Volume 51, Issue 1

This article reviews foundational research on the problem of unmarked word order in German. Focussing on the two most influential seminal papers by Lenerz (1977) and Höhle (1982), I argue that their attempts to determine unmarked, normal word order (either by definition or by explication) is flawed by the fact that both authors presuppose a certain empirical data base without offering a complete grammatical analysis of the data in question. I contend that a more comprehensive, linguistically satisfying analysis of these data will in turn presuppose a pre-given notion of unmarked, normal word order, thus making for a circular definition or explication. As is well-known, normal word order interacts with factors like point of view, thematic roles, animacy, and others. I will argue that influential suggestions for designing a precise theory of these interactions are unsuccessful on both methodological and empirical grounds. I suggest that the traditional modular analysis based on cumulation and treshold values is still the best model we have at present; however, a large and hitherto unresolved issue is the vast variety of contradicting acceptability judgments found in the literature. A careful analysis of these meta-data should enable us to determine paradigmatic core cases while, at the same time, leave room for deviations in various directions, and even for individual ad hoc preferences at the periphery.

The oral realization of written punctuation basically brings two parameters into play: rhythm and intonation. The former is visualized in writing the typeface by a space, while the latter is determined by conventions and depends on the speaker’s personal means of expression. In the 18th century, the oral realization of punctuation was only marginally addressed in grammars. Additional sources can be found in the area of music history, because the music theorists of the 18th century discussed the connection between language and music with great interest. In this essay, prosodic models for the oral (audible) realization of punctuation marks are examined by comparing the current prosodic description of German with the musical analyses of Johann Mattheson and the remarks in the grammars of his time. Then baroque music examples are examined from the point of view of the possibility of refining the theoretical models. The aim of this interdisciplinary approach is to make use of ancient sources, both theoretical and practical, for the reconstruction of the prosody of 18th century German.

This paper examines the strategies doctors use to disambiguate the referential scope of the personal pronoun we . In clinical practice, doctors have to manage the different roles in which they can interact with the patients, – as individuals, as representatives of their clinic or their clinical department or as members of the scientific community of medical experts. These different roles also combine with different degrees of agentivity and responsibility. Patients therefore have to decode whether they are included into the we or not. Based on a corpus of more than 90 therapy planning talks recorded at German and Russian oncological clinical departments, our empirical study analyzes which strategies doctors employ to locally clarify the range of we , e. g., by adding a numeral ( we two ) or a locative phrase ( we in this clinic ) in order to ensure mutual understanding.

On the basis of a case study on the linearisation of German infinitival complements, the present paper illustrates the advantages of selected quantitative and statistical methods in diachronic studies. In particular, it first discusses, the problem of the availability of balanced diachronic corpora and how mixed-effects modelling can help make the best of “bad data” and second, it deals with the question of periodisation and shows the advantages of a data-driven method.

The marker bitte plays a crucial role in Contemporary German, especially in lay linguistic discourse on politeness (= first order politeness). This is in contrast to a research gap regarding the evolution and use of this element. Based on corpus data, the present study aims to trace the formal and functional development of bitte ‘please’. The analysis is based on a randomized sample of verbal bitten ‘to ask for’, nominal Bitte ‘request’ and syntactically reduced bitte ‘please’ extracted from fictional texts of the DTA and the DWDS core corpora covering a time span from the 17th to the 21st century. Contrary to previously proposed scenarios, the data suggest that syntactically reduced bitte developed in the late 18th century from an external modifier that primarily preceded imperative requests. As an internal modifier, the marker has been successively integrated syntactically and graphemically since the 19th century. From a pragmatic perspective, bitte has evolved from a deference marker. In Contemporary German, it can be described as a directive marker rather than a context-independent politeness marker.