The paper presents work in progress on the interaction between
information structure and word order in Old High German based on
data from the Tatian translation (9th century). <br>The examination of the
position of the finite verb in correspondence with the pragmatic status
of discourse referents reveals an overall tendency for verb-initial order
in thetic/all-focus sentences, whereas in categorical/topic-comment
sentences verb-second placement with an initial topic constituent is
preferred. <br>This conclusion provides support for the hypothesis stated
in Donhauser & Hinterhölzl (2003) that the finite verb form in Early
Germanic serves to distinguish the information-structural domains of
Topic and Focus. <br>Finally, the investigation sheds light on the process
of language change that led to the overall spread of verb-second in
main clauses of modern German.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:Potsdam/oai:kobv.de-opus-ubp:874 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Hinterhölzl, Roland, Petrova, Svetlana, Solf, Michael |
| Contributors | Sonderforschungsbereich 632 Informationsstruktur <Berlin> |
| Publisher | Universität Potsdam, Extern. Extern |
| Source Sets | Potsdam University |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Interdisciplinary studies on information structure : ISIS ; working papers of the SFB 632. - Vol. 3 |
| Rights | http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/doku/urheberrecht.php |
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