The Swedish så-construction, a new point of departure
Jackie Nordström · Lund University Publications (Lund University) · 2010
The following article treats the Swedish så-construction (involving the so-called “adjunctive” så). The så-construction consists of a first element, which is typically an adjunct, followed by så „so‟, and an inverted declarative clause. It is argued that adjunctive så is a head word, more precisely a relational predicate that introduces a new point of departure in the discourse, by relating the proposition in its complement, the figure, to the constituent in its specifier, the ground. It is noted that the notion of a new point of departure should partially be kept apart from notions such as given information and topic, which are typically expressed by nominal constituents such as subject and object, and which cannot be constructed with så. Note, how-ever, that when the subject or object referent also functions as the new point of departure, it can be marked as such by paraphrases such as beträffande X ‟as regards X‟, which in fact are constructed with adjunctive så. Since the så-construction furthermore blocks topicalization of the subject or object, it is argued that the så-phrase is a variant of Rizzi‟s (1997, 2004) Topic Phrase, sharing some of its features. Other analyses of the så-construction are refuted. It is argued that adjunctive så cannot be analysed as a resumptive adverb, since it can also occur after free predicatives and prepositional objects. Nor can it be analysed as an expletive in the preverbal position, holding the place for fronted constituents, since the first element can also be a valency-bound constituent (prepositional object or bound adverbial) which is moved there.