Scrambling in spoken Dutch: Definiteness versus weight as determinants of word order variation

Abstract

Direct objects in the Dutch middlefield can either precede adverbs or follow them. This word order variation is traditionally labeled scrambling. Based on a corpus study of scrambling in spoken Dutch, we show that pronouns scramble almost categorically, whereas indefinite and definite objects scramble hardly at all. The observed effect of definiteness cannot be reduced to the influence of grammatical weight, in this way establishing both factors as independent determinants of word order variation. A closer investigation of proper noun objects shows that their position relative to the adverb is influenced by their animacy, length and stress. We argue that the ordering of elements in the Dutch middlefield is to be understood in terms of planning considerations on behalf of the speaker such that use of the unscrambled order buys him as much time for articulation of the direct object as possible.