Eintrag

Titel

Extraposition in Middle and New High German

Personen

Christopher D. Sapp

Jahr

2014

Typ

Aufsatz

Periodikum

The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics

Seiten

129 - 156

Band

17

Heft

2

Schlagwörter

Historisch
Syntax
Verbalgruppe

Abstract

This study investigates extraposition, i.e., the occurrence of a non-clausal constituent to the right of the clause-final verbal position, from medieval to modern German. Using a database of subordinate clauses from medieval and early-modern texts, several linguistic and sociolinguistic factors are identified that have a favoring effect on extraposition. These include a tendency for prepositional phrases, focused constituents, and heavy constituents to extrapose. Although extraposition is much less frequent in Modern Standard German, it is subject to largely the same restrictions as in earlier stages of the language. This evidence suggests that the German VP has remained head-final since at least the year 1150. Based on a comparison of similar constructions in English, I argue that extraposition results from rightward adjunction of heavy and focused constituents to VP or IP.

https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/bdg/86413