[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-289844-105":59,"doc-detail-289844-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","dative-subject-constructions-and-argument-structure-in-icelandic-and-faroese-paper","Dative subject constructions and argument structure in Icelandic and Faroese - Paper","","The paper analyzes dative subject constructions and their argument-structure consequences in Icelandic and Faroese. It explains Icelandic “quirky case” as case assignment influenced by semantic (theta) roles rather than purely syntactic grammatical role, and relates this to agreement behavior and subject diagnostics. Building on Icelandic data, it compares how Faroese differs, especially regarding accusative case assignment to objects, agreement patterns, and the role of phases. The study reviews competing perspectives and evaluates challenges posed by Faroese.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/dative-subject-constructions-and-argument-structure-in-icelandic-and-faroese-paper/289844/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/dative-subject-constructions-and-argument-structure-in-icelandic-and-faroese-paper/289844.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"8796093062539","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-28","2026-09-17",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the key phenomenon discussed in the paper regarding Icelandic subjects?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The paper focuses on “quirky case,” where subjects receive dative case based on factors beyond grammatical role, often tied to semantic theta roles.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does agreement behavior differ for dative subjects in Icelandic?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Dative subjects do not control verb agreement; default agreement appears in intransitives, while transitive agreement is controlled by the nominative object.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What main issues does Faroese dative subject data raise in the paper?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper highlights problems for case-assignment theories, with particular attention to accusative case assignment to objects, agreement patterns, and the role of phases.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},289844,1789637835,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":66,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":143,"preview_page_count":4},8796093062539,"Dative subject constructions and argument structure in  \nIcelandic and Faroese  \nCaleb Gordon  \nUniversity of Victoria  \ncalebgordon@uvic.ca  \nIcelandic has been well-studied for its famous ‘quirky ’case, which most often involves the unexpected assignment of dative case to subjects. In this paper, I compare Icelandic with its relative Faroese, highlighting important differences between the two languages that necessitate a different analysis for Faroese than has been proposed for Icelandic. I attempt to solve some of the problems raised by dative subject constructions in Faroese, with special attention to the assignment of accusative case to the object, to agreement patterns, and to the role of phases.  \nKeywords: dative subject constructions; quirky case; lexical case;  \nthematic case; dative subjects; case assignment; Icelandic; Faroese  \n1 Introduction1  \nCase morphology is a type of morphology used across the world’s languages to mark the grammatical role, such as ‘subject ’or ‘object’, of an argument. For example, nominative case is typically marked on the subject, while dative case is typically marked on an indirect object, which could be a recipient, a beneficiary (someone who benefits from an action), or sometimes another role. In (1), the subject in this Icelandic example is marked with nominative case. Icelandic verbs also show agreement with their nominative subjects.2  \n(1) Ég gaf hesti sykurmola.  \nÉg gaf hest -i sykurmola  \n1SG.NOM gave.1SG horse -DAT sugar_cube.ACC  \n‘I gave a sugar cube to a horse.’  \n1 I would like to thank Martha McGinnis for instructing the course which led to this paper, as well for her continued encouragement of my interest in Icelandic (and in linguistics in general!) . I would also like to thank the reviewers ofWPLC, whose comments greatly strengthened this paper.  \n2 Abbreviations: ACC ‘accusative’; DAT ‘dative’; DEF ‘definite’; F ‘feminine’; M‘masculine’; N ‘neuter’; NOM ‘nominative’; PL ‘plural’; REFL ‘reflexive’; SG ‘singular’; 1 ‘first person’; 3 ‘third person’.  \nWorking Papers ofthe Linguistics Circle of the University of Victoria 34(1), pp. 20–41  \n© 2026 Caleb Gordon  \n21  \nHowever, as has been extensively discussed in the linguistic literature, the North Germanic language Icelandic shows exceptional behaviour with regard to case. Icelandic is well known for its non-nominative, or ‘quirky ’subjects. Quirky case is case which is determined by factors other than the grammatical role of the argument. This contrasts with structural case, which is linked to grammatical role and determined by syntactic structure. In Icelandic, quirky subjects are commonly marked with dative case (Jónsson, 2001, 2003), as in (2) below. As shown in (2b), when constructions with dative subjects have an object, that object bears nominative case and the verb agrees with it in number.  \n(2) a. Henni var kalt.  \nhenni var kalt  \nshe.DAT was cold  \n‘She was freezing.’  \nb. Henni leiddust strákarnir.  \nhenni leiddust strákar -nir  \nher.DAT bored.3PL boys -DEF  \n‘She found the boys boring.’ (Sigurðsson, 2002)  \nThe phenomenon of quirky case is a significant one, as it suggests that morphological case marking is not determined solely by grammatical role. Infact, as Jónsson (2003) underscores, quirky case marking in Icelandic is related to the θ-role, or semantic role, of a subject. For example, the subject of the verb‘kick ’acts volitionally and can be described using the θ-role of AGENT, while the subject of the verb ‘love ’does not act volitionally, but instead undergoes an involuntary psychological experience, and can thus be described using the θ-role of EXPERIENCER. Numerous authors have found that Icelandic dative subjects most often appear with verbs of psychological experience or perception.  \nIcelandic has also contributed to theories of case through its unique agreement patterns with quirky subjects. Unlike most subjects in Icelandic, dative subjects do not control agreement on the verb. Intransitive v","cbCair8J6xYiGSl0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCair8J6xYiGSl0","pdf",960478,22,"English","# Introduction\n# Background on Icelandic Case Assignment\n# Faroese Data and Comparison to Icelandic\n# Challenges from Faroese Data\n# Conclusion and Future Research","[{\"question\":\"What is the key phenomenon discussed in the paper regarding Icelandic subjects?\",\"answer\":\"The paper focuses on “quirky case,” where subjects receive dative case based on factors beyond grammatical role, often tied to semantic theta roles.\"},{\"question\":\"How does agreement behavior differ for dative subjects in Icelandic?\",\"answer\":\"Dative subjects do not control verb agreement; default agreement appears in intransitives, while transitive agreement is controlled by the nominative object.\"},{\"question\":\"What main issues does Faroese dative subject data raise in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The paper highlights problems for case-assignment theories, with particular attention to accusative case assignment to objects, agreement patterns, and the role of phases.\"}]","Dative subject constructions and argument structure in Icelandic and Faroese - Paper | PDF",55]