Hat die gesprochene Sprache eine eigene Grammatik? Grundsätzliche Überlegungen zum Status gesprochensprachlicher Konstruktionen und zur Kategorie ‚gesprochenes Standarddeutsch‘
AbstractAlthough most linguists agree that spoken language differs in relevant aspects from written language, it is still controversial whether they have different grammatical systems. In this article, I raise the general question of whether it is possible to speak of a specific grammar of spoken language. For this purpose the problem of spoken versus written modality is discussed together with the problem of rules and regularity (chapter 2); furthermore, the role of the concept “standard language” in this research context is discussed (chapter 3). Using different examples, I analyze syntactic phenomena of contemporary spoken German (chapter 4). On this empirical basis, the central theoretical question is developed and answered: Are there grammatical constructions in spoken Standard German which can be explained by the special modality – e.g. the fluidity and irreversibility – of the oral medium (chapter 5)?