Quantifier Movement in Icelandic

Abstract

Derivational analyses of OV order such as that in Zwart 1993 involve movement of VP-internal elements to the left, across the verb. Such movement appears not to be subject to Holmberg’s Generalization (Holmberg 1986), which observes that certain kinds of movement are prohibited from crossing the verb. On one view, an OV language like German differs from a VO language like Icelandic in that German is not subject to Holmberg’s Generalization, while Icelandic is. Here I show that Quantifier Movement in Icelandic is not subject to Holmberg’s Generalization, although similar movements in Norwegian are. Thus the difference between OV and VO languages cannot be reduced to the parametric applicability of Holmberg’s Generalization by language.