↓ Skip to Main Content

Kristine Bentzen's web page

Main Navigation

  • Home
  • Presentations
  • Publications

Kristine Bentzen's web page

Off Canvas Menu

  • Home
  • Presentations
  • Publications

Kristine Bentzen

Professor, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway

Kristine Bentzen is a professor in English and Nordic linguistics at the department of Language and Culture at the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway.

Her research interests include comparative syntax, language variation, dialect syntax, (first) language acquisition, and bilingualism. She is also the project leader and principal investigator in a project on North Sami child language acquisition (DASAGO).

She teaches courses on various topics within English and Scandinavian linguistics, and supervises on topics within English, Scandinavian and Sami linguistics.

Syntax and variation

One of my central research interests is comparative syntax, both at a micro-comparative (dialect syntax) and a macro-comparative level.

Within this line of research, favourite topics revolve around the interaction of syntax and information structure, and include verb placement (V2 – and the lack thereof) and object placement/object shift and related proform phenomena in other languages.

 

Child language

A second research interest is first language acquisition. I’m working on the acquisition of various aspects of syntax, such as verb placement, object placement and the acquisition of syntax and information structure. Much of this work is done in collaboration with colleagues in the LAVA group (Language Acquisition, Variation and Attrition).

I’m also working on bilingual language acquisition, in particular Norwegian/English bilingual children (see also MiMS) and Norwegian/Sami bilingual children (see DASAGO). In this line of research I’m interested in the nature, causes and effects of cross-linguistic influence in bilingual children’s syntax.

North Sami Project

I am running the project DASAGO  (Davvisámegiel mánáid giellaovdáneapmi — North Sami child language development), which she and Berit Anne Bals Baal landed a 7 million NOK grant from the Norwegian Research Council for (2011-2017). While the money is now all spent, the project continues. Within the DASAGO project, my research projects include VO-OV alternations related to information structure in Sami languages (both adult language and acquisition) and together with phd student Ritva Nystad, the acquisition of negation and (other) auxiliaries. Within this project we have also adapted the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) into North Sami. We are currently conducting extensive investigations of vocabulary development using this tool.

Copyright © 2026 Kristine Bentzen's web page | Powered by Responsive Theme
Copyright © 2026 Kristine Bentzen's web page | Powered by Responsive Theme