Complementizers in the German-language Sprachinsel of Deutschpilsen/Nagybörzsöny (Hungary)

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gizella Baloghné Nagy ◽  
Éva Márkus
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
German Language ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Minor Influence ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
Embedded Clause

AbstractThe study provides a sketch of the complementizer system of the German language island Deutschpilsen (Hungary). After laying out the basic facts, the structural position of subordinating items in the embedded clause is discussed, also in comparison to the contact language, Hungarian. The second main issue is the systematic distribution of inversion, verb-second and verb-final word order in embedded clauses. Regarding the tendency of embedded-V2, a parallel is drawn between the analyzed dialect and Standard German. In all cases, the minor influence of Hungarian as the host contact language is examined.

On the syntax and prosody of Verb Second and Clitic Second

2020 ◽  
pp. 503-535
Author(s):  
Željko Bošković
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Fixed Position ◽  
Definite Articles ◽  
Embedded Clause

This chapter argues that V2 and clitic second should not be unified structurally. Second-position clitics do not all occur in a fixed position high in the clause (they can, in fact, occur rather low in the structure), differing from the verb in V2 in this respect, and second-position clitic systems are incompatible with the presence of definite articles in the language, in contrast to V2. Clitic second and V2 clauses also differ with respect to their mobility, the latter being immobile. Clitic second and V2 are, however, shown to share important prosodic properties, which is taken to indicate that the two should be unified at least to some extent prosodically (with clitic second, the second position is in fact defined prosodically: clitics are second within their intonational phrase). Factoring out the prosodic properties of V2 is also shown to simplify the syntax of V2. From this perspective, the chapter provides accounts of a number of properties of V2, including the root/embedded clause asymmetry regarding the productivity of V2, the non-pickiness of the V2 requirement (where just about anything can satisfy it), and the role of the freedom of word order in the historical development of syntactic V2, where all these are ultimately traced to the presence of a prosodic requirement. The chapter also provides a labelling-based account of the immobility of V2 clauses.

scholarly journals Variation and change in Norwegian wh-questions

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Westergaard ◽  
Øystein A. Vangsnes ◽  
Terje Lohndal
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Acceptability Judgments

Abstract In this paper, we consider variation in Verb Second (V2) word order in wh-questions across Norwegian dialects by investigating data from the Nordic Syntax Database (NSD), which consists of acceptability judgments collected at more than 100 locations in Norway. We trace the geographical distribution of the two main variables: phrasal vs. monosyllabic wh-elements (the latter argued to be heads) and subject vs. non-subject questions. In subject questions, non-V2 is realized by inserting the complementizer som in second position instead of the verb. We also discuss the connection between non-V2 and the possibility of inserting the complementizer som under extraction of a wh-subject from an embedded clause, i.e. in that-trace contexts. Based on synchronic data, we propose a diachronic account of the geographical distribution and argue that the development from V2 to non-V2 has started in subject questions, thus allowing us to relate the loss of the V2 requirement to changes in the properties of the complementizer som.

Hoe meer je erop let, hoe vaker kom je ze tegen*

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-155
Author(s):  
Brenda Assendelft
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Previous Literature ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Comprehensive Description

Abstract The present paper presents a corpus-based analysis of a construction that has not been studied thoroughly yet, viz. the Dutch comparative correlative (e.g. hoe eerder, hoe beter het is; hoe eerder, des te beter het is ‘the sooner, the better it is’). Contrary to previous literature, this paper gives a more comprehensive description of the form and use of the comparative correlative. It shows, for instance, that there is a notable preference for verb-final word order in the second part of the hoe… hoe… construction, while hoe… des te… seems compatible with both verb-second and verb-final word order. In addition, genre differences are attested, as well as differences between the Netherlands and Belgium, e.g. in the use of conjunctions within the construction.

scholarly journals Reassessing the historical evidence for embedded Verb Second

2020 ◽  
pp. 536-554
Author(s):  
George Walkden ◽  
Hannah Booth
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Old Saxon ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Significant Question

This chapter revisits the significant question of embedded Verb Second in historical Germanic, in light of recent developments in research on present-day V2 languages. Drawing on novel corpus data for Old English, Old Saxon, historical Icelandic, and historical Yiddish, it shows that there is little support for an analysis which permits embedded V2 outside a narrow subset of contexts, or one which hosts both the verb and the preverbal constituent within the IP domain (‘IP-V2’). The chapter puts forward the tentative suggestion that there is only one type of V2 language, at least as regards word order in embedded clauses.

The relative cycle in Hungarian declaratives

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Bacskai-Atkari
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Position ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Fixed Order ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Head Positions

This chapter examines word order variation and change in the high CP-domain of Hungarian embedded clauses containing the finite subordinating C head hogy ‘that’. It is argued that the complementizer hogy developed from an operator of the same morphophonological form, meaning ‘how’, and that its grammaticalization path develops in two steps. In addition to the change from an operator, located in a specifier, into a C head (specifier-to-head reanalysis), the fully grammaticalized complementizer hogy also changed its relative position on the CP-periphery, ultimately occupying the higher of two C head positions (upward reanalysis). Other complementizers that could co-occur with hogy in Old Hungarian eventually underwent similar reanalysis processes. Hence the possibility of accommodating two separate C heads in the left periphery was lost and variation in the relative position of complementizers was replaced by a fixed order.

Clause Structure and Word Order in the History of German

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

Over roughly the last decade, there has been a notable rise in new research on historical German syntax in a generative perspective. This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of this thriving new line of research by leading scholars in the field, combining it with new insights into the syntax of historical German. It is the first comprehensive and concise generative historical syntax of German covering numerous central aspects of clause structure and word order, tracing them throughout various historical stages. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis and valid descriptive generalizations with reference also to the more traditional topological model of the German clause with a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. The volume is divided into three parts according to the main parts of the clause: the left periphery dealing with verbal placement and the filling of the prefield (verb second, verb first, verb third orders) as well as adverbial connectives; the middle field including discussion of pronominal syntax, order of full NPs and the history of negation; and the right periphery with chapters on basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex including the development of periphrastic verb forms and the phenomena of IPP (infinitivus pro participio) and ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo). This book thus provides a convenient overview of current research on the major issues concerning historical German clause structure both for scholars interested in more traditional description and for those interested in formal accounts of diachronic syntax.

Processing subject focus across two Spanish varieties

Probus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-127
Author(s):  
Bradley Hoot ◽  
Tania Leal
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
New Information ◽  
Basic Facts

AbstractLinguists have keenly studied the realization of focus – the part of the sentence introducing new information – because it involves the interaction of different linguistic modules. Syntacticians have argued that Spanish uses word order for information-structural purposes, marking focused constituents via rightmost movement. However, recent studies have challenged this claim. To contribute sentence-processing evidence, we conducted a self-paced reading task and a judgment task with Mexican and Catalonian Spanish speakers. We found that movement to final position can signal focus in Spanish, in contrast to the aforementioned work. We contextualize our results within the literature, identifying three basic facts that theories of Spanish focus and theories of language processing should explain, and advance a fourth: that mismatches in information-structural expectations can induce processing delays. Finally, we propose that some differences in the existing experimental results may stem from methodological differences.

Word-order change in progress: the case of Slovene and Serbo-Croat and its relevance for Germanic

1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Related Language ◽  
Slavonic Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Order Change ◽  
The One ◽  
Word Order Change ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Fresh Insight

It will be suggested in this article that Slovene, a South Slavonic language, is on the way to acquiring verb-second (V2) word order. In providing evidence in support of this view I shall compare Slovene, on the one hand, with the closely related language Serbo-Croat and, on the other hand, with relevant details from the history of the Germanic languages. The point of comparing it with Serbo-Croat is to discover the respects in which the word order of these two languages has diverged. Taken together with what is known about the word order of Common Slavonic, the facts emerging from this comparison allow us to identify one major respect in which Slovene has changed and two respects in which it is still changing. At the same time, they reveal a major respect in which Serbo-Croat word order is also changing. The point of comparing Slovene with the Germanic languages is twofold. First, since all the present-day Germanic languages either have or have had V2 word order (Haiman, 1974), it is possible that their history can help us to understand the changes currently taking place in Slovene and to predict how Slovene might change in the future. Secondly, where details of the history of the Germanic languages are poorly understood, the possibility exists of gaining fresh insight into them in the light of the changes that have taken place more recently, or indeed are still taking place, in Slovene. In this connection we shall assess the plausibility of two theories concerning the adoption of V2 word order by the Germanic languages, those of Vennemann (1975) and Wackernagel (1892).

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