Vocabular Clarity and Insular Scandinavian: A response

Abstract

In his article “Testing Vocabular Clarity in insular Scandinavian”, Haukur Þorgeirsson (HT) discusses the analysis of Faroese noun inflection presented in Enger (2013a). It is rewarding to see that the NBP/VC motivates careful consideration of alternative analyses and additional facts. HT raises valid questions and interesting challenges, including issues that were not dealt with in sufficient detail by Enger (2013a); yet I cannot agree with his main conclusions. Given space limitations, this reply will concentrate on some central points of disagreement (rather than on issues where I must simply stand corrected). These points include the analysis of the genitive (where there seems to be a misunderstanding), issues of segmentation, and how to deal with zeroes. The issue of zeroes also leads me to suggest that one previously accepted counter-example is perhaps not quite as strong as it may seem.