Postadjectival indefinite article

The postadjectival indefinite article is absent in both standard and non-standard varieties of Danish, FennoSwedish, Faroese, and Icelandic (Delsning 2003). In contrast to the regular indefinite article, the postadjectival article can also appear in the plural (Marklund 1986:33 ff.). To all appearances, the postadjectival article had a wider distribution in earlier times, e.g in the Swedish provinces of Dalarna and Norrbotten, and the Finnish province of Österbotten (Dahl 2010:103; Delsing 2003:46-48). In addition to the postadjectival indefinite article described above, there exists another type of this article. This latter type requires a degree element så (and its cognates) in front of the adjective, see the example in (2). It is common in Germanic varieties, with the exception of modern Standard Swedish (Delsing 1993:138139).


Introduction
The postadjectival indefinite article, sometimes also labeled 'double indefiniteness', is found in dialects spoken in the Northern Swedish provinces of Västerbotten, Ångermanland, Medelpad, and Jämtland, as well as in the Northern Norwegian dialects, north of the Trøndelag area (Delsing 2003), see the two examples below taken from Delsing (2003: 45): (1) a.The postadjectival indefinite article is absent in both standard and non-standard varieties of Danish, Fenno-Swedish, Faroese, and Icelandic (Delsning 2003).In contrast to the regular indefinite article, the postadjectival article can also appear in the plural (Marklund 1986:33 ff.).To all appearances, the postadjectival article had a wider distribution in earlier times, e.g in the Swedish provinces of Dalarna and Norrbotten, and the Finnish province of Österbotten (Dahl 2010:103;Delsing 2003:46-48).
In addition to the postadjectival indefinite article described above, there exists another type of this article.This latter type requires a degree element så (and its cognates) in front of the adjective, see the example in (2).It is common in Germanic varieties, with the exception of modern Standard Swedish (Delsing 1993:138-139).
(2) så stort et hus (Danish) so big a house 'Such a big house.'

Nordic Syntax Database (NSD)
The acceptance of the postadjectival indefinite article has been tested in the NDS among Norwegian, Swedish The acceptance of the above-mentioned constructions is shown in the maps below.Article doubling with a single adjective preceded by the degree element så 'such', cf.(5) above, is widely accepted in Northern Sweden (in the provinces of Härjedalen, Jämtland, Västerbotten, Dalarna, Medelpad, and Ångermanland) and in Northern Norway (especially in the province of Trøndelag, but also in Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark).In addition, the phenomenon is judged as grammatical in Northwestern Norway (Møre og Romsdal) and in Southeastern Norway (Telemark and Akershus).
Postadjectival article with a single adjective, cf.(3) above, is judged as grammatical only in seven locations in Northern Sweden (the provinces of Härjedalen, Jämtland, and Västerbotten), but among older informants it is accepted also in Northern Norway (Nordland) and in additional locations in Northern Sweden (Dalarna).
Finally, the postadjectival article following an adjective with the degree element så 'such', cf.(4) above, is accepted in the central and northern parts of both Sweden and Norway.

Nordic Dialect Corpus (NDC)
Indefinite article doubling with a single adjective is attested in the NDC in Norway and Sweden, although there are only a few hits.In Sweden, the construction is found in Medelpad ( 7), and in Norway it is attested in Nordland ( 8) and ( 9), and in Troms (10).Interestingly, the test sentence #1216, that is supposed to test the same construction is judged as ungrammatical by the informants in Ballangen and Sømna, who nevertheless produce it.The distribution is shown in Map 5. it is a so nicer a city to be in 'This is a city that is so much nicer to dwell.' (lavangen_04gk) The postadjectival article following an adjective with the degree element så 'such' is the most frequently attested example of the postadjectival article in the NDC.

Map 1 :
Postadjectival indefinite article (#1216: Vi såg en svart en häst.'We saw a black horse.')(White = high score, grey = medium score, black = low score).Doubling of indefinite articles (#1217: En så svart en häst har jag aldrig sett förr 'I have never seen such a black horse.')(White = high score, grey = medium score, black = low score).Map 4: Doubling of the indefinite article of the type 'en dag en' (#709: /En dag-en skal jeg bygge meg ei hytte.'Oneday I will build a cottage for myself.')(White = high score, grey = medium score, black = low score).sentences, the #718 is accepted in most places in Scandinavian, followed by #1217 and #1216.The doubling of indefinite article the type en dag-en (#709) is accepted by all the informants in Saltvik on Åland and in Karlsøy in northern Norway (Troms).It is also accepted by older informants in two Norwegian locations: Nord-Trøndelag (Meråker) and Rogaland (Karmøy).
.DEF here at_home it 'It was a natural part of life here at home.' (indal_om3) (8) he vi jo hadd en lanng en flått en sommar (Norwegian) .anold, big, nice garden' (soemna_04gk) (10) ae hadde ei svart ei bok (Norwegian) I had a black a book 'I had a black book.' (mefjordvaer_20) Indefinite article doubling with a single adjective as attested in the NDC.(White = high score) Doubling of the indefinite article with a single adjective preceded by the degree element så 'such' is only found once in the corpus in Troms (11), and the informants also judge the test sentence #1217 as grammatical.(11)de e en så triveliar en by å vaere i (Norwegian) The last construction is apparently not a case of a postadjectival indefinite article, but just a case of article doubling that is treated together with the postadjectival indefinite article here.It may also be interpreted as consisting of an indefinite article and a definite article, as it is analysed byThráinsson et al.
(2004:96)for the Faroese expression eitt kvöldið 'one of the nights.'(3)Vi såg en svart en häst.(#1216) (Swedish) It is found both in Norway and Denmark, but not in Sweden.In Norway, it is found in the southern regions of Aust-Agder and Telemark, in northwestern Oppland and central In Denmark, the construction is found in AErø, Nordjylland, and Sjaelland, cf.(17) -(19).Interestingly, all of the Danish examples are constructed with the adjective stor 'big'.The Norwegian and Danish results are shown in