Limiting synchronic and diachronic variation and change: the Final-Over-Final Constraint
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: This paper explores a synchronic grammatical constraint, the Final-over-Final Constraint (henceforth: FOFC; Holmberg 2000, Biberauer, Holmberg & Roberts 2007, 2008), and its predictions for diachronic change. As an absolute principle, FOFC rules out the possibility of a head-final phrase dominating a categorially non-distinct head-initial phrase. This predicts that change from head-final to headinitial order must proceed from the top down (starting with the complementizer), whereas change from head-initial to head-final order must proceed bottom-up (starting with the lexical verb). Case studies from English, Afrikaans, and Ethiopian Semitic appear to support these predictions. Building on the account in Biberauer, Holmberg & Roberts (2007, 2008), it is proposed that FOFC is an effect of phaseharmony, whereby if a phase head bears a linearization diacritic (signalling headfinality), then all the categorially non-distinct heads visible to it must also bear this diacritic. According to standard versions of phase theory, this account predicts that FOFC should hold across phase boundaries. This fact, however, creates an apparent ‘paradox’ for the theory of word-order change proposed, making it appear impossible for final structures to become initial or vice versa. The paper highlights empirical evidence to show how languages avoid this potential barrier to wordorder change, which does indeed seem to progress as FOFC would predict.
Authors: T Biberauer, G Newton, Michelle Sheehan
Institution: Newcastle University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2386867050