Topichood and the Margins of the German Clause from a Historical Perspective
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Augustin Speyer
Abstract
German sentence structure offers two clause-peripheral positions, the left-peripheral prefield and the right-peripheral postfield. The content of both is determined by information structural constraints. The prefield especially is often seen as topic position. A closer look into the history reveals that the prefield started as a position specialized for familiar aboutness topics in pre-Old High German, but became more permissive over time, eventually allowing for anything that establishes a link to the context. Likewise, the postfield, a designated position for constituents bearing presentational focus, widened its application range to anything that bears some focus (including contrastive foci). The development of the fields towards less information structural specialization is interpreted as a process of ‘bleaching’, in that the semanto-pragmatic feature content of elements that are compatible with the fields is reduced, until only few features are left.
Abstract
German sentence structure offers two clause-peripheral positions, the left-peripheral prefield and the right-peripheral postfield. The content of both is determined by information structural constraints. The prefield especially is often seen as topic position. A closer look into the history reveals that the prefield started as a position specialized for familiar aboutness topics in pre-Old High German, but became more permissive over time, eventually allowing for anything that establishes a link to the context. Likewise, the postfield, a designated position for constituents bearing presentational focus, widened its application range to anything that bears some focus (including contrastive foci). The development of the fields towards less information structural specialization is interpreted as a process of ‘bleaching’, in that the semanto-pragmatic feature content of elements that are compatible with the fields is reduced, until only few features are left.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents IX
- Exploring the Architecture of Topic at the Interface of Grammar and Discourse 1
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Part I: Semantic and Discourse-pragmatic Correlates of Topicality
- Topics and Givenness 47
- The Role of Topics in Licensing Anaphoric Relations in VP-ellipsis 67
- Topic Marking and Illocutionary Force 95
- Topics, Conversational Dynamics and the Root/Non-root Distinction: Adverbial Clauses at the Discourse-syntax Interface 139
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Part II: Variation in the Grammatical Encoding of Topicality: Clause-internal, Clause-external and Null Topics
- Why Topicalize VP? 173
- Information-structural Constraints on PP Topicalization from NPs 203
- Stage Topics and their Architecture 223
- Topicality in Icelandic: Null Arguments and Narrative Inversion 249
- Apropos the Topic 273
- Discourse Topic vs. Sentence Topic Exploiting the Right Periphery of German Verb-second Sentences 293
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PART III: Topics from the Diachronic Perspective
- Topichood and the Margins of the German Clause from a Historical Perspective 337
- Stylistic Fronting at the Interface of Syntax and Discourse 373
- Index 425
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents IX
- Exploring the Architecture of Topic at the Interface of Grammar and Discourse 1
-
Part I: Semantic and Discourse-pragmatic Correlates of Topicality
- Topics and Givenness 47
- The Role of Topics in Licensing Anaphoric Relations in VP-ellipsis 67
- Topic Marking and Illocutionary Force 95
- Topics, Conversational Dynamics and the Root/Non-root Distinction: Adverbial Clauses at the Discourse-syntax Interface 139
-
Part II: Variation in the Grammatical Encoding of Topicality: Clause-internal, Clause-external and Null Topics
- Why Topicalize VP? 173
- Information-structural Constraints on PP Topicalization from NPs 203
- Stage Topics and their Architecture 223
- Topicality in Icelandic: Null Arguments and Narrative Inversion 249
- Apropos the Topic 273
- Discourse Topic vs. Sentence Topic Exploiting the Right Periphery of German Verb-second Sentences 293
-
PART III: Topics from the Diachronic Perspective
- Topichood and the Margins of the German Clause from a Historical Perspective 337
- Stylistic Fronting at the Interface of Syntax and Discourse 373
- Index 425
