Double supine

Abstract

In many Nordic varieties, a perfect participle or supine form occurs in the complement of a verb which otherwise takes an infinitive, as in (1) below (see e.g. Thráinsson et al. 2004: 234–236).[1] This is typically only possible when the matrix verb is also in participial/supine form; cf (2) where only an infinitive is possible (but see section 3 for discussion). The embedded supine is introduced by an infinitive marker when the corresponding infinitive would have an infinitive marker, and this is not obligatory with hinna 'have time' (cf. Hagren 2009). In the traditional Nordic literature, the construction is often referred to as the double supine. A supine for infinitive occurs in Faroese, Norwegian and Swedish, but not in Icelandic, and it is not considered part of Present-Day Danish (Julien 2003: 136; see also den Dikken & Hoekstra 1997 on a similar phenomenon in Frisian). [...]