RESUMEN
This paper focuses on passive symmetry effects in Germanic. We describe two large-sample judgment experiments with native speakers of Norwegian and Swedish, two partially symmetric passive languages. The results fail to support predictions of Anagnostopoulou's (2003) seminal locality approach to passive symmetry in these languages. We propose that constraints on object ordering in these varieties are better modeled on a revised version of classic case-based theories. On this approach, patterns of object ordering are governed by variation in the way that case is assigned to objects. In addition, the Norwegian results suggest a shape conservation effect in object shift contexts not previously reported in the literature. Theme-recipient orders in Norwegian object shift contexts are available for just those speakers who also accept theme-recipient orders in active non-object shift contexts. This object ordering constraint applies in the same environment that another, much better described ordering constraint applies, namely Holmberg's Generalization effects. We show that these results are explained by Fox and Pesetsky's (2005) cyclic linearization algorithm together with the assumption that theme-recipient orders vP-internally reflect short theme-movement above the recipient.
RESUMEN
This study considers the role of different cognitive units in sound change: phonemes, contextual variants and words. We examine /u/-fronting and /j/-dropping in data from three generations of Derby English speakers. We analyze dynamic formant data and auditory judgments, using mixed effects regression methods, including generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). /u/-fronting is reaching its end-point, showing complex conditioning by context and a frequency effect that weakens over time. /j/-dropping is declining, with low-frequency words showing more innovative variants with /j/ than high-frequency words. The two processes interact: words with variable /j/-dropping (new) exhibit more fronting than words that never have /j/ (noodle) even when the /j/ is deleted. These results support models of change that rely on phonetically detailed representations for both word- and sound-level cognitive units.
