Inflectional Morphology in Germanic: Adjectives. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.950. Full text in Research Archive
Nesset, Tore; Enger, Hans-Olav & Janda, Laura Alexis (2022). Er politiet sikker eller sikre? Adjektivkongruens ved kollektiver i norsk. Arkiv för nordisk filologi. ISSN 0066-7668. 137, p. 123–144. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Dette er en empirisk studie av adjektivkongruens i norsk. We undersøker setninger med et kollektivt substantiv som subjekt og et predikativt adjektiv i singular eller plural. Med utgangspunkt i data fra to elektroniske korpora og en informantundersøkelse viser vi at pluralkongruens er utbredt i setninger av den typen vi analyserer. Følgende faktorer kan knyttes til valget mellom singular og plural: animatum, subjektets semantikk, avstand mellom subjekt og predikativt adjektiv, adjektiv vs. partisipp og adjektivets evne til å indikere agentivitet. Korpusdataene analyseres ved hjelp av en logistisk regresjonsamodell.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). Type frequency is not the only factor that determines productivity, so the Tolerance Principle is not enough. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur. ISSN 0005-8076. 144(2), p. 161–187. doi: 10.1515/bgsl-2022-0013. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract Inflection classes that have many members often gain members from classes that have fewer. While this tendency is often pointed out in diachronic linguistics, the American psycholinguist Charles Yang (2016) goes further. He claims this to be always the case, so that minority classes cannot be productive at the expense of majority classes, and that productivity actually can be predicted. By this view, productivity is a direct function of type frequency; there are no other factors determining whether a pattern is productive. The claim of this paper is that type frequency is not the only factor determining productivity, and that while Yang’s approach, the ›Tolerance Principle‹, is interesting, it cannot be upheld in its present form. The paper presents an example of suppletion spreading in Germanic, and it presents examples of minority patterns spreading in North Germanic. Parallels outside of Germanic are pointed out. Also, it is argued that Yang’s (2016) analysis of English verb inflection and German noun inflection is insufficient, so these important case-studies, presented in favour of the Tolerance Principle, do not support it. In general, the paper emphasises the importance of ›local generalisations‹ and of seeing language as a ›system‹ of low-level regularities, not all-encompassing rules. While type frequency certainly seems important for productivity, inflectional morphology is a complex matter; productivity is also influenced by various factors of a more structural nature.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). Kvifor spora etter eit tredje genus held seg der dei gjer - i Oslo og andre stader. NLT - Norsk lingvistisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0800-3076. 40(1), p. 57–85. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
I oslomålet held suffikset -a i bestemt form eintal seg som eit siste spor etter femininum, medan dei eigentlege eksponentane for genus femininum elles er borte (unnateke pronomen). Det finst parallellar i andre norske dialekter, i svensk og i istrorumensk. Suffikset er eit bunde element, ulikt dei eigentlege eksponentane for genus. Det blir lært inn først, kanskje fordi det ikkje krev same abstraksjonsgraden. Sjølv om suffikset ulikt dei andre elementa ikkje utan vidare kan reknast som genuseksponent, er det likevel ein god indikator – iblant. Utviklinga blir drøfta i lys av Corbetts kongruenshierarki og grammatikalisering. Element er meir resistente mot endring i genussystemet, di tettare relasjon dei har til genuskontrolløren, altså di meir bundne dei er. Suffiks er mest resistente mot endringar, men det er også skilnader mellom dei andre «skikkelege» genuseksponentane. Dei ulike gradane av resistens korrelerer godt med kongruenshierarkiet, som har med grammatikalisering å gjera (og som i nokon monn korrelerer med Ragnhildstveits signalvaliditetshierarki).
Sims-Williams, Helen & Enger, Hans-Olav (2021). The loss of inflection as grammar complication: Evidence from Mainland Scandinavian. Diachronica. ISSN 0176-4225. 38(1), p. 111–150. doi: 10.1075/dia.19050.sim. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract The loss of inflectional categories is often thought of as a type of simplification. In this paper we present a survey of phenomena involving the reduction of adjective agreement in Scandinavian, using examples from Norwegian, and discuss their diachronic origins, including a new account of the development of indeclinability in adjectives such as kry ‘proud’. These examples each involve lexically restricted non-canonical inflection – syncretism, defectiveness, overdifferentiation and periphrasis – in particular paradigm cells or syntactic environments. They show that the loss of inflection does not necessarily simplify grammar, and in some cases, can increase grammatical complexity by adding lexical exceptions to general rules. This excludes simplification as the motivation, even if it is the eventual result. We argue from these historical developments that speakers are liable to analyse idiosyncratic patterns of inflection as lexically specified, even where more general (but perhaps more abstract) alternatives are possible. Thus speakers do not always operate with a maximally elegant, reductionist approach to inflection classes.
Enger, Hans-Olav; Höder, Steffen & Vindenes, Urd (2021). Old Nordic. In Keydana, Götz; Hock, Wolfgang & Widmer, Paul (Ed.), Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110537666. doi: 10.1515/9783110641325-011. Full text in Research Archive
Vindenes, Urd & Enger, Hans-Olav (2020). Det umulige er mulig. In Johannessen, Janne Bondi & Hagen, Kristin (Ed.), Leksikografi og korpus. En hyllest til Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9788291398129. p. 61–75. doi: 10.5617/osla.8168. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Artikkelen tar for seg spørsmålet om defektivitet i grammatiske mønstre er en absolutt egenskap i seg sjøl. Nærmere bestemt undersøker vi adjektiver som angivelig mangler nøytrumsform og adjektiver som angivelig er be-grensa til predikativ eller attributiv posisjon. Ved hjelp av data fra Leksiko-grafisk bokmålskorpus argumenterer vi for at det er mer fornuftig å forkla-re slike defekte mønstre som konvensjonelt uvanlige snarere enn gramma-tisk umulige.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2020). Det gamle Kristiania var nok vakkert, men er Oslo fin eller fint? Om genus ved noen stedsnavn. Namn og Nemne. ISSN 0800-4684. 37, p. 7–36. Full text in Research Archive
Haugen, Tor Arne & Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). The semantics of Scandinavian pancake constructions. Linguistics. ISSN 0024-3949. 57(3), p. 531–575. doi: 10.1515/ling-2019-0008. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
A classical topic in the syntax of the mainland Scandinavian languages is so-called pancake clauses where there seemingly is disagreement between the subject and the predicative adjective, as in Pannekaker er godt ‘Pancakes(f):indf:pl be:prs good:n:sg’; the subject is in the plural, whereas the predicative adjective is in the neuter singular. According to one of the several approaches, these clauses display a type of semantic agreement. Recently, it has also been argued that there are at least four different types of pancake constructions. In this article, the semantic relationship between the different constructions is investigated further. It is argued that, diachronically, pancake agreement started with subjects interpreted as virtual, ungrounded processes, and that the absence of grounding has been reinterpreted as absence of spatial boundedness in the latest kind of pancake construction. The analysis is supported by a diachronic corpus investigation. The emphasis on virtual reference is a new feature with the current paper, and it enables us to set aside an objection against the semantic agreement analysis. The diachronic corpus investigation enables us to revise, empirically, earlier suggestions as to when the pancake constructions originated: They are well attested from the mid-1800s, in both Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). Thoughts on morphomes, on a Scandinavian background. In Dammel, Antje & Schallert, Oliver (Ed.), Morphological Variation: Theoretical and empirical perspectives. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027262561. p. 159–196. doi: 10.1075/slcs.207.06eng. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). In defence of morphomic analyses. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia. International Journal of Linguistics. ISSN 0374-0463. 51(1), p. 31–59. doi: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1594577. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
There has been some debate over the notion of “morphomes”, i.e., patterns of inflection without any clear motivation outside of morphology. Morphomes are taken as evidence for some autonomy of morphology. However, it has been claimed that there is “very little evidence for change which operates on morphology alone”, in other words that morphology does not change independently – and this has, consequently, been used as an argument against the “morphomic” approach. This paper presents evidence of inflection classes arising or being “strengthened” in Scandinavian, classes that do not have any function outside of morphology. This, then, is evidence of change, operating on morphology alone – even in the relatively “poor” inflection systems of Scandinavian. One of the case studies also shows affixes being changed in order to align better with non-affixal inflection. This goes against the claim that non-affixal inflection is epiphenomenal. The paper also presents criticism of some other arguments that have been used against the morphomic approach. Notably, the “diagnostic problem” suggested for morphomes is hardly more severe than that involved in many other approaches to morphology. The paper also shows a (perhaps unexpected) convergence between the morphomic approach and strands of functionalism. While morphomic patterns may seem redundant and local, this is not unique to them. Many generalisations done by language users may seem redundant and local to linguists.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2018). Why traces of the feminine survive where they do, in Oslo and Istria: How to circumvent some “troubles with lexemes”. In Bonami, Olivier; Boyé, Gilles; Dal, Georgette; Giraudo, Hélène & Namer, Fiammetta (Ed.), The lexeme in descriptive and theoretical morphology. Language Science Press. ISSN 9783961101108. p. 235–255. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1407005. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav; Spilling, Eivor Finset & Sameien, Marianne Brodahl (2018). Making sense of grammatical variation in Norwegian. In Dammel, Antje; Eitelmann, Matthias & Schmuck, Mirjam (Ed.), Reorganising Grammatical Variation: Diachronic studies in the retention, redistribution and refunctionalisation of linguistic variants. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027201645. p. 209–230. doi: 10.1075/slcs.203.08sam. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This study examines two examples of grammatical variation in Norwegian inflection, strong versus weak verb conjugation and affixal versus periphrastic adjective comparison. The main claim is that the choice of variants is not as arbitrary as one may think, which rather indicates a division of labour. The strong verb inflection tends to be motivated not only by phonology, but also by semantics. The affixal and periphrastic adjective comparisons tend to be used with different sets of adjectives and for different semantic purposes. These observations support the Principle of Contrast, the idea that a difference in form normally relates to a difference in meaning.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2017). Vocabular Clarity and insular Scandinavian: A response to Ϸorgeirsson. Folia linguistica. ISSN 0165-4004. 51(3), p. 527–536. doi: 10.1515/flin-2017-0019. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Haugen, Tor Arne (2017). Styrking og svekking av genussemantikk - ei diakron drøfting av (in)animathet ved pannekakesetninger og anaforisk den. Maal og Minne. ISSN 0024-855X. p. 43–72. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Artikkelen handler om styrking og svekking av genussemantikk i skandinavisk, med hovedvekt på norsk. Det argumenteres for at både såkalt pannekakekongruens, som i setninger av typen "pannekaker er godt" og "vodka er sunt" på den ene sida, og innføring av anaforisk "den" på den andre, kan knyttes til styrking av trekk i det semantiske kjernesystemet for genus. Nærmere bestemt ser begge fenomener ut til å være knyttet til individueringsgraden til de aktuelle referentene, og dermed til animathetshierarkiet. Ved konstruksjoner med pannekakekongruens og deres motstykker med tradisjonell kongruens er det grader av akseptabilitet, og denne korrelerer blant annet med subjektets individueringsgrad. Synkrongradualitet er som ventet ved et språklig fenomen som har oppstått forholdsvis nylig. Utviklinga av konstruksjonen i skandinavisk innebærer båderesemantisering og desemantisering. Utviklinga skjer både internt i NP-er og NP-eksternt, noe som styrker en hypotese om at kongruens innafor og utafor NP er nærskyldte fenomener.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2016). The No Blur Principle and Faroese conjugation. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur. ISSN 0005-8076. 138(1), p. 1–29. doi: 10.1515/bgsl-2016-0001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The paper presents the approach referred to as the ›No Blur Principle‹ (NBP), aka ›Vocabular Clarity‹. This approach can account for an otherwise unexpected case of diachronic productivity in Faroese verb conjugation, viz. the spreading of the suffix -i in the present tense 3rd sg., not associated with the largest class. Even if the NBP is meant as a synchronic restriction, the paper shows some consequences for diachrony – yielding the right ›predictions‹ (in a weak sense of the word). Given the NBP analysis of Old Norse, there is a good reason why the suffix -a, at first sight a much better candidate for productivity (as it is associated with a more type-frequent class than -i), could not spread – at least not without extensive ›reshuffling‹ of the affixes first; no such reshuffling was necessary for the spreading of -i, which was the ›class-default‹ affix anyway. The traditional account of the spreading of Faroese -i, which goes back to Rask (1811, p. 279), has it that this spreading is due to influence from the subjunctive. This is problematic, because one would not normally expect affixes to spread from the subjunctive to the indicative, and because a similar development in some few dialects of Norwegian cannot plausibly be accounted for along such lines. While the NBP account does not exclude Rask’s hypothesis, it can help us overcome these problems. The fact that the NBP helps us answer questions of productivity must count in its favour, and some other arguments in its favour are also marshalled. The Faroese development also shows that productivity for affixes and words need not behave in identical fashion; thus supporting a theoretical distinction.
Enger, Hans-Olav & Conzett, Philipp (2016). Morfologi. In Sandøy, Helge (Eds.), Mønster. Norsk språkhistorie I. Novus Forlag. ISSN 9788270998470. p. 213–316. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2015). When friends and teachers become hybrids (even more than they were). In Fleischer, Jürg; Rieken, Elisabeth & Widmer, Paul (Ed.), Agreement from a diachronic perspective. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783110373349. p. 215–235. doi: 10.1515/9783110399967-011. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). Reinforcement in inflection classes. Word Structure. ISSN 1750-1245. 7(2), p. 153–181. doi: 10.3366/word.2014.0064. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract The paper presents examples of inflection class reinforcement, where an inflection class becomes more different from its neighbours than it was. This is a manifestation of a diachronic tendency for more overt marking, similar to Kuryłowicz’ first law for analogy. It is also a manifestation of redundancy, which is characteristic of inflection. If inflection classes do not serve any purpose (as claimed by, for example, Wurzel 1986), it would seem strange that they should be strengthened. So, classes are not mere junk; reinforcement of class distinctions (polarisation) testifies to the autonomy of morphology (cf., for example, Aronoff 1994, Carstairs-McCarthy 2010, Maiden 2011). A change in Swedish conjugation is argued to be reinforcement. We consider a case where declension wins over gender in Norwegian, the opposite of what has been claimed to be the norm for that language. That case is also reinforcement. I suggest that reinforcement may be thought of as a kind of simplification. That also fits with the geographical distribution of a specific change. The paper also presents some evidence that a fairly ‘concrete’ definition of inflection classes can sometimes be useful. Inflection classes often latch on to extra-morphological properties in the cases examined, as claimed by Natural Morphology (Wurzel 1984). Yet it is problematic for Wurzel that inflection classes (mere ‘ballast’, in his view, Wurzel 1986: 76) should be strengthened. The finding is, however, expected if ‘[. . .] autonomously morphological structure [. . .] can be a dynamic, self-reinforcing factor in morphological change’ (Maiden 2005: 168).
Haugen, Tor Arne & Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). Scandinavian pancake constructions as a family of constructions. Cognitive Linguistic Studies. ISSN 2213-8722. 1(2), p. 171–196. doi: 10.1075/cogls.1.2.01hau. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Andrespråksforskningens relevans for språkvitenskapelig teori. NOA - Norsk som andrespråk. ISSN 0801-3284. 29(1), p. 5–27. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Vocabular Clarity meets Faroese noun declensions. Folia linguistica. ISSN 0165-4004. 47(2), p. 345–373. doi: 10.1515/flin.2013.014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The No Blur Principle (NBP) or Vocabulary Clarity (VC) approach (Carstairs- McCarthy 1994, 2010) is a possible restriction on the behaviour of inflectional affixes (grammatical units), originally motivated by an analogy with words (lexical units). The restriction is grounded in synonymy avoidance, in the observation that “Every two forms contrast in meaning” (Clark 1993) and in behaviour in multivocabular situations, where speakers have more than one vocabulary although they have only one grammar (e.g. Dyirbal, Javanese). There have not been many suggestions for restrictions on the behaviour of affixes in the morphological literature, so the approach deserves attention. In this article, the NBP or VC-approach is applied to Faroese noun declensions. While these Faroese data seem problematic at first, it is argued that they can be perfectly accommodated within the NBP/ VC-aproach.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Scandinavian pancake sentences revisited. Nordic Journal of Linguistics. ISSN 0332-5865. 36(3), p. 275–301. doi: 10.1017/S0332586513000280. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This paper defends the analysis of Scandinavian ‘pancake sentences’ as semantic or referential agreement (Enger 2004). Alternative analyses assuming that pancake sentences are to be analysed as syntactic agreement (Josefsson 2009), have some drawbacks. Notably, the distinction between different kinds of gender is not well motivated; the connection between different uses of the neuter is lost, and the use of ‘light verbs’ and of invisible elements is problematic. The referential agreement analysis, in combination with the Agreement Hierarchy, yields diachronic predictions that turn out to be correct; the syntactic analysis does not yield anything equivalent. Furthermore, the agreement pattern for very ‘general’ nouns follows more naturally under the referential agreement analysis.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Morphological theory and grammaticalisation: the role of meaning and local generalisations. Language Sciences. ISSN 0388-0001. 36, p. 18–31. doi: 10.1016/j.langsci.2012.03.017. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Inflectional change, 'sound laws' and the autonomy of morphology The case of Scandinavian case and gender reduction. Diachronica. ISSN 0176-4225. 30(1), p. 1–26. doi: 10.1075/dia.30.1.01eng. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Fire kroppsdelssubstantiver og en sammensvergelse. In Theil, Rolf; Schmidt, Tom & Askedal, John Ole (Ed.), Germansk filologi og norske ord. Festskrift til Harald Bjorvand på 70-årsdagen den 30. juli 2012. Novus Forlag. ISSN 9788270997008. p. 94–108. Full text in Research Archive

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Enger, Hans-Olav & Holmes, Philip (2018). Norwegian: A comprehensive grammar. Routledge. ISBN 9780415831369. 550 p. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav; Knoph, Monica I. Norvik; Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil & Lind, Marianne (2016). Helt fabelaktig! Festskrift til Hanne Gram Simonsen på 70-årsdagen. Novus Forlag. ISBN 9788270998593. 331 p. Full text in Research Archive

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Enger, Hans-Olav (2026). ʻTransmarini finna sig Själfwa owissai Generum Skilnad’Language Contact on Gotland: opposisjonsinnlegg ved Caspar Jordans disputas. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2026). Comments on "Future Constructions in Germanic and Romance: a multi-factorial corpus-driven approach" by Olaf Mikkelsen. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2025). Deviating agreement patterns - semantic and not - in Norwegian: four studies. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2025). Grammatikk og verdensbilde. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2025). Vi e' fra Bergen og vi e' go'. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Foredraget tok opp bortfallet av tallbøying i predikative adjektiver i bergensmålet
Nesset, Tore; Enger, Hans-Olav; Opsahl, Toril & Janda, Laura Alexis (2025). Konkurrerende kongruenskonstruksjoner. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Valget mellom kongruenskonstruksjoner – og dermed kongruens generelt – påvirkes av flere faktorer (Corbett 2006), ikke minst syntaktisk struktur. I norsk kongruerer attributive adjektiver i regelen syntaktisk; predikative adjektiver kan alternativt kongruere semantisk i en del tilfeller: 1) Et sykt barn 2) *Et syk barn 3) Barnet er sykt 4) Barnet er syk I 1 og 3 kongruerer predikativet syntaktisk – sykt står i nøytrum fordi barn er nøytrum. Felleskjønnsforma syk er ugrammatisk i 2, men akseptabel i 4 (iallfall for en del norsktalende, Dubois-Kother 2024). Dette skyldes syntaktisk struktur; når adjektivet står predikativt, som i 2, er det mer rom for semantisk kongruens. Animater tar i regelen predikativ i felleskjønn, og det henger sammen med betydning. Mange antar at også faktisk, lineær avstand kan spille en rolle for kongruens. Se det tyske eksempel 5: 5) Und er [Kaspar Hauser] liebt Henriette Vogel, das Mädchen, das in derselben Nacht wie er geboren wurde und die mit ihm im Bordell aufwächst Syntaktisk fyller pronomenene das og die samme funksjon her. At die blir valgt mot slutten av 5, skyldes at det er større avstand tilbake til antesedenten das Mädchen, og det gir rom for semantisk kongruens. Lineær avstand kan ikke alltid forklare at semantisk kongruens blir valgt. Jf. 6 og 7. 6) Et sykt og dessverre kanskje til og med døende barn 7) *Et syk og dessverre kanskje til og med døende barn Det er større avstand mellom adjektivet syk og substantivet barn i 7 enn i 4. Når semantisk kongruens likevel er uakseptabelt i 7, må det snarere skyldes syntaktisk struktur. Det er brei enighet om at syntaktisk struktur spiller en rolle for kongruens, men noe skepsis til at avstand skulle gjøre det (f.eks. Åfarli & Vangsnes 2020). Kanskje kan syntaktisk kompleksitet også spille en rolle. Om lineær avstand kan spille en rolle, er det fordi arbeidsminnet påvirkes. I 5 glemmer kanskje skriveren hvilket substantiv som er valgt for å betegne Henriette Vogel, men husker fortsatt hvem hen skriver om. Om det kommer en komplisert syntaktisk struktur mellom subjekt og predikativ, kan det ha samme effekt som lineær avstand? Vi har foretatt informantundersøkelser med norske adjektiver i singular eller plural. Vi har gransket kongruenskonstruksjoner med variasjon i eksempler som 8–10: 8) Familien hennes var adjektiv 9) Familien, som er fra Oslo, som er en gammel by, var adjektiv 10) Familien til mamma Mari og pappa Pål og dattera Kjersti var adjektiv Subjektet er her et substantiv i entall; grammatisk kongruens tilsier entallsform av adjektivet. Samtidig betegner substantivet familie en ‘flerhet’, adjektivet står predikativt, og i 9 er det avstand og komplisert syntaks. Dette burde åpne for semantisk kongruens, flertall. I 10 blir de ulike medlemmene av familien navngitt, altså individuert – kan det ha en effekt? Vi har forsøkt å finne ut hva en del norske studenter vil velge. Undersøkelsen vår er ennå ikke avsluttet, men de foreløpige resultatene for vårt materiale er blant annet: • Avstand har en effekt • Kompleksitet har ingen effekt • Indviduering har effekt Vi analyserer de to konkurrerende kongruenskonstruksjonene som deler av et stort konstruksjonsnettverk («konstruktikon») der valget mellom konstruksjonene avhenger av mange faktorer. Vår analyse gir evidens til en bruksbasert tilnærming («usage-based approach») siden arbeidsminnets begrensninger ser ut til å påvirke valg av konstruksjon. Analysen vår gir også støtte til en grunnleggende hypotese i konstruksjonsgrammatikkk, idet semantiske faktorer som individuering kan se ut til å ha direkte relevans for syntaktiske konstruksjoner (jf. Nesset og Kuznetsova 2015: 387). Referanser Corbett, G. 2006. Agreement. Cambridge. Dubois-Kother, Y. Var fruentimmeret gal? En undersøkelse av adjektivkongruens med animate nøytrer. MA-avhandling, UiO. Nesset, T. & Kuznetsova, J. 2015, Constructions and language change: from genitive to accusative objects in Russian. Diachronica 32(3), 365–396. Åfarli, T.A. & Vangsnes, Ø.A. 2020. Formell og semantisk adjektivkongruens i norsk. Oslo Studies in Language 11(2), 527–540.
Enger, Hans-Olav (2024). Verdifullt om verbkongruens. Svenska landsmål och svenskt folkliv. ISSN 0347-1837. doi: 10.69824/svlm.146.25702. Full text in Research Archive
Vindenes, Urd & Enger, Hans-Olav (2024). Dette burde vi forska på: Fravær av ha i preteritum perfektum futurum. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2023). Samisk påvirkning på skandinavisk grammatikk? Folkmålsstudier. ISSN 0356-1771. 61, p. 97–111. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2023). Norsk språk i seinmiddelalderen – endringer, periodisering og årsaker til endringene. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2023). Intricate inflectional realities. Comments at Louise Esher's viva. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav; Rad, Keyvan & Denstad, Ingrid (2022). To mulige endringer i kongruens. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). Språkhistorie i nordiskforskningen i dag - og noe om forklaringer. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). Modal and auxiliary verbs in Norwegian (and elsewhere). Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). Samisk påvirkning på skandinavisk grammatikk? Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). NP-internal agreement can be meaningful: Evidence from Norwegian. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2022). Adam Horn af Åminne: Från person till person. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2021). Meta-morphomes in Norwegian. Full text in Research Archive
Nesset, Tore & Enger, Hans-Olav (2021). Er politiet sikker, sikkert eller sikre? Kongruensmønstre ved kollektive subjekter i norsk. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2021). Multifunctional indexes. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Sims-Williams, Helen (2020). Norske adjektiver er ikke så enkle som før (?). Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2020). Gode genusstudier. Anmeldelse av Briana van Epps’ avhandling: Sociolinguistic, comparative and historical perspectives on Scandinavian gender. Svenska landsmål och svenskt folkliv. ISSN 0347-1837. 143, p. 23–35. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Haugen, Tor Arne (2019). Pannekakekonstruksjonar i skandinavisk. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Sims-Williams, Helen (2019). Loss of inflection in North Germanic adjectives -- or is it? Full text in Research Archive
Vindenes, Urd & Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). Umulig eller kanskje bare uvanlig? Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). Baerman, Matthew (Ed): The Oxford Handbook of Inflection. Morphology. ISSN 1871-5621. doi: 10.1007/s11525-018-09338-7. Full text in Research Archive
Sims-Williams, Helen & Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). Loss of inflection in North Germanic adjectives – or is it? Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Sims-Williams, Helen (2019). Norske adjektiver er ikke så enkle som de en gang var (?). Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2019). Briana Van Epps: Sociolinguistic, comparative and historical perspectives on Scandinavian gender -- with focus on Jamtlandic. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2018). Kongruenshierarkiet, grammatikalisering og forklaring. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Vindenes, Urd (2018). Det umulige er mulig. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2018). Skilnader mellom norsk og svensk i språkhistorisk lys. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2018). Hvorfor holder spor etter etter et bestemt genus seg best der de gjør det? – i Oslo, i Jämtland og Istria. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2017). Tilfeldig? Neppe! Eller kanskje litt... Eller: Hvordan kunne Olav Næs si det han faktisk sier om genus? Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2017). Why remnants of the feminine survives where they do – in Oslo Norwegian and Istro-Romanian (A possible modification of the Agreement Hierarchy). Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2017). Genus og transfer når norsk er andrespråk Opposisjonsinnlegg (andreopponent). Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2017). Thoughts on morphomes, also in the light of variation. Full text in Research Archive
Haugen, Tor Arne & Enger, Hans-Olav (2016). Den semantiske strukturen til pannekakekonstruksjonar i norsk. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2016). Why feminine agreement survives where it does – in Oslo Norwegian and Istro-Romanian (a possible modification of the Agreement Hierarchy). Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2016). Til forsvar for autonom morfologi - men hva betyr autonom? Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2016). In defence of autonomous morphology. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Haugen, Tor Arne (2016). Pannekakesetninger i grammatikaliseringsperspektiv/er. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Haugen, Tor Arne (2015). Pannekakesetninger og grammatikalisering. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2015). Hvordan kan noen skrive ei lærer, ei venn? Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav & Haugen, Tor Arne (2015). Pannekakesetninger og grammatikalisering. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2015). Book review: Analogy and morphological change, by David Fertig. Edinburgh University Press. Folia linguistica. ISSN 0165-4004. 49(1), p. 287–292. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). Hybrider og kjønn. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). No Blur Principle og færøysk verbbøying. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). No Blur Principle og færøysk verbbøying. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). No Blur Principle og færøyske verb. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). Cruschina, Silvio, Martin Maiden & John Charles Smith (eds.). 2013.The Boundaries of Pure Morphology: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives. Studies in Language. ISSN 0378-4177. 38(4), p. 995–995. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). Hybrider og kjønn. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). No Blur Principle and Faroese verb conjugation. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2014). Cruschina, Silvio, Martin Maiden & John Charles Smith (eds.). 2013. The Boundaries of Pure Morphology: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Studies in Language. ISSN 0378-4177. 38(4), p. 995–1004. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). The No Blur Principle (Vocabular Clarity) and Faroese verb conjugation. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2013). Vocabular Clarity and Faroese conjugation. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav; Spilling, Eivor Finset & Nilsen, Marianne Brodahl (2013). Reorganising grammatical variation in Norwegian. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Number, definiteness, irregularity: East Norwegian body part nouns. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Skilnader mellom norsk og svensk i språkhistorisk lys. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Nedbygging av kasus i norsk og svensk. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Vocabular Clarity and Faroese Inflection. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Conjugation Class Change: Principles of the Ab-, Um- and Expansion verbal-flexible Allomorphy in GErmany Language. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur. ISSN 0005-8076. 134(2), p. 251–257. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Scandinavian pancake sentences - again. Full text in Research Archive
Enger, Hans-Olav (2012). Antje Dammel: Konjugationsklassenwandel. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur. ISSN 0005-8076. 134(2), p. 251–258. Full text in Research Archive

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Published Dec. 14, 2010 3:15 PM - Last modified Oct. 20, 2023 9:44 AM

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Language Change