Within the framework of Government-Binding Theory, this thesis argues that the Germanic languages, including German and related languages, should be analyzed as having INFL-second underlying work order. Contrary to traditional generative treatments of the so-called "verb-second" (V2) phenomenon, it is claimed here, in light of certain subtle asymmetries, that the final target site of the moved verb is INFL (I$ sp0)$ in sentences with pre-verbal subjects and COMP (C$ sp0)$ in those with pre-verbal non-subjects. / It is further maintained that an analysis, as modified and extended in the thesis, in which verb movement is triggered by the Empty Category Principle (ECP) is superior, on both conceptual and empirical grounds, to other theories advanced by generativists to date. A wide variety of clause types in the modern Germanic languages, including in particular German V2 complements and Icelandic infinitival complements, are examined, the final chapter being devoted to a proposal concerning German "parentheticals".

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published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

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Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 130 pages. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effects of animation for a technology-assisted German grammar presentation on modal verbs. The premise was that many intangible concepts of dynamic grammar involve syntactic components that possess visuo-spatial characteristics. It was further speculated that these characteristics could be more effectively represented by animated versus static instructional presentations.The supposition that animation would lend pedagogical advantage was supported by dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971, 1990), which posits two functionally separate representational systems, the verbal and the nonverbal, with dynamic mental imagery residing solely in the nonverbal system. The strength of dually coded information is that it is represented in both subsystems and, due to referential associations that cross between the two, is more easily retained and recalled.Under two treatment conditions, 44 university students of beginning German (GER 101) received large-screen multimedia instruction concerning the meanings and conjugated forms of German modal auxiliary verbs, and the grammatical rules which govern sentence structure. The independent variable was the type of visualization: static or animated text. The dependent variables were participants' total test scores as well as their individual scores on each of two task types: conjugation and word order. In addition, a posttest survey asked participants for their opinions of the instructional treatments.Participants in both treatment groups achieved high scores on the posttest with no significant difference between them; however, the posttest survey showed that the groups did differ significantly in their opinions of the treatments, with those in the animated group reporting more positive reactions to the presentation. Detailed planning and lengthy preparation of both treatments may explain the high scores for both groups, and the elementary nature of the content may also account for the resulting ceiling effect. Animation should be studied further, especially with respect to more preliminary tasks, more complex tasks, as well as in concert with other aspects of multimedia, such as interactivity, user-control, practice, and feedback. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.