Verb movement in contemporary Faroese: A case study of syntactic variation and change

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This project is an investigation of a recent change in the syntax of the Scandinavian language Faroese, using recent experimental methods for measuring the linguistic knowledge of native speakers, both children and adults. The change, affecting the position of verbs in sentences, is akin to the one distinguishing Middle English Quene Ester looked never ... (verb before adverb) from Modern English Queen Ester never looked ... (verb after adverb). A better understanding of the contemporary Faroese situation can thus help to illumine an aspect of the history of English, as well as our understanding of language change more generally.