The Highest Force Hypothesis

This study discusses subordination in Swedish from the perspective of three construction types that involve clauses that have traditionally been notoriously difficult to classify as unambiguous main or subordinate clauses: “embedded V2”-constructions, direct speech constructions, and exclamatives. A general hypothesis regarding subordination and ”superordination” is proposed: The Highest Force Hypothesis. The formulation of this hypothesis draws on seminal work by den Besten (1983) and it is arg ...