Pancake sentences and the semanticization of formal gender in Mainland Scandinavian

This paper focuses on two phenomena, a semanticization of the gender system that started in West Jutland, the southwestern part of Denmark, and so-called "pancake sentences" in Mainland Scandinavian (primarily Danish and Swedish). In West Jutlandic, substance-denoting nouns (as well as event nouns) are obligatorily constructed with a prenominal neuter element, primarily det, for example det maelk (N milk) 'milk'. I argue that det in this use is a classifier, and that it lacks a number feature. Pancake sentences are sentences where a predicative adjective displays agreement in the neuter, even if there is no overt source for such agreement. Somewhat simplified, the interpretation of the subject of pancake sentences is either that of a substance or that of an event. The main point of my article is that the subject of pancake sentences is beaded by a null neuter classifier, in all relevant aspects corresponding to the overt classifier det, as in det mcelk in West Jutlandic. In other words, it lacks a number feature too. A consequence of the proposal is that there is no disagreement in pancake sentences. From a diachronic perspective I argue that the appearance of pancake sentences is a part of a global, ongoing transition of the gender system in Mainland Scandinavian, and that the origin of this process is the semanticization of gender in West Jutlandic. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.